Well, so much for that clean slate. This week’s episode of Below Deck Sailing Yacht was all about Gabriela Barragan and the downward spiral she just couldn’t get out of. The second stew started the hour in tears. And ended the hour walking down the dock and off the show. She just couldn’t get it together. But to be honest, after watching the episode, I’m kind of left wondering what the big deal was? Am I the only one?
It was all supposed to be so much more fun than this. After all, there wasn’t even an actual charter in this week’s episode! But it was just proof that a bad attitude can ruin just about anything. On their night out, Captain Glenn Shephard organized a dinner ashore for the crew at La Caprichosa Pizzeria. But almost as soon as everyone sits down, the table nearly clears out, leaving Gabriela alone with Colin Macrae. The chief engineer attempts to give the stew a pep talk of sorts, but even he has to admit that sometimes, her sourpuss outlook when she’s not at her best. It’s basically the same criticism she heard from Daisy Kelliher last week, but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference yet.
The crew heads back to the boat, where half go to bed and half keep the party going. The latter half mostly being Gary King and Ashley Marti, who head to the hot tub together. Before you know it, and despite the third stew’s insistence that she’s not interested, the two are making out. Ashley’s straddling him. And it’s all in full view of both Colin and Gabriela — the former of whom simply can’t understand the magic spell his best bud seemingly puts on every female onboard Parsifal.
Of course, the sexual tension between Gary and Ashley can’t help but escalate. And soon enough, the pair sneak downstairs to a guest cabin for what is, ostensibly, supposed to be a back massage. But subtitles give away what’s really happening behind closed doors. Which, apparently, is drunken nudity and some form of intercourse. Except halfway through getting it on, Gary balks at what he’s doing and retreats to his cabin, leaving Ashley to slink back to bed by herself.
The next day is supposed to be even more fun…because it’s the crew’s day off! But everyone partied so hard the night before that the morning gets off to a bit of a rough start. Like Kelsie Goglia fully passing out in her cabin in search of her elusive water bottle. And then there’s Gary, who claims he can’t remember anything that happened the night before with Ashley. Not the massage(s). Not the strip-down in the cabin. And certainly not anything sexual. Not even an awkward conversation with the stew can jog his memory, which…doesn’t bode particularly well for their sexual chemistry. Right?
For their long-awaited, and much-needed, day off, Captain Glenn has gifted the crew with a fancy villa all to themselves. The views from the vacation rental at Cala Llonga Resort are unquestionably spectacular. But as always, the alcohol gets flowing and the drama kicks off. Ashley decides to put Gary on blast and claims in front of the whole group that she gave him a blowjob the night before. Gary doesn’t know what to believe. Because, well, you’d think he would remember that. So, that’s…awkward.
The rest of the day is wiled away by the pool, in the pool and around the pool. And Gabriela‘s determined to have a good time. There’s more drinking. Some harmless joking. Then the joking turns pointed. Gabriela starts irritating Chef Marcos Spaziani by imitating his Venezuelan accent and apparent penchant for name-dropping his home country. As a political refugee who hasn’t been back to Venezuela or seen his family in years, it’s a pretty low blow. But something tells me Gabriela wasn’t thinking about any of that as she tried to poke fun at him.
Then, when Marcos is already annoyed, things manage to get worse. He playfully flips over the tube Daisy‘s floating on, and causes the chief stew’s leg to smack Gabriela right in the face. What could’ve — and probably should’ve — been chalked up to a harmless accident quickly escalates into a war of words between the two. Gabriela thinks the chef wants her to die alone. (That took a weird turn.) But honestly, I’m too distracted by Marcos holding an underwater camera likely handed to him by production to really follow much of the argument. Long story short, it ends with Gabriela storming off and feeling more isolated than ever.
Hours later, there’s still dinner to attend to. And over a large bowl of steaming paella, Marcos and Gabriela manage to call a truce. And even do it in Portuguese, no less! In an attempt to shift the focus off the tension that’s been brewing all day between the chef and the stew, Daisy entertains the table with a hilarious big of Irish dancing. Where was that jig when you had to put together a talent show, Dais? Still, while everything finally appears pleasant enough on the surface, the day off ends with Gabriela officially on the bad side of more than a few of her crew mates by the time they get back to Parsifal.
The following day is a turnover day for the boat. Meaning there’s still 24 hours for the bad blood to fester before guests come aboard. Feeling responsibility as a head of department, Daisy‘s determined to mitigate the interpersonal drama. But she doesn’t know exactly where to start and dreads being forced to have a talk with Gabriela. Instead, she talks to Captain Glenn, warning him that there are some issues afoot. Without naming names, she promises to handle the personality clash before bringing him into it.
There’s still work to be done, however, and Captain Glenn calls Daisy, Gary and Chef Marcos together for the next preference sheet meeting. All we learn about the new primary is that she’s a cosmetic dermatologist from Greenwich, Connecticut. Oh, and she insists on the entire crew addressing her as “Dr. Kim.” So apparently she thinks she’s the queen of England on top of being a skin doctor. So that should be fun.
Meanwhile, Gabriela woke up with more than a few regrets, and spends much of the day emotionally spiraling. Phoning a friend from home only intensifies the waterworks. And by midday, she asks Captain Glenn if he can talk. Explaining that she’s clearly working through some internal issues, the stew gives her notice and quits on the spot. The funniest part is that Captain Glenn truly has no idea what’s even going on. But he respects Gabriela’s need to put herself first. And even says he’d be more than happy to work with her again. With less than a day before the next charter, the team is now down a stew and a deckhand. Though from the looks of the midseason trailer, reinforcements are on their way…
TELL US — ARE YOU SURPRISED GABRIELA QUIT? IS ASHLEY BEING HONEST ABOUT HER FAILED HOOKUP WITH GARY? CAN GARY REALLY NOT REMEMBER OR DO YOU THINK HE’S PLAYING DUMB? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE MIDSEASON TRAILER?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
