People are upset with Lara Rigby following her Below Deck Down Under Season 3 storylines on Bravo. While we can understand side-eyeing this cast who chose to bare it all on our screens, threats and messages that cause or threaten harm are unacceptable. Sadly, these types of messages have recently landed in her inbox. So please, everyone lay down their seafaring swords, as Lara is just a girl, standing on a yacht, asking us to treat her humanely.
People are upset with Below Deck’s Lara Rigby due to Down Under conflict with Tzarina Mace-Ralph
Before Lara entered filming on the Below Deck franchise, she and Tzarina Mace-Ralph were friendly. These two Bravo stars had worked together previously on an unfilmed yacht. However, tensions arose on this vessel, as both women explained during Season 3 of BDDU.
According to Lara, Tzarina had an attitude problem that annoyed their captain. Meanwhile, Tzarina explained her exit on this yacht as her decision, aided by Lara, as they kept butting heads. Wherever the truth lies in this narrative, Lara and Tzarina are now warring on Bravo.
Lara is a phenomenal chief stew. Likewise, Tzarina has yet to serve a dish that her guests hate, minus that hot soup she served on a warm evening. But even this, her guests ate with zero notes (after pointing out that it was too hot outside for soup).
However, Lara and Tzarina run different styles of ships. As Lara is firmer with her decisions, Tzarina feels steamrolled, as if she has to say yes to anything Lara suggests. Additionally, Lara befriended Alesia Harris, and their exchanges remind Tzarina of her youth when she failed to fit in with her peers.
Meanwhile, Tzarina purposely lied about Lara, suggesting that Lara showed up late for work, which got underneath her skin, just as Tzarina had planned. Once Captain Jason Chambers entered this chat, Lara was too far over this mess to care, so she excused herself from his mediation. Overall, Episode 14 was messy. Cue the hate train en route to Lara.
Below Deck Down Under’s Lara Rigby and Tzarina Mace-Ralph confronted the trolls
After Episode 14 aired, Lara started growing concerned. Therefore, Lara posted a statement on her Instagram Stories. A copy of her emotional plea remains alive on Reddit.
After stressing that Episode 14 “was a lot,” Lara admitted that it has not “felt nice” watching this episode as it airs. Then, Lara revealed that she experienced a panic attack thanks to the “tough” stressors of this series. Finally, Lara reminded everyone that this is a television show and she is only human. So, while our feelings might rise, they should never reach the level where death threats enter our conversations.
“We’re all just trying to do our best,” Lara said, noting that we only see a condensed version of the events that transpired. Lara then joked about her daily dosages of trolls, ending with words of praise and thanks to her kind followers and commenters.
Several beats later, Tzarina also spoke out on behalf of Lara, which Reddit also recalled. After stating that the cyberbullying towards Lara has gone too far, Tzarina reminded us all that we “don’t do that. We don’t do death threats” or “horrible comments,” Tzarina implored, as this is “a fun TV show,” so we “have no right to be that mean to someone online.”
No matter how you feel about Lara Rigby on Below Deck Down Under, she does not deserve the hate
Lara is right and wrong, as is Tzarina. Similarly, our frustrations are fine. But our hatred is not.
In retrospect, BDDU Season 3 is relatively drama-free. In past seasons across this franchise, storylines have included near-death experiences of the crew, attempted sexual assaults, gross comments made involving race and sexuality, addictions, and full-blown aggressive-aggressive behaviors, which have all rocked their yachts.
As reality television stars, these humans are here to entertain their masses. Are you not entertained, fans of BDDU? If so, great! If not, you are allowed to say so, but once your comments hit a level worse than anything these stars have given us on Bravo, congratulations, as you are now the problem.
Thankfully, none of us has cameras in our faces 24/7. When we mess up, only the people we love usually know, and they will forgive or forget us as they see fit. But if cameras showed up to capture our days, our frustrated quips and/or actions might go viral.
Worse yet, imagine you start receiving triggered reactions from absolute strangers calling for your head. Now, try to picture how this must feel. As Lara pointed out, words hurt. No matter where you stand, keep kind or carry on. Death threats over issues like a vacuumed crew mess are awful.
Below Deck Down Under is streaming on Peacock and Hayu in the UK and Ireland.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK THE HATE SHOWN TOWARDS LARA HAS GONE TOO FAR? DO YOU HAVE ANY ENCOURAGING WORDS FOR LARA?
