Below Deck’s season 11 guest Jill Zarin doesn’t have any regrets despite the mixed reactions about her high demands on the reality show.
The former Real Housewives of New York City star reflected on her time aboard the St. David yacht, calling it an “amazing” experience despite facing criticism from some viewers.
Zarin challenged the crew by requesting things like specific ice for her drinks, suggesting adjustments to the bathroom setup, returning dishes that weren’t warm enough, and recommending a dining table button so guests could easily call for assistance.
“Honestly, my fans, they know me and it’s all good,” Zarin explained to E! News. “What was great is that the crew on the show actually came out in my defense and said Jill was amazing and she wasn’t demanding and it was a lot of tricky editing. Everything I said was true.”
Stew Barbie Pascal initially referred to the 60-year-old as “extremely demanding” in a confessional. However, after watching the episode, she took to Instagram to clarify her comments. “I watched the show back, and I don’t think that Jill was as bad as it looked,” she stated in an April 2 Instagram Story. “There were so many other moments where she was super fun and sweet and nice.”
On her approach to the competitive series, Zarin admitted she didn’t immediately catch on to the strategic game at play at first. “I don’t think I was smart enough to understand the game at all,” she shared. “It took a while. I got halfway through before realizing I needed a strategy, which I did figure out. But I was just having so much fun being in this house with these people, making new friends. I didn’t even think of it as a competition.”
Previously Zarin attributed her less-than-ideal experience aboard the yacht to Chief Stew Fraser Olender. She appeared on the April 9 episode of Heather McDonald’s Juicy Scoop podcast to explain her grievances after the Monday, April 1 episode of the show aired. Zarin claimed that Olender failed to fulfill promises he had made about providing snacks and food throughout the trip.
“When I think about the trip, it was the head stew’s job to make sure things went seamlessly, and I kind of blame him for the trip … being kind of a total disaster for my friends, who I felt terrible for.”
For his part, Olender found the reality star “very lovely and very funny — but demanding,” he told Us Weekly in February. “[But] all guests are demanding. They’re charter guests and they’ve got their preferences, and sometimes they can be frustrating.”
