It will be a new era when Below Deck returns for Season 8. Don’t worry, Captain Lee Rosbach is still be onboard. However, six-season Chief Stew Kate Chastain is done with Below Deck forever. And, to be honest, I don’t blame her. Working on yacht just seems so exhausting.
But, talking shit on reality TV sure seems like a fun gig, and something that Kate excels at. So will she be back on our screens sometime soon?
Even though we know that reality TV isn’t everything, but this Coronavirus has had an effect on some of our favorite shows. Watch What Happens Live suspended production and the Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 12 reunion has been postponed.
Now, there’s word that the next Below Deck season has been cut short as a precautionary measure. Obviously, this was the best call. The safety of the cast, crew, and guests is extremely important.
Below Deck cast member Rhylee Gerber always presented a tough exterior. Whether it was a simple exchange between coworkers or answering to the lineup of bosuns that tried to manage her, Rhylee’s reactionary attitude seemed to escalate situations. Of course, the toxic masculinity onboard this past season was beyond acceptable, but dealing with male coworkers often put Rhylee on the defensive. Recall the season with the perfectly respectful Ross Inia as her bosun.
But that is just in the professional realm. Rhylee does have a positive male relationship in her life. That person is her stepfather. This weekend, Rhylee shared some touching photos of her with her stepfather.
I love Below Deck, but I’m so happy we can put Season 7 behind us. I’m sure Andy Cohen feels the same way since he’s received a ton of backlash after hosting the two reunion episodes.
Andy even interacted with his critics directly this week while filming his radio show Andy Cohen Live.
The crew of Below Deck Season 7 was a disharmonious bunch by the end of it all. The bickering within the deck crew caused strife on every single night out. Seriously, have we ever seen a season where the cast splits down gender lines to the point where boat-mances fizzle out and no one is trying to hook up? Everyone except Tanner Sterbeck, of course. He’s just so oblivious to the mood on board, he’ll keep approaching Chief Stew Kate Chastain for a sex date.
Miraculously, the toxic environment did not affect the quality of work on board too much. Though Kate was often at odds with Chef Kevin Dobson, and Bosun Ashton Pienaar, they maintained their professionalism and their departments rather well considering. Valor was not completely void of people who couldn’t push the drama aside during charter.
We have finally docked on this toxic season of Below Deck, and they could fill an ocean with champagne and it still wouldn’t be enough to celebrate coming to the end of this mess.
There’s really not much left to say about the stupidity, except that the guys have learned nothing. As Courtney Skippon so eloquently explained (how on earth did casting miss that she was smart and go on to hire her?) about misogyny it’s not simply hating women, it’s putting women down for behaving in ways you think are reserved for men. This manifested in Brian de Saint Pern deciding Courtney had no right to share her opinions and should stay out of ‘mens bidnezz.’ Or Ashton Pienaar deciding he could shove his tongue down Kate Chastain‘s throat, because all she’s worth is an item to satisfy him, not his equal rank in running an entity of a super yacht.
Last night’s Below Deck Season 7 reunion was heated, to say the least. There was also one very awkward exchange with Rhylee Gerber and Tanner Sterback about his mom, who appeared on the show many times via speakerphone.
During the reunion episode, a Facebook post from Tanner’s mom was mentioned. Something tells me that she’s written several Facebook posts about this show, defending Tanner, of course. She even went in on Captain Lee Rosbach. Oh, girl, you are in over your head. Did she not watch the show? Tanner made more than few mistakes.
After all the drama of this season’s Below Deck I expected the reunion to be somewhere on the crazy-level of your average Real Housewives reunion, but it was clear that everyone came with a plan to redeem themselves by being on their best behavior. Sure, there were disagreements, but polite and quiet ones. Even Kevin Dobson apologized and managed to find nice things to say about Kate Chastain. Not that we forgive him.
Andy Cohen was pretty direct this reunion. Possibly even skewing towards combative. He directly questioned Kate and Captain Lee, and even argued against some of Captain Lee’s points. Basically, Andy seems tired of Captain Lee blindly defending Kate at all costs possible. To err is human and last I checked Kate is a human, not the saint of the sea.
