Below Deck: Sailing Yacht is set to premiere its fifth season on Monday, October 7, Bravo has announced. This comes one year after Rolling Stone published a report of sexual misconduct claims against cast member Gary King.
First mate King, who was accused of assault by makeup artist Samantha Suarez during filming, was reportedly not permitted to attend BravoCon with his co-stars, leading some fans to wonder whether the entire season might be scrapped. The Bravo press release, however, indicated that he would have a major storyline in season 5, which takes place in Ibiza. “Capt. Glenn Shephard returns to Parsifal III with returning department heads Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher and First Mate Gary King,” the statement reads. “On deck, Gary attempts to keep his team motivated as one crew member struggles to learn the ropes.”
Key art for ‘Below Deck: Sailing Yacht’ season 5. The series will air on BRAVO on Monday, October 7.
Bravo/Bravo
Suarez detailed her alleged traumatic experience with King in an email to Rolling Stone, which claimed she was bringing snacks and water to King’s room, at which point he “comes up behind me, puts his arms around me, holds me against his body, physically restraining me from leaving, and says stuff like no don’t go. I get out of his grip, tell him again that I have to leave, that I am not staying, and I go reach for the door knob and he comes over and puts both his hands on the door, with his whole weight, to push it shut.” She continued, “This whole time he’s laughing. I ask him to please let me out of the room, that I have to go. I then get a phone call from [the show’s talent manager]. He sees and hears that I answer and he finally moves away from the door, allowing me to open it.”
Rolling Stone published a statement at the time from Below Deck production company 51 Minds that read, “51 Minds is committed to providing an environment in which every member of the casts and crews on our productions feel respected and, most importantly, safe. 51 Minds provides mandatory harassment and sensitivity training for every series it produces at the outset of each new season and lays out a clear process on how and to whom to report any questionable activity. […] With regard to the incident reported by Ms. Suarez involving Mr. King, the case was investigated and reviewed as soon as it was submitted, and production acted accordingly based on the results.”
King spoke out about the allegations in the comments section of Instagram in September of 2023, responding to a fan who asked if there was an investigation into the allegations. King vehemently denied the allegations, saying of Suarez: “her and her boyfriend(now ex I hear) weren’t invited back to any BD due to the problems they cause[d], so she wanted revenge and to try make some money out of it.”
Bravo posted a trailer for season five on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, September 15. Some fans were excited, writing “All this chaos in less than 3 minutes” and “It’s always a pleasure to set sail with Captain Glenn, even if his crew is mentally unstable!” Others however, had reservations about King’s return to the show. “why in the hell is Gary back???” asked an X user. “Disgusting perv Gary is back,” said another. One user defended the network’s inclusion of King in season five, writing, “This happened before the allegations. Can you all just calm the [expletive] down?”
