Below Deck returns for its ninth season later tonight, and the new crew of the superyacht My Seanna features quite the rarity: a male stew! Fraser Olender steps into the role of second steward alongside third stewardess Jessica Albert and chief stewardess Heather Chase.
How rare is a male stew on Below Deck? Prior to the new season of Below Deck, there have been a combined 14 seasons of Below Deck and Below Deck Med with roughly 48 stews. That number counts the positions and not the different people. So, if someone was featured as a stew on two seasons, that would count as two.
Of those 48 stew positions, only one was filled by a man!
The first Below Deck male stew honor goes to Below Deck Season 6 steward Josiah Carter. Josiah was the second steward alongside ill-fated third stew Caroline Bedol and chief stew Kate Chastain. Caroline would later be replaced by Laura Betancourt.
The gender bias in the yachting industry has been talked about numerous times on the show, and that seems to include pretty much every job on the yacht. The interior is usually women, and pretty much every other position is dominated by men — including captain.
However, if we are to use the first two Below Deck shows as a sampling, it seems that women are finding jobs on deck much more frequently than men are showing up on the interior.
In the 14 season of Below Deck and Below Deck: Mediterranean, there have been roughly 64 deck crew members, which includes deckhands, bosuns, and first officers. Of those 64, 13 have been women. That includes three seasons for Malia White, who has been a deckhand, a lead deckhand and a bosun.
Below Deck Season 9 includes one of the 13 deck positions filled by a woman. Rayna Lindsey is a deckhand this season along with Jake Foulger and Wes O’Dell. The deck crew will be led by first officer Eddie Lucas.
Below Deck Season 9, which will features My Seanna charters in St. Kitts in the Caribbean, premieres Monday, October 25 at 9/8c on Bravo. You can also stream new episodes on Peacock.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
