I don’t think Gary King’s return is a good choice for ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Season 5
All it takes is one rotten apple to taint the reputation of a beloved series. That’s the exact effect of Gary King’s behavior on Below Deck Sailing Yacht. Bravo recently announced that Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5 will reunite Captain Glenn Shephard, Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher, and King as they spend their charter season in Ibiza. The new installment, which comes after almost a year since the wrap of Season 4, has sparked controversy owing to the inclusion of King, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. A production member accused King of forcing himself on her while he was in an inebriated state during the filming of Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4 in Sardinia, Italy.
While King has vehemently denied the allegations, considering his playboy ways since his debut on Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 2, viewers are leaning toward believing he is guilty. Given his reputation on deck, he often gets tangled in boatmances and love triangles, making viewers and those involved increasingly uncomfortable. His time on Parsifal III has nearly always led him into hookups with his fellow crew mates. Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5 filming has been wrapped for over a year and was allegedly delayed due to the strong allegations against King. Given the gravity of the situation and the safety of women on board, the question arises: Why is Gary King being allowed to run wild as a part of the upcoming season?
Gary King’s Behavior Was Problematic From the Get-Go
Gary King joined the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 2 cast in March 2021 as First Mate on Parsifal III and was later promoted to First Officer by Captain Shephard. King had 12 years of experience as a first mate and a captain on smaller boats, making him exceptionally good at his job. However, his sexual and romantic endeavors often led him into messy conundrums. From the get-go, King has been embroiled in boatmances and hooked up with fellow crew members, earning him the title of the resident f-boy on deck. Right from his debut season, King wasted no time hooking up with his deckhand, Sydney Zaruba, by the end of the second episode. However, eventually, King realized he was more interested in Third Stew Alli Dore, which resulted in his first love triangle on the show. Things got extra messy, and Dore broke things off with him shortly after the season wrapped. Interestingly, it must also be noted that Gary King had a long-distance girlfriend while pursuing both women on deck.
Season 3 saw King quickly move onto a new love triangle with Junior Stews Ashley Marti and Scarlett Bentley, before which he was also briefly pursuing Gabriela Barragan, who left early. Although it was evident that Marti was way more into King than he was, he continued his incessant, cringeworthy advances toward Bentley. In Season 4, things took a wild turn, with the prominent tensions between Daisy Kelliher and Gary King taking center stage. King was at a disadvantage that season as he arrived a few days later when Kelliher already had a thing going on with Chief Engineer Colin MacRae. King disregarded what the duo had going on and pursued Kelliher most uncomfortably, landing him in a third love triangle. When Daisy refused to give in to his advances, he immediately engaged in a situationship with Mads Herrera. He later accused Herrera of playing with his feelings despite her stating they were always casual.
‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Crew Members Have Accused King of Sexual Assault
On August 24, 2023, Rolling Stone released an exposé where a production member of the show accused Gary King of sexual assault. Samantha Suarez, who first joined the makeup department on Below Deck Season 10, revealed in the article that King forced himself on her while filming Season 4 in Sardinia, Italy, in the summer of 2022. During that period, crew members stayed in the same hotel, and before filming charters on the yacht and on the few “dark days,” so did Below Deck cast members. Suarez, who did hair and makeup for the cast, was also responsible for carrying out everyday tasks like ensuring that the cast members were safely placed in their hotel rooms, bringing them food and water, and so on. She noted that King was being difficult from the get-go and not adhering to COVID protocols when they first arrived in Sardinia.
While recounting the incident, Suarez revealed how she was given the responsibility of accompanying King back to his hotel room while he was visibly intoxicated after he filmed his interviews for the show. After much difficulty, she got King safely into his hotel room when he repeatedly asked her not to leave. Right when she was about to leave, King came up behind her, grabbing and pressing his body against Suarez, refusing to let her go. She managed to get him off after kicking and elbowing him, and by a stroke of luck, she received a call from a talent manager at that very moment. It should also be noted that King was just wearing his underwear at the time. Suarez immediately informed producers, and King was instructed to sleep on the boat for the remainder of the “dark days.”
Gary King’s Reputation Didn’t Help Matters Despite His Denial
Gary King’s behavior toward women has been problematic for years, which makes his denial of Suarez’s claims hard to believe. Be it the nature of his complicated relationship with Daisy Kelliher or his unhinged flirting with Stews Lucy Edmunds and Herrera, which made them visibly uncomfortable. King even made a snide and painfully uncomfortable comment on his sexual endeavors with Herrera related to her period, which was addressed on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. The Rolling Stone article also revealed that several anonymous crew members came forward to recount incidents where King was being predatory and disrespectful, terming him “next-level scary with women.” They also revealed other instances, such as when King had grabbed a female cast member’s butt despite her asking him to stop and where he grabbed a production crew member’s genitals.
According to US Weekly, King broke his silence on the incident in the comments section of one of his Instagram posts on the same day as the Rolling Stone story. In since-deleted replies to comments where viewers questioned the allegations, King stated that Suarez’s claims were far from the truth and accused her of making him an unlucky target while she sought a platform. He further expressed how she lied and threw shade at the anonymous accusers. King also doubled down on his denial by accusing Suarez and her boyfriend of targeting him as a revenge ploy for not being invited back on Below Deck over problems they had caused. In the same comment, King also addressed how the allegations have affected his career and his family, describing it as the most challenging period.
The Allegations Against King Should’ve Been Handled Better
Post the incident, both Bravo and 51 Minds Entertainment released statements to Rolling Stone which reiterated how they are committed to providing a safe working environment for the cast and crew with an update on the incident, “the concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time and action was taken based on the findings.” King was also removed from his panel at BravoCon 2023, but he continued filming. However, the revelations made in the exposé insinuated how production often lets such issues slide, and crew members who were vocal about witnessing the harassment were not asked to return for the following season. It cannot be ignored that, despite Gary King’s denial, his behavior across seasons — even before the incident — was quite problematic.
Bravo’s sweeping of the matter under the rug didn’t do anyone any favors as, ideally, they should’ve resorted to an immediate termination like in the case of Below Deck Down Under where Captain Jason Chambers booted Luke Jones and Laura Bileskalne for sexual misconduct. Captain Shephard should’ve overlooked his longstanding camaraderie with King and resorted to taking strict action against him, keeping in mind the women on deck. While it can be understandable to some extent that King had to be a part of Season 5, as it was filmed in advance, it would be disappointing to see him return if the show gets renewed for another season. It would further stain the already tarnished reputation of the reality TV show and cause them to lose respect in the eyes of their fans. While it remains to be seen whether scenes featuring Gary King have been kept minimal or edited out, there’s no doubt that his actions have left a permanent smudge on Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5.
Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5 premieres on October 7 at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo in the U.S. The episode will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
