Below Deck star, Heather Chase has reflected on the Rayna Lindsey backlash from Season 9 and admitted an investigation into the incident did happen.
Heather came under fire on the show after she said the N-word while she and Rayna were singing lyrics to a song. Rayna was upset by the racial slur, which led to a slew of crew drama and backlash for Bravo.
The Season 9 reunion did little to diffuse the situation, with Rayna dragging Captain Lee Rosbach and Eddie Lucas into the drama. Soon after, Rayna did a tell-all interview with a friend via his podcast.
Months later, Heather’s looking back on the incident and sharing how it has changed her life.
Heather Chase reflects on Rayna Lindsey backlash
While speaking with James Pike on his podcast, Pop-Off Podcast, Heather got real about the impact the situation with Rayna had on her personally and professionally. The blonde beauty admitted she recently lost two dream jobs because the owners Googled her and learned about the Below Deck Season 9 racial slur.
“So that just happened again, like maybe not even five weeks ago. You know, it’s really difficult, and I’m trying to just look at it as every action has a reaction, and one day the reaction will. Turn in my favor, and until then, I’m just going to keep learning the lessons,” she expressed.
Heather admits she was 100% in the wrong, revealing the word was sung out of ignorance. The Bravo personality also agrees the incident needed to be addressed on and off-camera.
When it comes to Heather apologizing to Rayna, the chief stew shared she was sincere in her apology and genuinely thought things were good with Rayna. Although Rayna certainly doesn’t owe Heather anything, Heather does wish there was more transparency on Rayna’s part.
If Rayna was more transparent, it would have changed how Heather acted toward Rayna. Heather would have been more conscious of Rayna’s feelings and not been her “exuberant wild self.”
The entire situation has opened Heather’s eyes to hidden trauma and trigger words for people.
“Trauma is the lesson, right?” she expressed. “It’s a very teachable moment on how other people have really deep trauma and how words can trigger that.”
Heather is glad Bravo showed the incident despite the backlash on her because she wants to help others learn and grow as she did.
Below Deck’s Heather reveals an investigation into how the situation was handled
Captain Lee mentioned at the Below Deck Season 9 reunion show that an investigation into how dealing with the racial slur was handled did happen. Heather elaborated on that a little bit.
“There was an investigation done by HR. We have an HR team that is part of NBC, part of Bravo. They interviewed every single crew member like did we handle this the right way? You know? And it was handled the way it should have been,” Heather explained.
As for what’s next for Heather Chase, she’s focused on living the yachtie life right now, and that includes sporting a new haircut.
Heather recently worked with her good pal and Season 9 alum, Kaylee Milligan. They both shared some fun moments from their Bahamas charter season.
The rumor mill has been buzzing that Heather will return as chief stew for Below Deck Season 10. Heather has yet to comment on the rumblings.
Below Deck is currently on hiatus on Bravo.
Rayna made tooooooo big deal of this!!
If they were singing song lyrics, it’s not a racial slur, it’s lyrics, people can’t pick and choose what words are racial slurs depending on who is singing the lyrics, it’s either a racial slur or it isn’t.
Just watched the episode. Rana was looking for anything she could use to retaliate if her poor performance was mentioned and Heather gave it to her on a platter. If it as a hard R, then I could see a point. I am of mixed race and It was not a slur directed at anyone, it as used as a term of endearment. My work partner (best friend)and I called each other that (in private) for over 20 years. I don’t believe Rayna’s stories either. Heather is just a stupid and arrogant 25 year old 5hat has “heavy stripes.” She has no idea how to supervise and lead small teams.