The Below Deck Season 13 trailer hints at difficult guests, and chief stew Fraser Olender and the M/Y Azul V crew certainly got both a handful and an earful when the second group of charter guests boarded in Thailand during Episode 3.
How to Watch
Below Deck airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST/PST on Bravo. Episodes stream next day on Peacock.
“These motherf—kers are making it so clear they want what they want, when they want it. It’s incessant. This is a nightmare,” Fraser complained to producers during Below Deck’s Oct. 26 episode.
Captain Kerry Titheradge and the crew got strong hints that the second charter would be an extremely challenging one even before the guests boarded. “This is a very lengthy preference sheet,” Fraser commented as the crew learned about their next guests, while new chef Moe Vilomar grumbled, “This is crazy…these people need to chill.”
Moe was so concerned, he began prepping the night before the charter began. “I’m worried about these guests. They seem a bit difficult. Their preference sheet was three pages long. That’s never good,” he said.
He voiced his fears that the guests would want “fancy s—t,” which was not his style of cooking. “I prefer flavors. I prefer utterly delicious over fine dining, any day,” he explained. “I’m gonna try my best, but sometimes, trying is not good enough for these people.”
As the first dinner service got underway, Moe and Fraser were proven to be correct. “I’ve never seen complaints like that at a dinner table,” Fraser told Captain Kerry. Fraser even admitted he was keeping a running list: “I’m writing them down as they come.”
Keep reading to see the many complaints and requests the second charter guess made on the Oct. 26 episode.
Fraser Olender details the guest concerns on Below Deck Season 13’s second charter
The guests complaints began from the moment Azul V pulled away from the marina during the Oct. 26 episode, as a guest immediately called the champagne Fraser was pouring “not drinkable.” Primary guest Carolyn elaborated that the champagne needed to go into an ice bucket, and advised, “put some salt in there.”
Although Fraser brought the guests salted chips, guest Melani relayed she wanted anchovies or “canned fish” for her snack, before later admitting that this was not on her preference sheet.
“These guests are giving difficult,” Fraser commented. “Painful. It’s giving, ‘Who hurt you?’”
Guest Robby then lamented that he needed a walkie talkie because “nobody’s paying any attention to us” and later commented the “service is terrible.”
By the time the guests got to dinner, Robby offered yet another complaint on the charter when he asked, “These are the nicest wine glasses we have?” Fraser answered, “Unfortunately, they are.”
While eating his freshly prepared Thai crab salad, Robby asked for lime, then later lemon, followed by another guest asking for a “finishing salt.”
Robby also took issue with the red wine, which he recommended should be put on ice. After he got up from the table to hunt down Fraser, he explained, “I would chill it a little bit…it’s good wine, but it’s just a little hot.” He further specified he wanted the wine served “not ice cold,” and shared if that happened, “we can wait for it to warm up.”
For the ninth issue of the charter, guest Alexandra asked during dinner service, “I’m feeling the boat rocking, right?” Robby then asked Fraser, “What’s up with the stabilizers? Are they not working?”
All was well on Azul V until 1 a.m., when Melani asked stew Rainbeau de Roos for a “small bowl of nuts and chips” as a nighttime snack. When Rainbeau forgot to fetch the snack before turning in herself, Melani then went on a quest a half hour later to find stew Rosa Simms-Preston to once again request the snack.
RELATED: Captain Kerry Reveals the “Biggest Misconception” About Filming Below Deck (EXCLUSIVE)
On the morning of Day 2, Robby kicked off the twelfth issue of the charter when he asked, “Are we eating yet or what?” Melanie added her own commentary on the lack of service. “Like, they leave us alone for like, an hour,” she complained.
At breakfast, Robby’s very specific requests continued. “Fraser, what kind of bread do you have?” he asked Fraser, before agreeing sourdough was satisfactory. But when the bread wasn’t served quick enough, he inquired, “Are they making the dough? What’s happening?”
More guest requests during breakfast service included “capers” or “a thinly sliced red onion,” “cream cheese” and “another screwdriver.”
It turned out even the egg order was complex. While a special of eggs Benedict was offered, one of the guests specified, “I would love to do like one eggs Benedict, but with two poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce on the side, and then caviar.” The chaotic breakfast didn’t end there, as two of the guests asked for their English muffins to be toasted more.
“People are complicated as s—t,” Chef Moe griped. “Man, I’m done with this f—king order.”
How Fraser Olender and Rosa Simms-Preston navigated a “problem” Below Deck guest
The twentieth issue of the Oct. 26 episode may end up having the most lasting consequences for the crew. It came from charter guest Melani, when one of her preference sheet requests was not carried out. Melani had asked for a glass of red wine to be placed on her table during turn down service, but producers showed that Rosa accidentally left the wine in primary guest Carolyn’s room instead of Melani’s. Although Carolyn brought the wine to Melani, Melani still informed Rosa what happened, and was unsatisfied with Rosa’s response at 1 a.m.
“There were some small missteps yesterday,” Melani reported to Fraser the following morning, and later added, “I don’t like being talked to like I’m the a—hole. You know what I mean?”
Although Fraser confessed to producers that he was “over this witch,” he conceded, “It’s my job to figure out what happened last night, and make sure it doesn’t affect the rest of this charter. Because this needs not to be the reason why we get a low tip.”
RELATED: Captain Kerry Issues New Below Deck Crew a Stern Warning About “Dangers” Looming: “Be Aware…”
While Rosa later admitted to Fraser that she “f—ked up” the wine, she shared her interaction with Melani was “horrendous” and added, “She was so rude.”
“She’s a problem, as we know,” Fraser replied. “Honestly, you did nothing wrong.”
This wasn’t the first time Fraser and the crew dealt with tricky guests. Learn more about the “shady” feedback the crew received at the end of the first charter.
