The crew of Below Deck is struggling before the start of their second charter.
New deckhand Chris gets caught sleeping and ignoring the radio.
He’s hung over. The captain is not happy.
“One time, that’s it,” Nico warns.
“Yeah, I have no clue how long I was out for,” Chris tells Baker. Not a good look.
Kate’s stew crew is woefully unprepared to do their job, and the Chief Stew shows brilliant leadership in solving the problem.
She invites the captain to dine with her, in order to test out the stewardesses’ service skills in between charters.
But before dinner, she spends the day teaching them how to do their jobs.
Jen and Bri learn how to iron, how to fancy-fold napkins, and how to mix popular cocktails. Kate tells them they have to master dinner service
Kate’s worried that the stews have absolutely no idea what they’re in for, because their first charter guests were super easy. Kate’s training them to deal with the nightmare guests.
She’s super obnoxious playing the role of guest.
“This is like a fire drill. I’m the fire,” Kate says, enjoying it thoroughly.
Captain Lee is dying watching Kate harass the stews.
But their first cocktails take more than 20 minutes. And it’s just a Cosmo… the captain was not impressed.
Kate has to send a drink back.
Captain Lee tells them that they have to pick up the pace with the drinks. And always use a tray to serve.
Both new stews are rough around the edges.
The new primary charter guest is a San Diego restauranteur with a bunch of his friends. So he’s going to be super picky.
Chef Matt feels intimidated, and he hates making sushi. He’s not good at it.
And the charter is doomed before the guests arrive.
Captain Lee’s First Officer is sick, and he needs a replacement before he leaves the dock.
“We can’t leave the dock because of my deck crew,” Nico is mortified.
Matt’s looking at a cookbook that I have in my kitchen to make his sushi for a boatful of gay charter guests.
I think I bought the exact same learn-to-make-sushi kit complete with cheater roll-up thingy. Maybe I can be a chef on a yacht!
Fortunately, Bruno dresses up in booty shorts, and Nico stuffs the crotch, so that Bruno can be THE sushi platter.
The guests eat sushi off of him. Some use tongs, some use teeth.
Fortunately for Chef Matt, it doesn’t matter what it tastes or looks like because the guests are only concentrating on Bruno.
“Would I have done the naked sushi for six gay men? Hell yeah,” Chris says he likes making money.
After dinner, Kate pops over to the next-door boat to flirt with the guy she calls Hot Jesus, while things fall apart back on the boat without her. She stays out til 4 am.
Meanwhile, the guests follow dumb blonde Jen into the kitchen, and talk s**t about Kate slacking.
Then Jen snarks about Kate to Chris.
“So like we’re not supposed to leave the boat, right?” Jen asks.
Jen says she wants to throw Kate under the bus. And this is only the second charter of the season. OMG.
“I think you should tell us what the hell you did last night,” Jen says. “Or who you did.”
Half of the TV deck crew isn’t allowed to touch the lines when they cast off the next morning.
The guests don’t like Matt’s menu plan for their tequila pairing, and they tell him.
Remember the primary charter guest owns multiple restaurants. Odds are his guests are in the biz, too.
Chef Matt has to change the menu because nobody wants eggplant with tequila.
Later, Jen shows a little too much attitude to Kate in front of the guests.
“She sucks at her job but she’s hilarious,” Kate says.
Jen pretty much flips out.
The guests left happy. Naked Bruno was the highlight of the charter, and the crew got a good tip despite being dock bound on the first day.
They rush to clean up the boat so they can go out.
Chris plans to get drunk again. Bad idea.
They all go out to drink at a bar that got wiped away by Hurricane Irma a couple weeks ago.
Jen gets plastered. And annoying.
She starts bugging Kate, who doesn’t want to play mom when she’s got Hot Jesus guy waiting for her.
Chris is into Bri. Bri isn’t into Chris. But he thinks he has a shot.
Does anybody else see shades of Bobby in Chris? Sigh.
Next week, things don’t run smoothly with the deck crew. And Jen continues to challenge Kate. The girl must have a death wish.
Things we’re left wondering
What horrific illness did the First Officer come down with?
Would Captain Lee have even cared about Kate going to visit with Hot Jesus? He and Kate seem more like Mom and Dad this season, than employer and employee.
How can anybody be as oblivious as Chris, and not actually fall overboard?
Below Deck airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.