00:00We've got the St. David back again and the vessel had issues the previous season and this season
00:07there's a few issues as well that we'll find out. Very challenging this season. My biggest challenge
00:12of the season. Crew was always standard but it's getting through that bridge in St. Martin.
00:19And the season 12 trailer begins with you contacting the maritime police about what I
00:25assume is an unruly charter group. Have you ever had to deal with that in your yachting career
00:40previously? I've never ever had to call the police to the boat. I've had to steal them away when the
00:50music's too loud but I've never had to call them to the boat. So this for me is a first time.
00:55And I know you can't give anything away but what can you tell me about the incident?
01:03It was very elevated. The situation was handled very well by my crew. We've tried very hard to
01:17manage the situation without having to involve the police but I got to a point that for the safety
01:22of the crew and the vessel and the other charter guests and myself it had to happen. And I know I
01:29spoke to Frazier earlier and he told me he had to speak to the local authorities in French to explain
01:35the situation. Did he give you a debrief of how it went? Well imagine this like just imagine this you've
01:40got an Australian captain talking to a British guy who's then speaking French to the locals
01:45and then they're speaking French back to him and he's going to speak English back to me. A couple of
01:51times you've got to ask about. So yeah so there was a you know there's a lot going on and it was
01:57amazing to have Frazier there to be able to translate what I needed to get done but it was very challenging.
02:03And you and Frazier are really proving to be a dream team. Yeah. How has he grown as a chief
02:08to Stu in the time that you've worked with him? The thing I love about Frazier is he self-reflects
02:14and he's always trying to improve. He's not one of these people that blame others for where he's at.
02:19He looks at ways of getting forwards and Frazier and I we have a friendship off camera and on board
02:24we're very professional. So he doesn't mix the two which is easy to do you know because when I
02:30I want the boat to elevate and he wants to elevate and the only way we can do that is work together.
02:34And he told me you're very good at realigning him. Do you agree? Yeah I'm surprised on how well I do
02:43actually but it's again it's it's Frazier has he receives it well. So if you have an employee that
02:49was receiving constructive criticism and elevates it's golden. Right and you've got a rowdy but clearly
02:57hard-working group of yachties this season. Were you pleased with the CVs you were given?
03:02Yes I've got quite a mix of CVs and those that I expected to survive and those that I didn't
03:12expect to survive I was totally wrong. What a tease. Who stood out to you initially?
03:21I've got to say that Jess. Jess is incredible incredible on deck. She's new where to be at all
03:29times. She's funny. She's eager and she gave all the boys a good run for their money. I'm glad to hear
03:36that. You know in the season 12 trailer we do see you have to let someone go. The expectations of the
03:43job on this boat you're not there yet so I'll let you go mate. Is that the hardest job part of the job
03:49of being a captain? It really is. Earlier in my career when I let you go it was because you were not
03:54achieving and I would be disappointed in you in your performance. On the show it's not about that
04:03it's just this is not the right place for you at this point of time. It's there's no yachting like
04:07yachting on below deck. It really is it's a pressure cooker. It's a lot of stresses. There's a lot of
04:14things that influence your day that you have no control over and it's not for everybody.
04:18So when I let somebody go it's compassion. And I was really pleased to see Kyle back for a second
04:25season. You know in his confessional he expressed how much he wanted to prove to you that he wasn't
04:31quote a fucking dickhead unquote. Slightly disrespected him maybe a few times last year.
04:36Do you guys not take seriously inspection today? Just f***ing blank and disrespect. I'm f***ing beyond words.
04:42I'd really really like to prove to Kerry that you know I'm not a f***ing dickhead and I'm here to work
04:48and I respect him. Did he prove that to you this season? He proved to me that he's a dickhead.
04:55Kyle is an incredible worker. He really is. He gets his job done but he's got to keep it in his pants.
05:02Well in the trailer it seems that he may or may not have hooked up with a guest during Charter.
05:08He's either in there making our tip or losing our tip. The crew think you've banged a Charter guest.
05:14F***ing turn the seat. F*** off. And that's not okay?
05:17Her husband tapered. Yeah.
05:19Was it a joke?
05:22Was it a joke?
05:26What can you say to that?
05:27He put me in a very difficult situation because I will not put up with that on my vessel.
05:33You are no nonsense.
05:34No nonsense.
05:35But I want to get into the season 12 premiere. After watching it I'm very concerned about Chef
05:40Lawrence. How quickly did you realize he was having a tough time?
05:44Straight away. Straight away. So last season we had, I'm going to blank here. Who's my French
05:53chef last season?
05:54Anthony.
05:54Anthony. So Anthony, amazing chef and he spiraled and I didn't catch it till too late.
06:00So this season I really wanted to support this chef as much as I could. So I could see
06:05from the very start that Chef Lawrence was struggling. But he has amazing food. I gave
06:10a lot of attention for him to succeed through the rest of the season.
06:14And, you know, it's never a good thing when production gets involved. You headed right down
06:19to the galley once you heard what was going on.
06:21Yes.
06:21The cameras are here to film the show. Everyone's just doing their job here.
06:27It would barely go last night.
06:29You know what I mean? It's just like...
06:31And then I get told, no longer to make you succeed. Bollocks. F***ing bollocks. That's
06:37a lie. It's even a lie.
06:40What advice did you give him? Were you able to get him out of that loop?
06:45Well, it's a challenge. You know, we think we're not getting ourselves into. This is my third
06:50season on Below Deck. And at first, it's still a little daunting when you have the cameras
06:54around you. And my encouragement to him was, you'll get through this. Like, just give it
06:59time. It's a... You're in an environment you're not familiar with. You had the talent. You
07:03just got to calm down, mate. It'll be fine.
07:05And if you had an MVP of the season, I know it's early to call it, who would it be and why?
07:11I don't want to give too much away on who the MVP is. But I had... It was a hard choice.
07:16There was two people, interior and exterior, that were Thai.
07:20Could you maybe tell me who fans should be keeping an eye on this season?
07:25Oh, keep an eye on CĆ©line. Yes.
07:29Right. Have you, as a captain, changed at all since joining the show?
07:34Absolutely. So I'm in a unique position where I can take a good, hard look at myself,
07:39where I actually see myself on camera and how I talk to people and how I interact.
07:43And what happens to that person once they leave the wheelhouse after I've had a chat
07:46with them? So it's given me an insight on how powerful my words mean to people. So
07:52I need to be more careful in how I talk to people and then also how I can support them
07:56to do better.
07:57What can you tease about the rest of the season?
08:00This... The rest of the season, what you saw in the trailer, is five minutes of 12 weeks
08:08of TV. So it's going to get more and more intense, more and more drama. We have some extremely
08:14difficult guests. The crew have a lot of challenges, but by the end, they all pull it together and
08:19I'm super proud of them.
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