Below Deck Mediterranean Season 9, Episode 14 Recap: Maximum Insecurity

Welcome to the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 9, Episode 14 recap! In this week’s episode, called “New Kid on the Dock,” the new stew on board captures Joe’s attention, while simultaneously bringing Ellie’s insecurity to a boil. Bri’s still mixing up everyone’s laundry, but Sandy’s willing to give her one more chance. Joe’s constant “nit-picking” is getting on Gael’s nerves, and she finally loses her cool with him. Here are some of the highlights from Below Deck Med Season 9, Episode 14.

A new stew joins the crew

Nathan welcomes the new girl, Scottish lassie Carrie O’Neill, aboard. He tells her she’s arrived at the right time since it’s the crew’s night out.

When she meets Sandy, the captain is pleased to see she’s got mixology experience. She’ll be a better choice to tend the bar than Ellie, who struggles.

Aesha is beyond pleased to finally have some experienced help on board. Carrie’s been a chief stew before, so she should fit right in with minimal training. And she’s ready to work wherever she’s needed.

“I don’t mind where you put me,” Carrie interviews. “Third stew, fourth stew, whatever. That doesn’t really bother me.”

Unfortunately, when Ellie comes out dressed up for their night off, Carrie gets off on the wrong foot. Ellie is a bit overdressed with a tiny crop top and super high heels.

Carrie jokes, “We need to get you a stripper pole to go with the stripper heels.” Ellie’s offended. They are pretty high. She can barely walk down the gangway to go to dinner.

Joe’s attention is all on the shiny new girl. Bri jokes he’s going for “number three,” but at least she was “number one.” In the van she tells Jono and Nathan that she’s “done” with Joe. He’s already on to the next new thing.

Nathan tells her, “He’s like a dog with two d*cks. He’ll never seal the deal.”

Ellie sees a rival, and there’s bad news for Nathan from home

Aesha and Carrie seem to be hitting it off like a house on fire.

“Aesha and Carrie seem to be getting along very quickly,” Ellie interviews. “This might mean some sort of trouble for me. I’ve earned my position on this boat, and if my position should be threatened at all, I’m just not going to back down. That’s just how I operate.”

Later, Nathan gets a text from a friend: “Did you hear Tommy passed away 2 days ago?”

“What the f*ck?!” Nathan says and immediately starts wiping away tears.

Gael notices how quiet he is and asks, “What’s happening? Are you okay?”

Later at the club, Nathan’s hitting the drinks pretty hard. “Are you all right?” she asks again.

In a confessional, Nathan explains, “So I get this text that my friend’s just passed away from cancer. I knew he had cancer, but the night before I came to join the boat, we were out drinking. He seemed like he was okay … I’m just pushing it aside for now.”

On the way back to the boat, Nathan snaps at Gael, and she knows he’s not okay. “What’s going on?” she finally asks. “Why have you cut me off?”

“I have a friend who died yesterday night,” he tearfully admits.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, giving him a hug. “I understand.”

Back in the boys’ cabin, Aesha tells Joe he needs to support his friend. “He’s distraught right now,” she says.

When Nathan returns to their cabin, Joe says, “How are you, lad? … It’s life, you know. We’re just on a little journey.”

As shallow as Joe can be, he’s concerned about Nathan. “He’s a brother, so I’m gonna be there for Nathan. Whatever he needs.”

“I hope you can get some rest,” Joe says, helping Nathan into his upper bunk.

Preparing for the new guests

The next morning, Aesha has a little meeting with her newly expanded service crew. “On this charter,” she tells them, “[Ellie and Bri] will still be on your same schedules … [Carrie’s] gonna be with me. I just want you to float around and help as needed.”

Aesha just wants to see what Carrie can do, so she knows how to fit her into the schedule.

“[Carrie’s experience] outranks Ellie and Bri,” the chief stew confesses. “But I don’t want to upset anyone. So she’s just, like, my floater. There’s no rank.”

But in an interview, Ellie seems to think she’s still above Carrie, as she’s the second stew. “We’re in a hierarchy for a reason,” she interviews. “So just play your role.” Should be interesting when the new guests come, and we find out how many stripes Aesha gives Carrie. I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, on deck, Joe and Gael are getting things ready for the guests to arrive at 1:00. As Gael squeegees the glass, Joe suggests she use the smaller squeegee, since it works better.

Even though he’s the Lead Deckhand and entitled to give her direction, she thinks he’s being “passive-aggressive.”

“I don’t know if he’s trying to prove himself,” Gael interviews, “but I don’t think this is the way to do it … I know what I’m doing.” His “micromanaging” is driving her crazy.

More laundry mixup

Crew members are still struggling to find their uniforms. How is laundry so hard? You wash it, you dry it, you look at the nametags, and return everything to its rightful owner. Why is Bri so bad at this?

Even though he’s annoyed, Joe’s actually “shutting me mouth,” so Bri doesn’t get fired. Finally, he breaks down and tells Aesha that he’s on his last polo shirt and can she “sort it out” for him?

“I had no idea the crew has been covering up for [Bri],” Aesha interviews. “It just makes me want to explode.”

