Last night’s episode proved to be the end of the line for Hannah Ferrier on Below Deck Mediterranean when Captain Sandy Yawn fired the longtime chief stew for keeping Valium pills and a CBD pen onboard without declaring them to the boat. Yawn may have chalked up Ferrier’s firing to maritime law — prescription drugs need to be reported to and administered by a designated person while at sea to maintain safety — but it still played out like classic reality-TV drama. Malia White, the crew’s bosun and Ferrier’s former cabinmate, reported the drugs to Yawn, but only after a blowout with Ferrier over changing cabin arrangements so she could bunk with her boyfriend who’d just joined the boat as a replacement chef. But on Watch What Happens Live last week, White maintained the fight had nothing to do with it: “I already had my bunk at that point,†she told Andy Cohen. “It was because it’s my duty to. I don’t want to lose my licensing.â€
In a new Vanity Fair story on Ferrier’s firing, White explained that she’d noticed Ferrier taking pills throughout the season but didn’t know it was Valium at first. “And then I started to notice Valium wrappers in our trash can,†White told Vanity Fair. “That got me worried — and then, after the panic attack, when I finally saw the package on the counter, I realized it was Valium. That was a little concerning for me.†Ferrier had asked White for her Valium when she had a panic attack on an earlier episode, and on her WWHL appearance, White claimed that was when she realized what Ferrier’s pills were. “That’s when it became a real serious thing to me,†she said. Yet regardless of when White noticed the Valium, it took her days to report it to Yawn — even hours after she took the photo of Ferrier’s Valium and CBD. “This is my first time having to do this and there’s a lot going on onboard,†she told Vanity Fair. “Obviously I’m worried about the ramifications of it being on TV. But ultimately I knew I had to do something because most importantly on a boat, crew and safety come first. I knew what I had to do. I just was really hesitant to do it because obviously it sucks.â€
White added that she didn’t approach Ferrier about the Valium because “it’s not my place to bring up what she’s taking. I don’t have any right knowing her medical history. That’s between her and the captain.†But on her previous WWHL appearance, she added, “Hannah knows what she was doing was wrong; she knows that it was against the rules.†Ferrier didn’t comment to Vanity Fair and hasn’t addressed her firing since she livetweeted last week’s episode. “I like Malia’s arranging skills,†she wrote in one tweet. “So that’s prescribed Valium, CBD (which is legal in Spain), a lighter (not sure what this has to do with anything) and my passport holder … And for anyone who’s interested the prescription is on the other side of the box as shown.†Ferrier couldn’t provide a Valium prescription to Yawn on the August 17 episode, which led to her firing. During the episode, she called Malia “a snake†in a confessional.
Yawn eventually fired Ferrier not just because of the unreported Valium and CBD — he also cited her recent panic attack. “I personally don’t want to drive the boat to sea with how you’ve been lately,†Yawn told Ferrier after the firing. Yet talking to Vanity Fair, White said she wasn’t thinking about Ferrier getting fired when she reported the drugs. “It has never been my intention to be out to get someone,†White maintained. “I’m honestly just trying to do my job properly and look out for everyone onboard.â€