Chef Moe Vilomar admitted that he was going through mental struggles during Below Deck Season 13, Episode 5, and when he opened up about his concerns to chief stew Fraser Olender, it became clear that the chef was considering walking away from the crew of Azul V in Thailand.
How to Watch
Below Deck airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST/PST on Bravo. Episodes stream next day on Peacock.
“I’m gonna keep it real with you, this is way more difficult than I expected it to be,” Moe confessed to Fraser during Below Deck’s Nov. 9 episode.
Fraser carefully asked if “it was too much,” to which Moe admitted, “I’m starting to think it’s maybe too much for me, bro… I’m trying to f—king hold on, because I don’t want to quit. I do not want to f—king quit.”
Fraser tried to reassure Moe that it would all work out, telling him, “I think you have what it takes to last this season, without a shadow of a doubt.”
But privately, Fraser admitted he was concerned. “Please keep it together, chef. I can’t be working with someone else,” he muttered to himself. To producers, he added, “I really hope he doesn’t quit. Because if he does, I get f—ked.”
RELATED: Disastrous Below Deck Charter Ends With a Shocking Tip: “Did We Deserve This?”
Fraser Olender sheds new light on the moment chef Moe Vilomar wanted to quit on Below Deck
In a November interview with Bravo Insider, Fraser shared new details about his conversation with Moe.
“I wanted him to stay and, listen, we all go through these things. I’ve been in these scenarios before where I feel very overwhelmed and I consider the first thing to be quitting as a solution and it’s just not,” he shared. “I think that because I’ve done this so many times now, I’m able to give from the perspective of, ‘You can get through this. Take it one day at a time.’ That’s where I was coming from.”
Why did Below Deck chef Moe Vilomar want to quit?
Moe considered quitting after a series of events, including changes back home in New Jersey, difficult guests on the second charter criticizing his food, and Moe’s involvement in a scuffle with random tourists in Thailand.
“I’m feeling very down, because I’m not home with family,” he shared during the Nov. 9 episode. “My mom sold the house I grew up in.”
Moe was also reeling from difficult charter guests who complained about his cooking at times. “There’s self-reflection and accountability from the last charter,” Moe confessed during the Nov. 9 episode. “When I was a younger chef, I used to hate criticism. I used to challenge the chef as a line cook. But after a while I started realizing, ‘I’m the problem.’”
He shared his desire to make the third charter go more smoothly. “This charter, I want to make sure I’m just on point. I may not take myself that seriously, but I take my job very seriously,” he said.
Between the second and third charters, Moe and the rest of the Azul V crew also ran into “disrespectful” tourists, and had an encounter that left Moe feeling shaken.
Captain Kerry Titheradge reacts to chef Moe Vilomar’s struggles
Captain Kerry Titheradge, sensing Moe’s struggles, reassured him the second charter was “just a moment in your life.”
But Kerry also concerned about Moe’s mental health. “Moe is probably the easiest going chef that I’ve worked with. But often when people are easy-going, they explode,” he told producers. “Emotions really do affect people…I want him to know he’s in a safe space.”
Fraser Olender reveals what it was like to work with chef Moe Vilomar
Looking back at the season, Fraser had nothing but kind words to share about working with Moe. “Having Moe’s sort of cool, calm, and collectedness, was very refreshing and I really enjoyed working alongside him,” Fraser told Bravo Insider. “He is one of, if not the most, enjoyable chef I’ve had to work alongside… He sticks in his lane and we work well together, so I do really like him.”
ICYMI, bosun Alex also struggled during the early charters, as Captain Kerry called out a deck team mistake.
— Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
