Ben from Below Deck jokes about his first departure from the dock because Bosun wasn’t ‘legal’
Below deck‘S Ben Willoughby had his work cut out for him when he took over Jared Woodin – and he still has questions about the first departure of the deck crew with him as boatswain.
“This is the longest charter we had all season: four days long. We are already one man less [with Jared], but it’s nothing I don’t think we can handle. It’s unheard of [though when we] First [are] I’m from the dock,” Ben said exclusively We weekly. ‘You have two blankets [on the boat] while Sunny [Marquis] is stated in the tender. You wouldn’t do that. To be honest, I don’t even know if it’s legal.”
The reality star pointed out that it wasn’t easy to have stew Cat Baugh leave shortly after Jared.
“Interieur would support us with everything we needed, [such as] cleaning up the crew’s mess and all that kind of stuff. [They could] are taking back some duties from the deck team because we have one less man,” he explained. ‘But now they have to take it [more] tasks in their own department.”
Ben Willoughby.
Fred Jagueneau/Bravo
Below Deck and its spin-off series may be reality TV shows, but there can be real-life consequences for the crew’s actions, both on and off the ship. Over the years, stars like Hannah Ferrier, Peter Hunziker and Shane Coopersmith have been fired from their respective charters for various reasons. Below Deck Hannah from the Mediterranean […]
Ben continued: “It’s just not a level playing field anymore because we have two crew members [during] the largest charter we have had. I mean, what could go wrong? Emotions are running high. It’s definitely an experience, to say the least, and I wouldn’t want to do that again.”
During the Monday March 18 episode of Below deck, Captain Kerry Titheradge let Jared go and then promoted Ben. The crew was in for another commotion when Cat asked to leave to deal with the problems at home. Despite having two people behind him, Ben slipped effortlessly into the role of boatswain, even though he wasn’t offered the job right away.
“At first I think [I was] a lot [surprised to not be bosun] because between the two seasons I had worked as a boatswain on other ships, which was great. I fell into that role very easily,” he noted. “So when I was asked to come back and I actually stepped back from the lead sailor, I thought, ‘Damn, I’ve got to bite my tongue a little bit here and see what kind of circus this person is.’ run.'”
Rough seas! Viewers have had a front-row seat to some of the biggest reality TV feuds since the Below Deck franchise debuted in 2013. The show’s spinoff series Below Deck Mediterranean shocked viewers when Hannah Ferrier and Captain Sandy Yawn’s inability to see eye to eye turned into the most memorable shootout yet. […]
Ben found it “very difficult” at first, adding: “You could definitely see that in the first few episodes. It’s hard for me to just step back from a role knowing that we are destined to fail with Jared at the helm. [It was] very frustrating. I don’t think Sunny or Kyle [Stillie] I could see my frustration, but at some point I was ready to walk away. I thought, ‘If we keep doing this, I’m going to get off this boat.’”
The tension between Ben and Jared became apparent as season 11 unfolded.
“I think it was more of a competition between the two of us. I think Jared took it that way because he could have used me to his advantage. I know the boat, I know how it works very successfully,” Ben explained. “But I think he was just trying to use what we call two-stripe authority to influence that on me. I tried my hardest to bite my tongue, but I was ready to walk off that boat because I knew we were destined to fail. And apparently we are here.”
The Below Deck franchise has seen its fair share of chaos over the years, but there were some moments that stood out more. During season 7 of the Bravo show, chief stew Kate Chastain and boatswain Ashton Pienaar had a scary confrontation when the latter was drunk after a night out. Ashton finally hit […]
According to Ben, the benefit of taking over from Jared was that he learned what mistakes not to make.
“I was really happy that he got to work on it for the first time and I could kind of see what was going on,” he admitted Us. “I’m glad he made the first attempt so I could see how to do it and what Kerry was like and where he demanded things. Especially in the docking situations… I could tell Jared was stumbling and fumbling. So I knew I just had to be there on my A-game.
Below deck season 11 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9pm ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.