Well. Will she stay or will she go now? That’s the question this week on Below Deck, and I find myself on probably not the most popular side. But! We shall find out if Captain Lee and the Bosun Bunch can manage to keep their third deckhand to finish out the last six days of the yachting season. Let’s find out on Below Deck S7:E15 Public Displays of Affection after the break!
Welcome back! Are we keeping deckhand Rhylee Gerber or what?? She really only has one ally aship, that’s chief steward Kate Chastain who has also had many, many run-ins in with Rhylee’s boss and nemesis bosun Ashton Pienaar. Captain Lee Rosbach has been mulling it over since last week, asking the rest of the deck crew their opinion of Rhylee (it ain’t good) and now he’s calling her into his office.
Kate gives Rhylee some last minute advice: take responsibility for everything! Rhylee has zero chance to say anything is her fault. Captain Lee talks the whole time and his decision is: they’re gonna make it work!
Rhylee and me:
I get that the rest of the deck crew doesn’t like her, I just think they could suck it up and act like professionals for the last six days of the season. How petty were those grown men? Honestly. Captain Lee says the only way Rhylee can make people treat her differently is if she changes how she reacts and Imma ponder that but I’m leaning towards Just Do Your Job.
Does he mean that bullies are gonna bully but if you ignore them they go away? Not all bullies are entertaining themselves at someone’s expense, sometimes they use intimidation as a way of getting what they want. Ignoring that just usually leads to doubling down.
But! You can’t control someone else’s behaviour, just your reaction to it, so I will stop kvetching.
Rhylee is relieved to have her job, but everyone she works with directly dislikes her and tried.to.get.her.fired, so where do you go from there? It’s tough. She cries and Kate consoles her as Ashton is called to see Captain Lee.
Thank the gods, Ashton gets the talking to he sorely needed. He hasn’t been managing Rhylee, he’s been running around with his little gang throwing hissy fits at whomever he doesn’t like in that very moment.
That did not go the way Ashton was fully expecting. He needs to process his feelings.
He calls Rhylee up on deck for a three second Let’s Make It Work Talk and heads down to crew mess to complain to lead deckhand Brian de Saint Pern.
Ohh former guest model Molly is texting, are they gonna hang out on the crew’s night out? Ashton’s worried it will cause problems with the rest of the crew, but I can’t see why.
Kate’s got other stuff on her mind, hooking up with deckhand Tanner Sterbeck kinda stuff.
She clears the hookup with roommate Rhylee; she has awful taste! I mean, Tanner’s cute and he tends to like his partners to be older than him, it’s just that he already hooked up with Kate’s second stew Simone Mashile, so that’s a messy choice.
The men and women split into separate vans to go party, wooo! Rhylee is so glad to be away from the arseholes she works with, almost as much as they want to be away from her.
Let’s go to The Library! That’s my favourite bar I’ve never been to and I would do it completely wrong. Tanner asks Kate if she’ll go home with him and she just nods, then pats him on the bum. Awwww. Young love always brings a tear to my eye.
Previous guests Molly and chef Justine Vastano have arrived; chef Kevin Dobson is not happy that Justine’s come to play. They did not get along, chef to chef. Tanner, however, looks very happy to see Justine.
He literally asked Kate to go home with him less than 30 seconds previously.
Kate watches as Ashton, Molly, Justine and Tanner separate to do shots, then leaves to smoke outside with Kevin. Honestly. That was some straight up bulllllllshit.
I’m kind of with Kate, why would you want to hang out with guests after you just cleaned up after them for days and days?
Kate’s killing me. She’s watching Justine tell Tanner to take her on a date, work a little harder, but Kate’s a pragmatist. She’s put the time in, damnit!
The gangs split among gender lines again, the women piling into one cab to make fun of genitalia and the men drunkenly slurring something grunty at each other.
Second steward Courtney Skippon has been dating lead deckhand Brian, they’re so cute that you know they’ll blow up any second.
Tanner is barely upright back at the boat, he can’t even walk. That’s okay, Kate doesn’t need him standing, right? She heads to his bunk, “Tanner, Tanner, Kate?”
She cracks me up, go getcha sum, Kate! Tanner cannot be awoken, Kate cannot cash in her tickets for a pajama party. Boooo.
Just…Simone.
The next morning, Kate explains to Tanner what he missed out on, he’s super bummed. Rhylee and Ashton work together very quietly while Captain Lee watches.
Speaking of Simone, she’s upset that Tanner was canoodling with Justine. Courtney makes the wise choice to not share the Kate/Tanner news.
Courtney’s soon gonna have her own relationship dramz to think about anyway, Brian’s got a daughter and he’s not introduced anyone to her. Dating while being a parent is different, for sure. You can’t talk to one single person of the opposite gender without them thinking you’re getting married (for some reason they don’t pick up on the same sex friends, which is shortsighted of them). It gets much, much worse if you start having sleepovers and the like.
It’s already time for our Pre-Charter Preference Sheet Meeting, are you ready?? I SAID, are you readyy???? This time our Primary Charter Guests will be Alexis Bellino and Andrew Bohn, ohhhh she’s from Real Housewives of Orange County. Do you think the Bravo camera crews will have to duke it out? Or can they tag in as required or something? Just thinking of you guys! Take a break, enjoy Thailand!
*I used to watch Real Housewives of Anything back in the day, I stopped around the time all the housewives lost all their money in the massive real estate bust of 2008/2009. I still wonder about the ladies, some of them were kinda cool. I’m sure OG Vicky Gunvalson is still around woooooooooo!
