Watching Below Deck Mediterranean on Labor Day feels both right and wrong. Right: We’re celebrating the crew’s labor. Wrong: We’re feasting on the drama of workers not getting along with each other when they’d be better off allying together against their employers to win better working conditions. I’m looking specifically at you, Ellie. The second stew is taking the hiring of a new stew as a personal offense. This week, I’ve seen a lot of discussion about what makes someone not a girls’ girl — TikTok’s Halley vs. Sophia scandal, The Bachelorette’s Kaitlyn Bristowe’s comments (allegedly) about dating Tayshia Adams’s ex — and I shudder to think which side of these feuds Ellie would take. The girl could use a friend, but this late into the charter season, the alliances — er, best friendships — have firmed up: Aesha/Gael, Nathan/Joe, and Bri/Jono are all solid pairs, leaving Ellie and Iain confidante-less. It’d be perfect if new stew Carrie slotted in as a much-needed friend to Ellie, but of course that won’t be the case.
Carrie arrives just in time for a crew night out, toting that tie-dye tote bag that shouts, “I spent too much money at Alo.†Not only is the bag deep, but so is Carrie’s experience. She’s been in yachting for eight years and has even been a chief stew, which makes her knots more experienced than Ellie and Bri. Carrie knows mixology, loves laundry, and is happy to help out wherever she can as a floater. The Scottish stew makes a good first impression, but not on Ellie — she jokes that Ellie needs a pole to go with her stripper heels, and Ellie does not like that. I don’t appreciate her implied shaming of sex work when they are, in fact, clear, sky-high heels that she struggles to walk in.
As the crew heads to dinner, Joe tells Carrie, “All you gotta know is that Nathan’s in a relationship.†If we were in court, I’d say he’s withholding evidence. Joe flirts with Carrie right away, much to Ellie and Bri’s chagrin. Carrie flirts a little back, teaching him some Scottish dancing, but she keeps things tame compared to her predecessors. Carrie’s more focused on striking up a friendship with Aesha, who likes her immediately. Aesha feels for her because she joined mid-charter herself in season five. The two bond over not-sexy dancing, something Ellie definitely does.
Ellie may be bitter, but Nathan is having a truly terrible night. Earlier, he got a text with the news that his friend passed away from cancer, and he doesn’t tell anyone, quietly drinking his sorrows. Gael can tell he’s not okay, but in the car back to the boat, he turns mean, which prompts Aesha to climb into the back seat between Nathan and Gael. Now that is what a girls’ girl does. Gael asks again what’s wrong, and he finally tells her about his friend, crying. Gael encourages him not to be afraid to show his sensitive side. Nathan tells us his family doesn’t talk about tough stuff, and he doesn’t want to repeat their patterns. Back on the boat, Aesha tells Joe what happened and that he needs to support Nathan. Joe’s late-night pep talk isn’t the best, but it’s nice to see that their friendship can have depth to it. Early in the morning, Gael joins Nathan on his top bunk. It’s unclear if they’re doing more than cuddling, but based on how annoyed Joe looks in the bottom bunk and how he behaves later, I don’t think he’s that cool with it. As lead deckhand on a mini power trip, he calls out Gael’s squeegeeing and watches her clean like a hawk. The man doesn’t know how else to express that he’s jealous of Nathan’s thinking of joining Gael’s trip around the Greek islands after the season. Being there for someone through a loss is a big step in a relationship, but I don’t know yet if the couple can get serious without Aesha’s prodding.
Like Joe, Ellie is clinging to the hierarchy. She asks Aesha if she can learn more about being a chief stew during the last few charters because she hopes to be one on a small boat after the season. Aesha kindly shuts this down by advising Ellie to just keep getting experience. Instead of getting to shadow Aesha or learn about placing provisioning orders, Ellie is stuck showing Carrie around the boat. Aesha was totally fair here; a new member’s first day is definitely not the time to be asking for vague lessons. Ellie turns her ambitions toward an influencer career path, as the producers throw in a clip of her watching a video about branded partnerships on her break. I have to laugh at this, which is basically the same as someone on a dating show saying, “You’re not here for the right reasons.â€
Can you believe there are still laundry problems? Me neither. I wish I didn’t have to write about this for the thousandth time. Alas, my job is to recap, and like Carrie, I want to uphold my reputation as a hard worker. Joe is down to one smelly polo, covering for Bri, who lost his second one. Perhaps now that he has a new romantic interest he wants to smell good for, he asks Aesha if she can track down his polo. She finds it in Iain’s room and is surprised the other crew members have been covering up for Bri. Aesha tries to stay positive when talking to Bri because she wants to finish the season with four stews and knows Bri is trying. Sandy feels similarly, priding herself on not firing entry level stews. We get a montage of past stews not knowing how to do the job. You may think you’re long past that reality TV stint years ago, and then Bravo will throw you into a montage, cruelly reminding us of when the show felt fresher. Bri suggests changing to a color-coded beads system because reading names on tags isn’t working for her. I doubt adding an additional step to keep track of will help, but I respect Bri for asking for advice in a yachtie group. She really is trying, bless her heart.
The new primaries are Murphy and Beth from Dayton, Ohio, along with three other married couples who are all celebrating their 15th anniversaries. There’s a possible shellfish allergy, and Sandy says there’s no room for error for Jono after his near-firing last charter. Except, with no replacement chef available, there’s more like a whole hotel of rooms for error. For their first lunch, Aesha holds off on service because the wind knocks over a glass, radioing the stews to stand by, but Ellie thinks they’re supposed to start running plates. Carrie follows her lead, and this puts Jono’s timing at risk. He’s worried he’ll be blamed if the food is cold, but thankfully, the guests are happy with the food.
A less happy meal occurs in the crew mess, where Gael and Nathan are eating. Joe asks if Gael can go back in the water, but she says Iain told her to change, and she doesn’t have any more “dry wets.†(I love the oxymoron of this uniform phrase). Joe will have to go in instead. He calls her a princess, and she calls him a prick in return. It’s teasing but with a real animosity underneath, and Nathan is stuck uncomfortably in the middle. I support Gael’s theory that the closer she gets to Nathan, the bitchier Joe gets with her. I almost want him to get with Carrie so he gets off our girl Gael’s back, but I still wouldn’t wish that upon Carrie.
Speaking of the new stew, the more Ellie sees how capable Carrie is, the more upset Ellie seems to get about her situation. Bri and Aesha are thrilled to have more help, but Ellie is operating from a place of fear. Aesha and Carrie hitting it off makes her feel like a third wheel, and she fears she’s about to be demoted. If there were a difference in pay, I could understand, but I’m pretty sure the second and third stews are paid the same here, making this an issue of pure ego. Ellie brings her concerns to Aesha, who says she’s not demoting Ellie but also doesn’t say she wouldn’t in the future. A hierarchy shake-up would be a delicious comeuppance after she tried to pull rank on Bri so aggressively. Aesha implies to us that Ellie’s not cut out to be a chief stew because she doesn’t understand that the guest experience is the most important thing. Hope those branded partnerships come through for her.