Below Deck Sailing Yacht Producers Should Have Edited Gary King Out (He's Ruining The Show)

Gary King returned as the First Officer on Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 5, but producers made a mistake in hiring him for another charter. The controversial cast member was involved in a fiery love triangle in Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 4, causing a rift in his relationship with Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher and former Chief Engineer Colin Macrae. While Daisy is back for the new season, Colin is busy sailing around Fiji on a catamaran. Instead of rehiring Gary, he should have at least been edited out.

Gary and Daisy have already hashed it out in Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 5, with a teary Daisy demanding more from her friendship with Gary. While Gary claimed he was also hurt by the way things went down, Daisy expressed needing him during the aftermath of her breakup with Colin. They're already engaged in power struggles, but luckily for Gary, Daisy seems poised to go to war with 22-year-old Chef Cloyce Martin after two chaotic dinner services. However, Gary's still undoubtedly a main character in the Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 5 cast.

Fans Are Watching Because Of Gary's Scandal

He Barely Got Reprimanded After The Incident

Gary was accused of sexual misconduct by Samantha Suarez, a makeup artist for Bravo, but he wasn't fired. In fact, he was barely reprimanded. Samantha claimed that when she was asked by production to escort Gary back to his room after filming confessionals, he engaged in sexual misconduct, including unwanted advances and inappropriate touching. She got away but was shaken by the incident.

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The incident took place off-camera, and Gary later doubled down, claiming the misconduct never happened and refusing to apologize. Bravo producers faced scrutiny regarding how they handled the accusations, and uninviting Gary to BravoCon 2023 seemed like a weak attempt at distancing themselves from the reality TV star. However, Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 5 had already allegedly been filmed, with Gary continuing his role as Chief Officer.

There was curiosity regarding how prominently Gary would feature in the newest installment, given the severity of the accusations and his troubled past on the show. However, when the cast was announced, Gary didn't seem to be edited out at all. The rollout of the season took much longer than usual, but Bravo chose not to erase Gary from the season 5 narrative.

Gary Is Too Much Of A Main Character

Bravo Didn't Even Try To Minimize His Role

Gary is still a main character in Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 5, despite his bad behavior off-screen and in previous seasons. Bravo didn't do anything but a slap on the wrist to Gary after the sexual misconduct incident. They kept him on for season 5 and didn't edit him out at all. Already, Gary's storyline is at the forefront: his relationship with Daisy, reprimanding lazy and incompetent deckhands and even crashing a boat. There could also be some interesting dynamics at play if Chef Cloyce chooses to pursue Daisy, as Gary admitted he still has feelings for Daisy.

It's unclear if he'll continue to play a leading role as the season continues, but he'll likely continue to be a main character. Parsifal III doesn't have a large crew, given the small size of a sailing yacht, and there are only so many storylines on which to focus. There's no way to edit Gary out of the show, and Bravo producers probably should have scrapped the entire season. By the time filming began, it was too late to reduce Gary's role.

Producers Should Have Interfered More In The Show's Edit Before The Premiere

It's Too Late Now

Bravo producers should have interfered more with the edit, but it's too late now. They probably realized that to edit out Gary, they'd have to scrap and re-film the entire season. From a business and entertainment perspective, that doesn't make sense. Below Deck Sailing Yacht waited over a year to release the newest season, and fan attention was sure to wane during that time. Scrapping the season as a statement didn't make financial sense. While Gary has behaved badly, producers probably couldn't do much to fix his prominent presence on the show.

Below Deck Sailing Yacht producers would be smart to focus on life on Parsifal III from Daisy's perspective and shift away from Gary. Many other new cast members could rise to the same level of stardom as Gary. He shouldn't be invited back for Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 6, but there's nothing producers can do about season 5. Hopefully, fans will continue to tune in after Gary's departure.

Source: Bravo/YouTube

Below Deck Sailing Yacht is a spin-off of the Below Deck reality television series. Premiering on Bravo, the show follows the life of a Yacht crew as they attempt to navigate a busy Charter season in which many customers make use of a 177-foot sailing yacht. Over the first three seasons, the yacht has been to Greece, Croatia, and Spain.

Cast Glenn Shephard , Colin Macrae , Gary King , Daisy Kelliher

Release Date February 3, 2020

Seasons 4

Network Bravo

Showrunner Mark Cronin , Doug Henning , Rebecca Taylor Henning

Main Genre Reality-TV