Okay! Joining Alexis in celebrating her recent divorce is boyfriend Andrew and best friend Eric Christofferson. Captain Lee makes a quip about moving on rather quickly after divorce which only shows how little he knows of the institution. Divorces can take foreevvvveeer.
Jacob and Ashlee Barrena will be joining the happy couple, Kate’s worried about the dramz sure to accompany a Real Housewife: fair.
They want an Irish theme party and what does that mean?? Potatoes? Whiskey? Whiskey made out of potatoes? Green beer? Okay, I’m part Irish so I can make some fun but really have no clue what an Irish-themed party would look like.
There’s gonna be a cave party and a divorce celebration with Captain Lee in attendance, sure!
It’s Charter Day and time to finish getting this boat ready, yo! The provisions are heyah, everyone’s working hard and Ashton is STILL complaining about not being able to fire Rhylee.
30 minutes to guest arrival, everyone get into your whites wooooo! Hai Primary Alexis!
I did a little digging, looks like she did a serious upgrade over her last partner, but I mean: someone had to pay for this one, right? Thanks Alexis’s last hubs!
Kate takes the guests on a boat tour while everyone loads the baggage and de-docks safely. Kate’s not into the amount of PDA this couple is throwing, but just because you didn’t get any deckhand dong last night, you don’t need to ruin everyone else’s fun.
Oh this was awkward.
*Stops kissing* *she kisses his neck because his lips have moved* *”I love you”* *silence*
Next we see them, Primary Andrew with the Great Voice is being jumped on by Primary Alexis screaming “Everyone should get divorced!”
You know, I just met you Alexis, but you might want to not try so hard with your fella. It smells of vanilla and desperation.
One of the guests walks around in a red bathing suit, he hasn’t had a carb in two years and it shows. Wow, we don’t usually get to see hot dudes in bathing suits on these charters (Ashton does not count), thanks for the quid pro quo!
Captain Lee and the gang anchor somewhere pretty called Ki Phi Phi Don and it’s time for water sports!
Alexis screaming “DREW! I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!” as he jumps off the boat would also make me want to jump off a boat. What the hell, man?
Ashton sends Tanner up to babysit guests and Rhylee to clean the jacuzzi; she questions why she wanted to stay to do shitjobs while they hand out towels and stuff. She eats dinner by herself in her bunk as the other three deck crew high five each other above deck and have fun.
That was some primo editing, Bravo.
Kate’s decided to try Simone and Courtney out on service without her for supper, awww! But Simone’s over what she sees as Kate’s condescension and there is no joy in Mudville.
Brian and Courtney are both off for a bit before dinner, so instead of talking to each other with their faces, he texts her to ask what her thoughts are about their relationship. Courtney’s especially not happy to see this one.
Like, what? Kate thinks the same.
Kevin listens as Courtney lays it all out, Kate decides to send Courtney on a little tender excursion to Pileh Bay to get her mind off things.
Alexis and Andrew are kissing AGAIN. Again.
Kevin tattle-tales to Brian about Courtney complaining about his stupid texts; Brian has no right to be mad. He literally just said they’re only having fun so that’s not a ‘personal relationship’, is it? F**********cccccckkkkkkkkkkk yoooooouuuuuuuu
You know, or whatever.
When they get back on boat, Brian asks Courtney right away if they can talk later but she’s working and doesn’t want to talk about it at all. Brian tells Ashton what’s going on, they decide it’s all Courtney’s fault.
At least they’re consistent!
The guests dress for dinner, Alexis and Drew making out again but this time he looks like he’s into it. Kate is setting the tackiest table setting ever, she doesn’t know what an Irish theme party looks like either!
A Kitchen Party would be awesome, though! Get a bunch of musicians together, play some piccolo, eat some cheese, I’m there!
Oh wow. Alexis. She’s holding forth about all the men she dated and how she told them all she would never get married again but then she met Drew and now she wants to know “when are we getting married?”
*awkward silence*
Shots! Shots! Shots!
Kate’s not on service, so she gets dragged out of ironing for a smoke with Tanner. Tanner’s so cute, but he’s all talk and no action. He wants to *talk* about hooking up, Kate’s like: if we’re gonna hook up, you gotta throw it in instead of flapping your gums, ya dig?
More awkwardness at the table with Alexis, does she not understand how it looks when she talks about herself and their relationship constantly and he says *nothing*? She looks so needy! Girl! You’re gorgeous, you’re divorced, you’re a mom, you’ve probably got a sweet alimony deal from Hubs #2, you need to chillll.
The guests go to bed early (Alexis: “we’re going to have fun!”), the crew is super happy about that. Except Courtney, who cries in her room as Brian sleeps. She liked Brian and thought he liked her too. That text was a shock.
Breakfast goes well, the guests are all happy to see Rhylee, much more than her deck crew. She, Ashton, and Brian actually joke about that a little, but Ashton goes just a tiny bit over the line and any good feeling is spoiled.
In the middle of breakfast, Kevin takes to his knees in pain. He can’t straighten his back, he needs painkillers. Heretofore unknown First Mate Teh helps Kevin move into the crew mess as Kate is not answering her radio.
On her break Rhylee goes back to her bunk to be alone. This is gonna be a long five days.
Brian and Courtney sort of talk about what’s going on, he was really upset that she shared his business with the crew and she’s really upset that he said they were just having fun so things are awkward. He asks for a kiss at the end but she’s not down and I’ve never been more proud of her. Goodonya, mate. I know it’s hard to resist, but boundaries are a very good thing.
Simone passes on the bad news about Kevin to Captain Lee and we’re out! Cheers!
