In a statement released on Thursday, August 24, Below Deck First Mate Gary King discussed his reaction to the accusations made against him. Samantha Suarez recently revealed Gary King's "s*xual misconduct" towards her during the filming of Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 4 in July 2022 in Sardinia, Italy.
Disclaimer: An incident of s*xual harassment is described in the following article.
Following this allegation, Gary King received many comments from fans, and he shared the following in response to one comment on Instagram:
“It’s so weird, it’s also so far from the truth. She always wanted a platform and unfortunately, I’m the unlucky target. I’m not going to let some lying girl get to me… read that article fully, multiple times, and this happened to her on multiple seasons … seems odd.”
Gary King deleted this comment after some time, however. Furthermore, he appreciated the messages he received from supporters. Additionally, he mentioned:
“Please tell me who I’ve harassed from bd … if I did I’m sure they would have said something and not some random person. Please can you tell me where I have s*xually harassed multiple women … you’re watching the wrong show pal.”
The Below Deck First Mate Gary King matter was discussed by Bravo
Suarez and other former workers who asked to remain anonymous spoke to Rolling Stone about Gary's behavior as well as how Bravo ignored the incident and did not make a big deal out of it.
According to US Weekly, the following is mentioned:
“It was insane. There were multiple incidents of s*xual harassment in front of multiple producers after this person had been given verbal warnings multiple times. I had to promote and make this guy who just assaulted someone look awesome. That was my job, to make this person look cool, capable, and exciting.”
Based on this allegation, Bravo shared the following:
“Bravo is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows. We require our third-party production companies to have appropriate workplace policies and trainings in place and a clear process on how to report concerns. The concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time and action was taken based on the findings.”
Samantha Suarez joined the Below Deck's makeup department during season 10. Later on, she worked on hair and makeup for the spinoff series, Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 4. Following the incident, Suarez shared everything with the show's producers and noted that she would not be doing Gary's hair and makeup.
While this matter has raised questions about the safety of people on the show, 51 Minds Entertainment, the production company behind the Below Deck franchise, provided the following response:
“51 Minds is committed to providing an environment in which every member of the casts and crews on our productions feel respected and, most importantly, safe. 51 Minds provides mandatory harassment and sensitivity training for every series it produces at the outset of each new season and lays out a clear process on how and to whom to report any questionable activity.”
Further to this, Bravo is streaming the latest episode of Below Deck Down Under season 2. Below Deck Mediterranean season 7 and Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 4 are also available on Bravo.