Chief stew Kate Chastain wasn’t the only Valor crew member who wanted to quit Below Deck this season. The drama became so intense one crew member did quit, and a few more came extremely close to leaving the luxury yacht too.
Everyone knows deckhand Abbi Murphy decided to leave in the middle of the charter season. The Bravo reality TV show captured Abbi getting engaged, then realizing staying on the show — and the Valor — was not for her.
Abbi has no regrets, which she talks about during the Below Deck reunion show, about her choice to leave the Valor.
After being continually attacked by other crew members, especially the males, Kate walked off the boat. It was the dramatic ending to another drunken filled night out with the Valor crew.
She was MIA the entire next day but eventually came back. Kate later revealed she came back because of her loyalty to Captain Lee Rosbach and dedication to the job.
Two more women almost quit
Deckhand Rhylee Gerber was put through the wringer thanks to the way she was treated by bosun Ashton Pienaar, as well as deckhands, Brian de Saint Pern and Tanner Sterback.
The guys didn’t want to work with her, excluded her from the group, and continuously put her down.
All of the negativity became too much for Rhylee. She said during a Bravo original digital Q&A that she almost left because “I don’t enjoy working with pricks, and that’s all we have on deck.”
There is no love lost between Kate and the second stew, Simone Mashile. The two ladies did not see eye to eye on Simone’s position or the quality of the job she did.
At one point, the tension became so draining Simone considered leaving, but she is not a quitter.
Below Deck 02/10/20 Sneak Peek: ‘Simone Mashile Confronts Kate Chastain About the Way She Was Treated’ ? #BelowDeck pic.twitter.com/xAZ2owZlST
— Randy Haas (@Randy_Haas) February 10, 2020
Two guys also thought about quitting
It wasn’t only the females on the Valor who thought about throwing in the towel. Tanner admitted quitting did cross his mind because he was “over it.”
He explained Ashton had to take him aside several times during the season to talk to Tanner about his losing interest in the job. The deckhand revealed it was supposed to be fun working and seeing Thailand, but the drama became too much at one point.
Chef Kevin Dobson recalled his desire to quit after the second charter and Captain Lee scolding him for his lackluster cooking. Kevin did not want to hear criticism of his culinary skills.
However, like Simone, he is not a quitter, and finishing the job was important to him.
If everyone who wanted to quit Below Deck Season 7 did, it would have made the reality TV series quite different than what played out. The drama would have been for a whole other reason than drunken antics and bad behavior.
Below Deck airs Mondays at 8/7c on Bravo.