When Max Salvador’s father ended up in dangerous situation in Tunisia, the new Below Deck Mediterranean deckhand immediately began plotting his rescue. Max tearfully revealed his plan to fly to bordering Libya, to Captain Sandy Yawn, who stepped in with a stern warning.
After first suggesting in Season 11, Episode 12 of Below Deck Med that Max call the French embassy, Captain Sandy also informed him that travel to Libya was not advised for several reasons.
Despite her warnings about putting himself “right in the middle of danger,” Max still appeared to be undeterred, and so Sandy continued, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat anything, Max. I’m gonna tell you this: Doing what you’re doing is not smart. Now you’re gonna go risk your life?”
She concluded, “I love you; I care about you. But you are a grown man, and it’s your decision,” just prior to a “To Be Continued…” graphic appearing on screen.
What happened with Max Salvador’s dad on Below Deck Med?
Earlier in the episode, Max received a series of desperate pleas via text message from an unknown number, before the sender was eventually revealed to be his father. “I am trapped in Tunisia,” Max’s dad wrote.
A “worrying” phone call followed, and Max explained in a confessional that his father was in trouble.
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“My father, after years, he called me,” Max added in his producer interview. “He’s in deep s–t. Really urgent.”
From there, he sat down with Captain Sandy, with Aesha Scott eventually joining them, to break down more details about what was going on with his dad.
Max Salvador details his strained relationship with his father
Earlier in Below Deck Med‘s Aug. 24 episode, Max had already opened up about his and his father’s rocky past.Â
“I was a kid that didn’t have, like, a connection with my father,” the native of Cannes, France, explained to a producer. “When I was 16, my parents divorced. My mother went away, and my father was already finding, like, another woman. And so, I was, like, by myself, 17, no parents, no one at home.”
Max further detailed how he’d survived, thanks, in part, to people bringing him food to eat, before he eventually discovered the yachting industry. “Yachting, like, really f–king helped me, [educated] me,” Max said. “Integrity, hard work, you know focus, and voila, here I am.”
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Later on, Max unpacked his reasons for wanting to assist his dad, despite their estrangement, in his conversation with Sandy and Aesha. “I want to do what my father didn’t do for me,” he explained while crying on Aesha’s shoulder. “What I will do is send an act of love to my father, even after everything he did. … I will not let him go.”
Max added in his confessional, “When he didn’t help me when I was 17, and he kicked me out of my house, I want to show him that even now, 12 years later, I’m going to help him and I’m going to love him and I’m going to show him what family is meant for. … If I can protect my father, that [makes] me someone.”
As wait to learn Max’s decision, get a sneak peek at what else is ahead on Below Deck Med Season 11.