“I had to separate jobs in the laundry to pander to Bri because she swore [she wasn’t] making the mistakes,” Aesha adds in her confessional. “[But] it was Bri the whole time.”

It’s too late in the season to replace her. And then she’d be down to three stews again. “I really, really want to finish with four,” she adds.

Even so, Aesha tells Captain Sandy that people have been avoiding telling her that they have no clean uniforms, in order to protect Bri.

“I love that the crew [has] each other’s back,” Sandy confesses. “But we need to know … in order to correct it.”

“Just leave it with me,” Sandy says. “I’ll deal with it.”

Getting to the bottom of the laundry problem

When Sandy goes down to the laundry looking for her own clothes, Bri has mixed everything up.

“Why are you moving my clothes?” she asks. “You are still f*cking up with the laundry. What is it? What do you think it is?”

“I just feel like the system isn’t working for me,” Bri says. System? It’s laundry! It shouldn’t be that hard.

“Whatever you need to do your job is what you ask for,” Sandy says.

Bri suggests “little clip-on beads with colors,” cause she thinks she’ll remember better with colors rather than with writing. Why didn’t she bring this up before?

Sandy says, “Just get your head in the game. We’ve got two charters left … I’m gonna get you what you need.”

Failure to communicate

The new charter guests are on board, and everyone has a drink in hand. It’s time to get going. Iain’s dragging his feet about releasing lines, even though he’s got three people on the stern. Sandy sends Joe back to help.

“We’re on the second to the last charter,” Sandy confesses. “We should be able to un-dock with our eyes closed.”

When Iain ignores Sandy’s radio calls, she tells him to let his crew handle the lines so he can just talk to her. “Iain, you need to communicate,” she radios.

As Ellie sets the table for lunch, the wind knocks over one of the wine glasses. Aesha starts cleaning up the glass. She tells Ellie and Carrie to “stand by in the galley to start running platters.”

Ellie hears “start running platters,” and Carrie follows her lead. They both head up to the table, serving dishes in hand.

When Aesha sees them approaching, she says, “No, I didn’t say ‘come.’ I said ‘stand by.’” She’s still picking up broken glass.

“Jono, we’re just holding cause glass is flying everywhere,” Aesha radios the chef.

Ellie grows more insecure

Carrie attempts to make a suggestion to Ellie at the bar. The Second Stew rebuffs her.

“I don’t know why we need a new person,” Ellie whines in a confessional. “It feels like I’m about to get demoted. If I’m reading this situation correctly, it would make me start resenting Aesha for that decision.”

In contrast, Bri is telling Jono about her “wack” morning while she washes dishes in the galley.

“I appreciate every second chance or … seventh chance that they’ve given me,” she says. “I’m just gonna try my best to do better.”

“Me, too,” he agrees.

Princess with a bite

The deck crew is grabbing a quick bite in the crew mess. Joe comes in and says they might as well put the water toys away. Gael’s already showered and changed into her polo since Iain told her she could.

“I don’t have any dry wets,” Gael says, meaning the long-sleeve shirt they wear to protect them from the sun and small water creatures, such as jellyfish.

“You’re a princess,” Joe accuses her.

“You’re a pr*ck,” she snaps back.

“At least we both know where we stand,” Joe shrugs.

As Gael stomps off to her cabin, Nathan tells Joe, “You proper pissed her off, man.” Joe says he’ll apologize.

For her part, Gael admits her “blood is boiling.” She thinks the closer she gets to Nathan, the more Joe picks on her. And she’s not going to put up with it.

“I’m no princess, honey,” she interviews. “If he’s trying to get a reaction out of me, I’ll give you one. And then I’ll give you another.”

Ellie questions her boss

Carrie pops her head into the laundry to see if Bri needs any help. Bri says she’s good, and when she leaves, Bri interviews, “I’m just so happy to have [Carrie] around to get some extra help.”

What a difference between Bri and Moaning Myrtle.

Aesha’s tidying the bar when Ellie stops by. “How nice is this?” Aesha asks. “We’re so on top of things now!”

“So Carrie was on service today, just for training, right?” Ellie asks.

Aesha explains that she had Carrie helping out so she could gauge how much she knows about service. She’ll actually be filling in everywhere.

“I kind of felt like a third wheel,” Ellie says. “Is this how it’s gonna go for the rest of the season?”

“You were here, too, though,” Aesha responds.

“As a third wheel,” Ellie laughs nervously. “As long as I don’t feel like I’m being demoted.”

“At the end of the day, it’s my call,” Aesha says. “I’ll put her where I see fit. I’m not demoting you, I’m just putting her on service.”

“Just checking,” Ellie says, before walking away.

“When I’ve got Carrie around,” Aesha interviews, “I understand why Ellie might be feeling like a third wheel. But she should be grateful that we’ve got an extra set of hands. If you want to be a chief stew, you’ve got to understand that the most important thing is the guest experience. Not my second stew’s insecurity.”

Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.

TELL US –  WHAT DID YOU THINK OF BELOW DECK MEDITERRANEAN SEASON 9, EPISODE 14? DO YOU THINK ELLIE’S GOING TO MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE SEASON?

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