Below Deck Season 9 chief stew Heather Chase just revealed that she has been dating one of her former captains, whom she has known for years!
Heather made the reveal with a very lengthy, very heartfelt Instagram gallery post in which she shared her appreciation and admiration for her coworker, then best friend, then lover. Or, as Heather wrote it (in all caps), “HOW MY CAPTAIN BECAME MY BEST FRIEND > THEN LOVE OF MY LIFE ❤️🔥…”
Heather began by admitting how difficult it can be to have a successful relationship when you travel as much as the “wild world of yachting” requires.
“Captain and chief stew relationships are almost as frowned upon as crew/guest relationships,” Heather continued, adding an lol. She said that there “was no flame” between the duo during the first few years that they knew each other. “He was simply a hard working man that I really enjoyed working with,” Heather explained — not revealing exactly how many years they were just co-workers.
Heather stated that when she was offered the opportunity to be on Below Deck, her good friend was one of the first people she called for advice. “I wanted to be sure I was making the right decision and that my job would still be there upon my return,” she revealed.
“He supported me every step of the way. Helping me to rationalize if the experience would truly be worth it or not,” Heather added, along with a laughing face emoji — an obvious reference to the controversial season she had as chief stew.
When talking about conventional ships, rocks are usually a bad thing. However, they can be a great thing when talking about relationships! “Thru all the madness of Below Deck Season 9 and this last year of scrutiny this man has been my rock,” Heather said.
The Bravolebrity and former pageant queen said in her post that her working relationship with her captain ended when the owner of the vessel they worked together on sold the boat. Heather said that she “couldn’t help but want to spend all my free time with him” at that point.
More from Heather:
We traveled,
Walked the beaches in Kauai,
Drank a bottle of wine for hours by candle light in Tulum and bought so many house plants it takes 50mins just to water them all every few days.
Somewhere between the long work hours, sandy toes and dark chocolate notes in that wine I fell head over heals for this man.He’s shown me selfless love, compassion, support, friendship and undying love. On my hardest days he’s there holding my hand. My biggest supporter & the number one source of laughter in my life.
I want to say thank you to this amazing man. ❤️🔥Grateful is an understatement and wildly happy doesn’t even compare. I pray everyone gets a chance to know a love like this.. 🥂
Congratulations to Heather and the captain of her heart! We will be keeping an eye out for the seemingly inevitable engagement announcement coming soon! Or perhaps these two will opt for a romantic elopement during one of their numerous trips together?
(Unfortunately, Heather’s Instagram account is private and I am unable to embed the two-photo gallery here. If that changes, I will update!)
It’s unclear how long Heather and her former boss have been dating, but it appears to be at least a few months. The handsome mariner is seen kissing Heather in her “July / August mini photo dump” Instagram gallery.
It also looks as though Heather met her potential future in-laws during a trip to Seattle in September.
Heather mentioned in her post that relationships between captains and chief stews are frowned upon, but they are apparently not that uncommon. Below Deck Adventure’s captain Kerry Titheradge revealed on screen that he is currently dating his former chief stew, Gönül Bihan, that they initially met while he was still married to his first wife!
Taking things one step further than Heather and Gönül is Below Deck Adventure Season 1 stew Oriana Schneps. Oriana admitted on the show that she had previously dated a captain briefly while she was working for him. However, if we go by Heather’s controversy scale, Oriana got even more controversial when she started dating former charter guest John Dampeer — one of the eight charter guests featured in the very first episodes of Below Deck Adventure.
Oriana and John appear to have started dating not long after his charter last year, and they look to still be going strong!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
