While at St. David‘s helm on Below Deck, Captain Kerry Titheradge’s singular focus was keeping the yacht — and his crew — steered in the right direction. Now that Season 12 has ended, he’s seen the bigger picture, though, and there’s something he wants to clarify.
“Watching the season back always gives me new perspective,” Kerry explained to The Daily Dish via email post-finale. “As captain, I don’t see everything that happens in the moment — so it’s eye-opening to witness the dynamics as viewers do.”
Throughout Season 12, Kerry faced several seemingly impossible dilemmas, ranging from deciding which crew members to fire — and not fire — to whether or not to call the police to assist with an out-of-control charter guest. Regardless of who was involved, though, Kerry said he approached each incident with the same basic principle.
“What I want to make clear is that my decisions are never personal,” he elaborated. “Every call I make is about what’s best for the guests, the vessel, and the team as a whole, even when it’s tough.”
Bárbara Kulaif sets the record straight on her and Jess Theron’s breakup after Season 12
Captain Kerry is hardly the only Below Deck cast member who had an eye-opening experience, post-filming, though.
After previously revealing their breakup on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen‘s Sept. 8 episode, stew Bárbara Kulaif exclusively shed new light on what went wrong in her tumultuous boatmance with lead deckhand Jess Theron.
“Watching the season back honestly gave me a sense of relief, because it confirmed that I was right all along about the way Jess treated me,” Bárbara shared via email. “I also want to set the record straight about my appearance on WWHL. I truly didn’t expect to talk about what happened, but the topic came up.”
From her POV, she and Jess were “still together” when they first left St. David, but things quickly went awry on dry land. And, yes, Solène Favreau was allegedly involved.
RELATED: Are Jess Theron & Bárbara Kulaif Still Together After Below Deck Season 12? Where They Stand Now
“As viewers saw in the final episode, she was no longer planning to go to New York, as she had been saying before,” Bárbara continued. “We had an argument because, in my heart, I still felt there was something unresolved between her and Solène. That’s when I decided to end things.”
In the immediate post-split aftermath, Bárbara said she was headed back to her Sint Maarten hotel room when she “unexpectedly crossed paths” with Solène.
“I told her I was upset about how everything had ended, but that it was for the best — for my peace of mind,” she recalled. “The next morning, as we were heading to the vans, Solène opened the door to Jess’s hotel room wearing only a pillow in front of everyone. It was very clear they had spent the night together. It felt like a punch to the stomach, but it also gave me the certainty that I had made the right choice.”
As Bárbara concluded, “In the end, the deepest sadness comes not from someone you were only seeing for a few weeks, but from realizing it’s the people you considered friends who hurt you the most. I also want to make it clear that I didn’t share my story to create hate toward anyone — I simply told the truth of what happened.”
Previously, Jess shared her side of the story in a reddit comment after Bárbara’s WWHL appearance.
“Barbara ended things right after cameras stopped filming,” Jess wrote on Sept. 9. “It upset me and we fought, she ignored me and cancelled our plans to go to New York together. Whatever I do after she ended things was none of her business.”
Jess also claimed to have “receipts and messages” to support her version of events.
Damo Yorg reveals behind-the-scenes Below Deck Season 12 details
Deckhand Damo Yorg, meanwhile, told The Daily Dish that there were “so many things” he saw in a new light while watching Season 12. For starters, chef Anthony Iracane’s brief blowup with the crew over perceived criticism of the meals he provided them wasn’t exactly as it seemed.
“Chef’s crew food that we got in a fight over wasn’t because he made us sandwiches,” Damo claimed. “It was because that was food that was served to the guests that they didn’t eat, then served to us. There was half a sandwich each. That was the issue, not that it was sandwiches.”
As for his love triangle involving Solène and Kyle Stillie, Damo revealed that his fellow deckhand told him “probably 100 times” to shoot his shot with the stew and that he “didn’t care,” either way. Further complicating matters, Solène’s on-and-off fling, Jess, also kissed Damo over carnival weekend on Sint Maarten.
RELATED: Solène Kisses an Unexpected 3rd Crew Member in Shocking Moment: “Can’t Say I Saw This Coming”
In an unseen moment, Damo said he approached bosun Hugo Ortega and took responsibility for his part in the tangled romances affecting the crew’s overall performance — to an extent, at least.
“Me spilling the beans about Solène on the beach, I apologized to Hugo for causing that drama,” he wrote. “But what I said wasn’t my fault is that she’s not doing her job. I’ve never had one person not doing their job be so many other people’s problems.”
After also insisting that he “never complained” about Caio Poltronieri overlooking the deck crew’s breaks (which partially contributed to the bosun’s Season 12 firing), Damo continued, “There were so many fun things left out — beach Olympics, dances, fights, make-outs — I wish we could show it all!”
Hugo Ortega and Kyle Stillie reflect on Below Deck Season 12 drama
Caio’s replacement, Hugo, on the other hand, claimed that his opinions “haven’t changed” after watching the episodes. In hindsight, he might have approached his on-camera arguments with Anthony and Rainbeau de Roos a bit differently, however.
“I don’t hold any grudges and if I could do it again … I would have first spoken privately to hash out any beef/annoyances, rather than letting them spill out in a public setting,” Hugo added in an email.
Finally, Kyle, for his part, noted that his perspectives on “a few” situations and people “certainly” changed post-filming, before offering the final word on his rumored charter guest hookup: “All I have to say is that I didn’t do it, and I’ve got no good answer for why I said I did.”
Don’t miss what else Kyle spilled about his complicated journey after filming wrapped on Below Deck Season 12.
