Queue And A

‘Below Deck Mediterranean’: Colin Macy-O’Toole Reveals Why He Was on the Verge of Tears This Season

By Lea Palmieri @littleleap
Published June 3, 2019, 8:00 p.m. ET

Where to Stream:

Below Deck Mediterranean

Powered by Reelgood

More On:

Below Deck Mediterranean

Colin Macy-O’Toole may be the nicest man you’ll find anywhere on television. He returns for his second season of Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo tonight, as the show’s fourth season sets sail in the South of France. This year, the Long Island native is working as a deckhand under his pal and bosun Joao Franco who also returns to the show, along with Captain Sandy and chief stew Hannah Ferrier.

When Macy-O’Toole stopped by the Decider offices today, we got the scoop on all the yachties, both new and returning, asked him why he seems to be crying this season, learned about a Seabob, and heard why he’s happy to be the resident rapping “goof” on the boat. (Some light spoilers for tonight’s episode ahead.)

Decider: Hooray, you’re back for another season! How were you feeling going back again?

Colin Macy-O’Toole: I was excited. Even though I was new to yachting last year, I think that the crew saw my work ethic. I’ll do any job 110%. With all the drama on the boat, me being the goof who doesn’t really care about the drama that much, it’s nice to have that comic relief. It works both ways. I work my butt off, and hopefully I can make a couple people smile too.

Was that your main goal going back? Did you have anything you wanted to do different or the same this time around?

Joao, Conrad, and Jamie, they taught me everything last year. That was the reason going [back] I felt more confident in myself. And then knowing that Joel was my bosun, I was on cloud nine. I’m not perfect, I obviously don’t know everything yet. But knowing he was above me, I had no problem going up to him, asking for advice, asking him to teach me, to relearn things. So it was a great scenario for me to be in and I couldn’t have been happier.

Did he ever have to discipline you?

No, I don’t think so! I’m a good boy when it comes to work. I try to do my job as well as possible. I don’t know if I can say the same about the others.

You seem to get along very well with Hannah, which is not the case for everyone. Did you guys always get along, and why do you think that is?

It was funny, last season, I think one of our first nights out, she claimed that she was 23 or 24 [years old], something like that. I was like, ‘How old are you really?’ So she went on for ten minutes of dead stare like, ‘What do you mean I’m not 23?’ I was like.. [nervously] ‘Ha ha, no seriously,’ and then I started shaking. And she’s like, ‘I’m just messing with you.’

I think it’s because if she asks me to do something, I don’t second guess people. I’d been a deckhand on the ferries when I was 15, and then two years later became a senior deckhand, and then a captain at 19. So I did all that. A lot of these guys who are just deckhands, they’re mid to late twenties. They’ve never really had people above them. They think that because they’re older they can just do whatever the hell they want. I was in high school when I started, so I was like, whatever you want me to do I’ll do! I know the hierarchy, I know how it works. You just never say no. And some people have problems with that.

It seems like we might see a new side of Captain Sandy this year, too. Was she scarier this time around?

Not for me, I think because I know her already. I know she can be a hardass, I know that. I think a lot of the new guys who have never worked with her… she’s very nice, so people may feel more comfortable around her. But the second something goes wrong and she puts her foot down, they’re like, ‘Oh shit she’s serious.’ Which is great to have someone like that. She’ll teach you to drive the yacht, but at the same time, you don’t wanna go behind her back because she’ll put her foot down.

Was there anything as part of your job as a deckhand that you got to do this year that you didn’t get to previously?

The water toys were a little different. We had a Seabob, do you know what a Seabob is? You hold on to it in the water, and you press the button and it moves you. It’s kinda like a dolphin, you can go in the water and pop back up. You’ll see that during the show. We had a waterbike, so that was fun. I don’t know how the girls do it on the interior, but deck crew is so much fun. We get to play with toys all day in France. It’s not the worst gig ever.

I love in the trailer that guy that’s screaming he’s so excited about the slide.

The slide is always fun. It’s always a pain in the ass to set up but the guests love it.

Do your parents come to visit again?

They don’t, no. But I’m sure you’ll hear them over the phone. I try and call them probably after every charter or so just to keep in touch with them. I actually invited them out, but they were getting an extension on their house and were like, oh not this time. I live a couple blocks away from them. I stop over for my leftovers. And I ask my mom, ‘Hey what’d you do today?’ ‘Oh, I texted Captain Sandy. I emailed Andy to see what he was doing.’ I’m like, Mom. You have to stop. She’s having a lot of fun with it. Both of my parents are having a lot of fun with it.

