‘Below Deck’ Recap: Very Cool of These Nightmare Charter Guests to Make Multiple Crew Members Cry

Congratulations to the very first charter guests of this season of Below Deck — they’re the worst! Literally, they got worse by the minute, somehow continually proving they could be bigger monsters at every turn. Not sure how? Well, consider the fact that they made not one but two crew members cry within 24 hours of hopping on the boat.

We knew repeat guest Charley was a handful during Episode 1 when he jumped behind the bar to “help” the stews make drinks, but now we have way more perspective on why chief stew Francesca Rubi told Decider, “The first day — it was a shitshow. It was crazy. That’s the one charter that I probably would not want to relive again.” Maybe it’s because that night ended with her wearing a kimono to serve them dinner (where they requested food from as many countries as possible, nbd) and “sobbing uncontrollably” in front of Captain Lee (who, to his credit, handled it like a champ and said all the right things to her). And for her part, Francesca also told us, “I’m not actually a crier. I wasn’t looking after myself. I didn’t drink any water, I didn’t have any sleep that night — four hours or something. I’d been running on empty. My adrenaline was gone. There were a whole lot of different factors.” Yes. But these guests being a never-ending nightmare is a big factor here too.

And those weren’t the last tears we saw. The next morning, this charter group requested every item they could think of for breakfast — minus the hives I broke out in while watching it all go down, those were free! As Chef Rachel tries to navigate different pancakes, different omelets, and different avocado toasts, she starts to exhibit the definition of frustrated tears. You could tell she was trying her best, moving her fastest, whipping up delicious meals for them, and yet they complained about everything. They sent multiple plates back, fully aware of how “picky” they were being, and not once giving a crap. “You’ve already finished your breakfast and I haven’t even had mine,” one snarkily commented. Stop being the worst and you’ll get your food on time!

These are also the same people that complained that their bags weren’t unpacked by the crew (eye roll emoji), came up with the threatening phrase, “Day one having fun, day two it’s on you” (orange angry face emoji), and then marched down to the galley to cut their own slices of keto cake because, in Charley’s words, “No, I can just tell how tired you guys are and I just want to help out” (skull emoji). No one needs you to help out, they need you to chill out. Drink some Gatorade and stop thirsting so inappropriately over James too, while you’re at it. He was a good sport to go along with their request to have him wear a sparkly Speedo and allow the birthday girl Lexi to do a body shot, but the incessant fighting over who was gonna, what, hook up with him? Woof, awkward. Though that cringey drama was likely a nice reward for the crew to witness after such a rough day.

So even though we learned that Francesca has served the likes of Brad Pitt, Chelsea Handler, and Eminem, it’s no wonder she credits these guests with helping her to have “the worst day” in the history of her yachting career. Congrats on being a true nightmare you guys! You did it!

Below Deck airs Monday at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

Where to stream Below Deck