There was a mutiny of sorts on Below Deck Mediterranean. It wasn’t Captain Sandy Yawn who was the target, but Chief Stew Hannah Ferrier. Love her or hate her, Hannah has been with the show since the first season. While she comes off abrasive and petty, and puts median effort into her job, Hannah should not have been the victim of the conveniently-timed attempt to overthrow her. Though, without question, Bugsy Drake makes the better Chief Stew.
Fans called out bosun Malia White for her role in exposing Hannah’s reliance on prescription anxiety medication during the most recent episode. Captain Sandy’s judgment was also called into question. But what was their level of involvement? And did they act on their own initiative?
Former Below Deck Chief Stew Adrienne Gang shared a very thorough statement on what happened and Bravo Superfans posted a screenshot. Her opinion is that production manipulated the situation and that Captain Sandy sold out to the siren song of increased screen time. But of course, with her hovering around the galley since the days of Chef Mila Kolomeitseva, fans already knew Sandy was thirsty for more.
Adrienne also worked with Malia shortly before appearing on the show, and doesn’t have positive things to say about her character. “So, off-camera, I’ve worked with Malia right before her first season came out,” Adrienne said.
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Adrienne shared,”literally as her promos were dropping and people were finding out she was on the show. She’s competent at her job, but extremely self-absorbed. I was only on board with her for a week and we were busy as hell. She is no equal to or above the chief stew, she’s a bosun.”
Malia claimed maritime social hierarchy gave her the right to reassign bunks. Sandy backed Malia up by giving her the room of her choice. But was Malia correct to assume her elevated status? Adrienne said no.
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“What Sandy did with the radio/room assignment redeux was horseshit,” Adrienne explained, “it was manipulative, petty, and most importantly, a blatant slap in the face of all the ‘team/hierarchy’ spirit she feigns to encourage.”
Adrienne then addressed Malia’s temper tantrum towards Hannah. “If I was Hannah, I would have told Malia that no one should talk to anyone that way, and I would have gone straight to my superior (Sandy) and had that conversation with her (not that it would have mattered too much since production obviously wanted Rob [Westergaard] and Jess [More] and ‘Tolia’ or ‘Malom’ or whatever their Twitter relationship name is in rooms together).”
RELATED: Below Deck Mediterranean Star Hannah Ferrier Would Never Work With Captain Sandy Yawn Again; Would Love To Work With Captain Lee Rosbach
Adrienne said, “flat out I would have walked away from the conversation because no one, especially co workers should talk that way. Malia has made mention several times that she is the youngest kid with a bunch of big brothers. She’s probably used to throwing fits to get her way, I’m just baffled that Sandy ate it up.”
Fans suspect that Sandy favors Malia because she sees her as a mini-version of herself. Yes, Malia is ambitious and driven, but so was Joao Franco (another one of Sandy’s favorites) and we didn’t quite see this level of questionable involvement from Sandy during the previous season.
RELATED: Below Deck OG Captain Lee Rosbach Says Bosun And Chef Don’t Outrank Chief Stew In Midst Of Drama With Hannah Ferrier And Malia White
Adrienne thinks Sandy has sold out to the whims of production. “I used to very much admire her hands on (vs [Captain] Lee’s totally hands off except to deflect blame and chastise crew) approach,” Adrienne wrote.
She continued,”now ALL of these situations feel like manipulated set ups. Get rid of Kiko [Lorran] (who isn’t the best chef in the franchise, but definitely the only one I’d want to be stuck on a boat with for 6 weeks), bring in Tom (too convenient), move crew rooms (to make things more juicy and tense, ‘find’ drugs, it doesn’t seem like a set up. It is a set up.”
Adrienne claimed, “I had all the faith in the world in Sandy to prove that a strong, confident female leader could rise above the pull of the network execs to manipulate the show and thereby her leadership role for the sake of more contrived drama.”
RELATED: Below Deck Mediterranean Star Malia White Addresses Cocaine Allegations From Pete Hunziker; Pete Stands By His Claims
It looks like Adrienne has some intel on the inner workings of the show. She believes Lee and Sandy have earned their status as permanent fixtures on the show in return for compliance with predetermined story lines.
“Lee succumbed to that temptress long ago” Adrienne wrote, “sold out for more air time for future seasons and just became a puppet to the network. [Sandy] has now failed to resist that temptress too. It makes me sad. It make me sad that she had such an incredible opportunity to prove that not all women (in contrast to the housewives) can stay above the cattiness.” Adrienne concluded, “It just makes me sad.”
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TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ADRIENNE’S REMARKS? DID SANDY FOLLOW ORDERS FROM PRODUCTION? SHOULD MALIA HAVE GOTTEN HER WAY WITH THE BUNKING SITUATION? ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT ADRIENNE THINKS LEE AND SANDY SOLD OUT TO PRODUCTION?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]