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This Below Deck article contains spoilers.
Captain Lee Rosbach, the Stud of the Sea, once said that he always hopes he can finish a charter season with the same crew he started it with. That’s not always possible on Below Deck. In fact, it almost never happens, whether it’s because a crew member chooses to leave the boat or is fired by the captain.
Yet, five episodes in, season 11 of the flagship series has yet to see any departures despite the crew of the St. David facing some real troubles in the Caribbean. That said, we already know the other shoe is going to drop eventually, with crew members confirming that we will see quite a few firings before the end of the season. So, now that we’ve gotten to know the crew a bit better, let’s talk about who might end up leaving the yacht first in the coming weeks…
Jared Woodin
Most recently, it’s Bosun Jared Woodin who’s had trouble on deck, as problems at home are creeping up. Earlier this season, we learned that Jared was struggling to cope with not being able to see his daughter. Jared’s relationship with his daughter’s mom is tenuous at best, and he explains that he’s only recently started to really connect with his daughter. Which is why it’s imperative he sticks to the schedule of when he’s allowed to call her. So when he runs out of data after a charter and misses a call, he gets very upset, which leads to heavy drinking on a crew night out and showing up very hungover for the following workday.
Things only got worse for Jared in episode five. Beside having a few awkward moments with Captain Kerry, who noticed Jared was distracted with his personal problems, he also had a weird phone argument with a towel purveyor, was rejected by fellow crewmate Barbie Pascual, and suffered an insult from one of the new charter guests, who said to his face: “You’re lucky you’re good looking because you have nothing else going for you.” The latter seemed to especially affect Jared, who already feels he isn’t enough. His feelings of inadequacy are only amplified when Chief Stew Fraser Olender asks whether Lead Deckhand Ben Willoughby can join a sport-y excursion because he’s very energetic, something Jared takes exception to because he feels Fraser should have considered the bosun of the boat first.
Previews for episode 6 show Jared continuing to struggle with his feelings about his job and his problems outside of work. Add the fact that he’s not always been on top of it as the ship’s bosun, making some very silly mistakes early in the season, and you can see how Jared might have one foot off the boat. And we really couldn’t blame him if he decided to prioritize his child!
Barbie Pascual
Barbie’s been a problem since the very beginning, hasn’t she? A self-proclaimed spoiled brat and daddy’s girl who is only apparently working as a yachty for fancy purse money, Barbie has clashed with Fraser and fellow stew Cat Baugh on multiple occasions, at one point straight up ignoring Fraser during a charter after he didn’t let her put orange juice in her “special” margarita for the guests. She’s spoken condescendingly to the less experienced and more sensitive Cat, and most recently became offended when Fraser made Xandi Olivier second stew, a role Barbie felt she deserved as one of the most experienced stews on the team. And it’s true: Barbie knows her stuff int he interior and is very good with guests but her abrasive attitude holds her back. She apparently doesn’t even need this job to pay her rent!
Still, while last week we would’ve said Barbie was definitely going to be the first to go, things took an unexpected turn in episode 5. After a fight at a bar, Barbie made peace with Fraser, apologizing for being so disrespectful during the first few charters. She’s shown definite improvement, but the fact that she’s now stung by Xandi’s promotion might mean we’ll be back to square one by next week.
Cat Baugh
Cat is the greenest of the stews and Fraser’s team, the one who needs the most nurturing and guidance. To his credit, Fraser has made a real effort to support Cat because he feels she has potential, but the other stews seem to be running out of patience. Xandi, for example, expresses to Fraser that Cat doesn’t seem to be learning as quickly as she needs to to keep up with the rest of the team. And that’s saying nothing of Barbie’s feelings about Cat.
“I don’t think she should have ever signed up for this. This is not for her,” Barbie said of Cat in an interview with US Weekly. “I think yachting might [still] be for her. Small yachts and maybe even potentially mega yachts. One day she could climb the ladder there, but this environment was not for her. That’s OK. This is a lot.”
In episode 5, Fraser met with Captain Kerry to update him on Cat, who is often so stressed and demoralized by the job that she breaks into tears. The Captain is sympathetic, as Cat is the least experienced on the team and is meant to be learning on the job, but there could be trouble on the horizon if Cat is unable to pick things up soon.
Below Deck airs on Mondays at 9 pm ET on Bravo.
The post Below Deck Season 11: Which Crew Member Will Leave the Boat First? appeared first on Den of Geek.