How were the guests this season from your perspective?

To be honest, I thought they were very good. Well, for the deck crew anyway. For the most part, I wanna say they were easy, when it comes to what they wanted for excursions or picnics. I can’t say the same about the inside. They get all the hard stuff. We play with toys all day.

When you met the new people on this season, did everyone already know about your rapping skills?

I don’t think so, and that’s fine. I made up some jaunty songs along the way. I just try to have fun with it and hopefully they found it fun too.

Towards the end of last season we saw some potential romantic entanglements with Brooke, acknowledging your crush on her. Any romances on the horizon for you this time?

For me? Um, no. But there are some with other crew members this season. That’s gonna be a little juicy.

What did you think of Mila’s Mexican food that she made in the first episode? Because I was thinking, if I was drunk, I would definitely eat that.

I guess if you’re drunk, if you’re shitfaced, yeah. She went to Le Cordon Bleu, a big high-end French cooking school. I believe the charter guests asked for Mexican food on the first night. But when you’re making tacos and nachos, it’s like, alright. You can make them Mexican food! But maybe a little higher caliber. Especially when they’re spending how many thousands of dollars on this boat? You want new foods.

I love when you show up on the boat and you’re trying to get the doors to work, Hannah called you Dumb and Dumber in one person. That’s pretty funny. Did you hear her say it at the time?

Oh no, because she was on the other side of the glass. But it was funny. I was trying to find the little button. I’m like ‘I don’t know where I’m going!’ Whatever people say to me, I take it with a grain of salt. I laugh it off.

It looks like you’re maybe on the verge of tears a couple times in the trailer. What can you say about that? Were you on the verge of tears or was it just allergies affecting your eyes?

Yeah, allergies, in the middle of the water. No, I get choked up a couple times this season. One is a little similar to last season. But then we had a big event later on in the season that was kind of hard for me. It’s hard being away from friends and family, and a new crew, the things that happen to the crew, things break or whatever. It gets to you sometimes. You wanna step away for a few minutes and have some alone time.

Plus, you’re probably not getting a ton of sleep.

That’s probably more Hannah. The girls inside work their asses off. Joao, being a bosun, he knows what he wants. He schedules the guys two-hour breaks during the day, and then we slept for six or seven hours at night. We rotate shifts. So no matter what, we plan that ahead of time. We talked about it before every charter. You can go crazy working 15+ hours a day. You definitely need to take care of yourself.

How was Joao as a bosun? He clearly wanted it last season. Now that he has it, does he live up to it? 

He’s amazing. He kills it this season. I know he’s been getting a lot of crap online, [as well as Hannah]. Well, you’ve gotta give them a chance because they both knock it out of the park. They both do very well, and you’ll be very impressed with them.

I know that people had their opinions, but I couldn’t help but like him last season.

If you think about job-wise, all of the stuff that people hate about him was off the boat stuff. Like when he was bickering with Hannah, and yeah, he was probably talking up to Conrad a lot, more than he probably had to. But you know he had a great work ethic. He would do whatever you told him to do. And I knew that going in he was gonna kill it.

Can you understand what Jack is saying? Because everything has subtitles when he’s talking.

[In a Liverpudlian accent] Everything’s an upward inflection. But no, everyone’s gonna love Jack this year. He’s the funniest guy ever. What’s also great about being on these yachts is it’s kind of a culture shock. For me anyway, because I live in a bubble on Long Island. So we have Aesha from New Zealand, Travis is also from Australia, and then you have Jack from Liverpool. It’s kinda cool to hear certain phrases. Obviously Jack is the free spirit funny guy.

How about Travis? 

Yeah, Travis is great too. He may have some problems throughout the season. It’s the funniest crew ever. Between all the girls and the guys put together, we wouldn’t stop crying laughing. Seriously, I don’t know how the boat didn’t sink because we were just laughing the whole time. They’re all great people.

Anything else that you’re excited for us to see?

I’ve never been to the South of France before, so some of the views, even in just the first episode itself. What’s really great about our season is we have different locations. There are more historic buildings, these towns are well-known and these cities. It’s like your mind is going on a vacation while you’re watching the show.

Below Deck Mediterranean premieres tonight at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Where to stream Below Deck Mediterranean