Below Deck First Mate Gary King accused of s*xual harassment by production member Samantha Suarez 

Disclaimer: The following Below Deck copy mentions s*xual harassment. Reader discretion is advised.

Bravo's Below Deck and it's production crew recently received immense support and praise in the last couple of weeks for the way they handled a case of on-screen s*xual harassment during Down Under season 2.

At the time, Luke Jones was fired after he climbed into a female cast member's bed naked after both of them were intoxicated. The production crew broke the fourth wall as they intervened and removed Luke from the room after which, Captain Jason immediately terminated his employment.

However, while it was a praise-worthy incident, recently another Below Deck incident came to light which has earned the network the opposite reactions. Recently, while in a conversation with Rolling Stone, Samantha Suarez, accused another infamous cast member of harassment. She further claimed that Bravo covered up the Sailing Yacht cast member's behavior.

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Below Deck's Gary King accused of s*xual harassment

Samantha Suarez joined Below Deck during season 10 of the original show before she started working for one of the spin-offs, Sailing Yacht of the Bravo franchise in the makeup department. She was a part of season 4 of Sailing Yacht which aired earlier this year and was filmed in 2022.

While in conversation with the media outlet, Samantha noted that Gary King, tried to force himself on her in July 2022 while the cast filmed in Sardinia, Italy. She noted that the cast and the crew stayed in the same hotel as they got ready to film the season and during the seasons when the cast didn't work.

Her duties included hair and makeup, along with assisting the talent manager with day-to-day tasks.

In July 2022, while the First Mate Gary King was intoxicated, she helped him back to his room. She noted that there was no limit to alcohol consumption which she thought posed a "really big problem."

She added that while she accompanied him to his room, he was trying to find the other cast members' rooms to get them to sneak out and hang out. She eventually got him to his room and told him that she had to leave to help the other cast members out.

The Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 4 cast member insisted that she stayed and asked her to get in his bed. She told him that she needed to help the other cast members and added that she would come back to provide him with water and snacks.

However, when she returned, the Below Deck cast member answered the door in his underwear and again insisted that she stay. As Samantha entered the room to place the water bottles on the table, Gary King grabbed her from behind and refused to let her go.

Samantha said:

"At that point, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was freaking out. It just happened so fast."

Samantha added that although she managed to break free of King's grasp and made her way out to the hallway when she received a call from the talent manager. At that point, Gary King followed her into the hallway and put his hand around her again.

Samantha noted that she informed the production crew of the incident immediately. She noted that she told them that she wasn't comfortable with being in the same room with Gary and refused to do his makeup and hair.

Gary was removed from the hotel and was instructed to sleep on the boat during the days when the show was not being filmed. However, later on, HR representative told Samantha to not discuss the incident with the other production crew members. She was told that she was "trying to rally the troops" against Below Deck.

Below Deck is currently airing Down Under season 2, episodes of which can be streamed on Bravo.