For those of you who are Below Deck fans, Kate Chastain recently launched a podcast called After Deck in which she gives the inside scoop on the show’s drama. This week Kate interview fired cast member Chris Brown on what it was like to be kicked off Valor, his portrayal on the show, and what he’s been up to.
Chris Brown reports that he’s currently “a happy camper.” He’s left yachting for good and is living in Vegas working a high-end serving job at the Palazzo, and he loves it. “I’m a culinary school drop-out,” he shares. “But I confidently believe I am one of the best servers on the planet.” Kate agrees, “Your talents do lie at front of the house.”
Chris Brown no longer watches Below Deck, but admits it was “really rough” on his religious parents to see him being crass about booze and women. “Yeah, I’m not proud of that,” he acknowledges. Kate sympathizes, “I understand what it’s like to have a more religiously inclined family and then be on television doing things that are not so in-line with their beliefs.”
Kate also tells a hilarious story about her brother who nearly became a priest (dropping out his final year in seminary) and he’s now engaged. “Now the catholic priest in my family is getting married before me,” bemoans Kate.
Chris admits that seeing himself on TV made him re-evaluate his values. “When Below Deck aired and I watched myself, especially like episode two, I was like that guy’s a f–king twat; I don’t like him at all! I don’t recognize the guy – the Chris Brown on TV. I don’t know who that guy is.” Chris confesses, however, that a good friend watched the show, and actually told him he came across exactly as he is. It was a real wakeup call. “I don’t want to accept that reality,” he reveals.. “And I feel like some therapy could help me identify flaws in in areas where I’m flawed or areas that I’m blind and arrogant to, and then adjust and go from there.”
“I think you’re lovely,” Kate chimes in. “I was nervous walking on board. I had never been on camera, I had never worked on a yacht, and I didn’t know what I was doing, so you default into your most comfortable state, which for me is being loud, obnoxious, overcompensating,” says Chris. “I almost had a panic attack my first day [on camera],” Kate adds.
They spent a lot of time talking about Chris’s name and sharing it with singer Chris Brown. Chris hasn’t gotten any perks from the coincidence, but he received a “pretty negative reaction” after Below Deck. He introduces himself with the first and last name moniker to “stay memorable.”
Then they break down Chris’s last couple episodes. His first impression of EJ was “not good,” and Chris doesn’t feel EJ did much to improve things. Watching the show Kate sees a side of EJ she hadn’t noticed in person. “I never saw it in the moment,” Despite his shortcomings, Chris believes Nico Scholly had a total right to be pissed about EJ being brought on.
When EJ arrived Chris could “see the writing on the wall” that he’d be fired, because he wasn’t “meshing well with the deck crew” or Nico. However, Chris still doesn’t think he deserved to be fired, though, and names Bruno Duarte as “the weakest link.” Kate agrees, and gives Chis some feedback that his “self-depreciating sense of humor got misunderstood as you not caring about your job” which ultimately put him on Lee and Nico’s bad side and got him fired.
“They never gave me any responsibility and I never got the time to shine,” Chris laments. “I was set up to fail. I don’t think I was given the tools to succeed, and I just kinda ended up taking the fall for a lot of other shortcomings on the boat – Bruno and Baker, and Nico not being a good leader… All this shit.” Then Chris adds of getting caught napping on-duty, “I’m well aware you reap what you sow every time. I definitely messed up and made a mistake.”
After getting fired Chris shares that he was “pretty emotionally distraught” and “not good,” so he traveled around to clear his head. “Legitimately it f–ked me a lot more than I thought it was going to and it’s been a really strange part of my life.” It was also a blessing in disguise because Chris thought yachting was “meaningless work,” and “I just didn’t fit well,” he acknowledges. He says “never again” will he go back, unless he’s offered a ton of money.
They also discuss the drama of almost crashing into the Maltese Falcon. Kate gives some background on the uber-luxury yachts in St. Barth’s while they were filming and shares a hilarious story of her first charter, which was in St. Barth’s, and she almost drown on break.
Chris wasn’t surprised when Nico and EJ almost crashed Valor’s tender into the Falcon. “Here on the Valor we’re making s–t up as we go every single time. We never had those guidelines; those boundaries.” Kate still doesn’t understand why someone didn’t jet ski keys out to Nico and EJ. “Welcome to my life,” Chris complains. “Why was there a very simple solution and we took the most f–ked up option we could to have, like, a very disappointing result.” Um, Bravo drama, Chris!
Lastly, if Chris could go back and do Below Deck again, he doesn’t think he’d change much except he not talking about himself so much and “not be creepy and weird around girls because my dad says my game sucks.” Oh Chris… SO. MUCH. TO. LEARN. Kate shares she also had the same learning curve about not understanding how demanding yachting work is, and that a charter yacht is the worst place to learn the ropes. Finally, since Chris doesn’t seem to desire a return to reality TV, he shares that his dream is to open a tequila bar in Stockholm, Sweden.
You can listen to Kate’s whole interview with Chris here.
On tonight’s new episode we’ll see firecracker Leigh Anne Tuohy aboard the Valor with a group of friends!
“Leigh Anne Tuohy, the inspiration for Sandra Bullock’s character in the Blindside, and her friends prove to be a challenge for Matt’s culinary skills. Nico settles into life as the number two on deck but questions if he has the longevity to stick out the season. Jen tries to impress Kate but fails to adhere to the yacht dress code. EJ takes command of the exterior with consequences. Matt reconnects with someone from his past while Kate reprimands Jen and pushes her to the breaking point.”
Join us here in the comments at 9/8 C to snark the episode!
TELL US – WILL YOU MISS CHRIS BROWN? DO YOU THINK HE’LL CHANGE AFTER SEEING HIMSELF ON TV?
[Photo Credit: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo]
