The Below Deck franchise is not unfamiliar with crew members quitting or being terminated, but usually they last long enough to at least leave the dock!
That was not the case with Below Deck Med Season 8 bosun Ruan Irving. An MCA Inspector was going through the crew’s paperwork and noticed that some of Ruan’s paperwork wasn’t the original copies.
Ruan admitted that he had submitted copies and that his originals were in a safe at a friend’s place back in South Africa. Captain Sandy is informed that she has five days to get the original copies, or else she would have to find a new bosun.
After the MCA inspection, Captain Sandy was made aware of some issues with Ruan’s Yachtmaster certificate (aka ticket). Captain Sandy looked up Ruan’s certificate on IYTNet.com and it brought up another man’s photo!
Captain Sandy called Ruan in to ask him about the Yachtmaster certificate, and he assured her that he received it “on a boat in Monaco.”
That only got Captain Sandy more suspicious. “They don’t have a school in Monaco,” she pointed out. She informed Ruan he needed to leave the boat and he would have to remain on the dock until they were able to very his certificate is legitimate. “If it isn’t, then I can’t bring you back on board,” she added.
“What the f***?” Ruan asks in a confessional. “What does that mean? I’ve been on boats for three years with that same ticket. I swear to god, the last thing on my mind is that the ticket was false.”
Ruan later calls Captain Sandy and informs her that he will not be returning to the boat. The issues with his paperwork combined with the recent tragic death of his close friend was just too much for him.
“I’m sorry about this Captain, but I don’t think I’m going to get the ticket sorted in time, and I don’t want to hold the vessel up any longer,” Ruan said. “I’m just gonna go back home. I don’t think I’m going to come back … I’m kind of just deciding to just call it quits, and just head back to South Africa.”
And that was it for bosun Ruan Irving!
Below Deck bosun Ruan Irving responds to sudden departure
After the episode aired, Ruan Irving took to Instagram to explain his side of what happened — including the issues with his paperwork, the death of his friend, and the fact that he didn’t initially remove his sunglasses when he first met Captain Sandy.
“Firstly, addressing the ‘why I didn’t take my sunglasses off when meeting captain sandy’?!” Ruan began his lengthy caption. “Dude, I was so nervous. Imagine people strapping you up with mics and there’s cameras everywhere and they say. ‘OK go!?!'”
Ruan then recapped the awkward moment when he first walked onto the bridge and tried to hug his new boss. “When I saw Captain Sandy, you will see in the episode I reached out for a hug and she put her hand out, and in my head I was, like, I just made myself look like a chop on tv. So my shades was the last thing I was thinking about!”
Ruan’s paperwork
“All my original hard copies were in South Africa,” Ruan wrote, just as he stated on the show. “I never travel with them. That’s why I get certified copies made!”
Ruan sent everything they asked for and no one raised any red flags. “The show had copies of certified copies because I sent them copies as requested (nobody ever asked for the originals till MCA came on board ),” Ruan said. “After the show, I flew to Cape Town and I got my certificates and sent the show a video with all originals.”
What about Ruan’s Yachtmaster certificate being registered officially under someone else’s name and photo?
“Now the yacht masters, that was the main issue,” Ruan continued. “It was through a guy that worked at the school I had done my yacht masters 5 years or so ago with who I contacted and asked to extend my expiry date because of the show etc! I paid a fee and I got sent a back and front copy of the yacht masters with new expiry date.”
Ruan claimed he was as surprised as everyone else when the discrepancy came up on the website, then admitted that his license was likely not valid. “The show started, and then MCA discovered if you scan the barcode it comes up with someone else’s name and picture. Was I scammed? Most probably!! Courses were taken, Guy got paid and I ended up with a f***ed license. Period!”
Has Ruan corrected the paperwork and Yachtmaster certificate issue? “It’s been a year since the show and all my certificates have been updated and originals are always on me,” he wrote. “Lesson learned 🙏🏼.”
Ruan Irving’s friend who died
In the very small amount of time that Ruan spent aboard the M/Y Mustique, he got a call informing him that his close friend had died. Ruan was devastated by the news.
“This was filmed a year ago, and one of my best friends/brother passed away, and I got the call on the show,” Ruan confirmed in his Instagram post. “So for the peeps saying I faked a friends death just to get off the show cos of the certificate problem, you have some serious issues,” Ruan added. “You don’t play with death.”
Ruan tagged his friend’s Instagram account, revealing him to be 29-year-old Keaton-Wade Uys. It’s not difficult to Google him and get details on his passing.
Keaton-Wade Uys died on August 13, 2022 after being involved in a head-on collision between a bus and an SUV.
“He had returned to the coast from a work trip to Europe the week before, only five days before the devastating accident,” reported the South Coast Herald.
I was unable to locate a photo online of Ruan and Keaton-Wade together.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
