She isn’t delusional, she has not vibed with the rest of the crew. They’re over her.
The Big Picture
- In
Below Deck
Season 11, Barbie’s whining is unwarranted, and she needs to respect authority figures. - Barbie might not be the right fit for
Below Deck
due to her inconsistent service and behavior issues. - Barbie’s up-and-down boatmance reveals more about her, showing she may not be cut out for life on
Below Deck
.
All season long on Below Deck, Barbie Pascual felt like she was not being fairly treated by some of her other crew mates, including Chief Stew Fraser Olender and fellow stewardess Xandi Olivier. But after a display of such a poor work ethic, maybe she deserved the scrutiny. Barbie has been seen as a very hard-headed individual with a reputation that she claims has been misunderstood. She has some issues with authority and understanding that she’s not always correct. As the charter seasons have gone on, fans and her coworkers have seen her interest wane in her job. Now that she’s engaged in a boatmance with deckhand Kyle Stillie, she’s fallen into the trap of lack of focus and complacency.
Throughout the season, Barbie’s reputation among the other yachties is that she is a Prima Donna princess who whines if she doesn’t get what she wants. She does not want to engage in the hard work attached to her position. Yet she claims it’s the opposite. She butted heads with authorities when she did not agree with their approach to the job, causing her to question whether or not she wanted to be there. There’s only one charter left, yet Barbie is willing to risk her reputation as a hard-working stewardess who can do and handle the job. She’s willing to risk recommendations for future employment just for an extended nap and five minutes to put on makeup. Oh, to live in Barbie’s head.
Season 11 of Below Deck saw the most drastic change since the series debuted. With the departure of Captain Lee Rosbach, Captain Kerry Titheradge from Below Deck Adventure took over the helm. Bringing charter guests through the stunning locales of Grenada, Season 11 has been a whirlwind of a charter season aboard St. David.With a revolving door of crew in all departments, boatmances taking over the deck, and a crew that’s gotten burned out faster than ever, Below Deck Season 11 is the same great show with some questionable personalities. Captain Kerry has done an exceptional job taking over for Captain Lee, but some of the crew are not showing him and the authority figures enough respect. Insert Barbie here.
Below Deck
Follows the crew of a multi million dollar charter boat in the Caribbean.
- Release Date
- July 1, 2013
- Creator
- Mark Cronin
- Cast
- Lee Rosbach , Kate Chastain , Eddie Lucas , Ben Robinson , Ashton Pienaar
- Main Genre
- Reality-TV
- Seasons
- 11
Barbie’s Whining Is Unwarranted
For the second straight season, Fraser Olender has been leading the interior team as the Chief Stewardess. As the first male Chief Stew in the Below Deck Cinematic Universe, Fraser has gone above and beyond to prove his worth as a talented and steadfast leader. He brings a wonderful balance of professionalism and fun that keeps guests, crew, and audiences engaged. A major part of Fraser’s personality flaw was his ease at blending friendships and working relationships. Under Captain Kerry’s tutelage, Fraser has hardened a bit this season, taking no nonsense from his team. Unlike previous charter seasons on St. David, Below Deck has employed a larger stewardess team for the cameras.
The season started off with Barbie Pascual, Cat Baugh, and Xandi Olivier as stewardesses. Perhaps it was the wrong management decision based on the individuals, Fraser did not assign a hierarchy to his team, giving them all the same stripes on their epaulets. For Cat and Xandi, they didn’t quite care. For Barbie and her ego, it was like you killed her puppy. Barbie did not feel she was an equal. She believed she was better than her co-stewardesses. This one simple mistake from Fraser set the course of the drama this season for Barbie.
Regardless of skills and resume, with six years of experience working on yachts, Barbie was none too pleased to not have the praise of a higher position. The Argentinian native’s spicy side shined through. As a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl, Barbie was a brat. There was just no way around it. And when she was called out for it, she melted down. Part of Barbie’s biggest gripe was feeling like she wasn’t being treated fairly by Fraser. And not necessarily in a professional manner. Fraser just happened to click a little bit more with Xandi and Cat.
Barbie wanted to be the center of attention of her boss, and when he didn’t treat her like a princess, she took it out on the viewers, crying and whining to anyone who would listen. With Fraser having Xandi by his side, Barbie and Cat were essentially equals. And Barbie did not believe Cat was exceeding her expectations, calling her work too slow. Cat tried to tip-toe around Barbie when the pair were left alone on the yacht, but Barbie treated her with the utmost disrespect, forcing Cat to go to Fraser about the situation. And thus, more drama ensued.
When it came to the working aspect of the job, Fraser had no issues having to manage Xandi. She was near flawless at her job, so he promoted her to 2nd Stew. Of course, Barbie was furious, believing that it should have been hers. When it came to Cat, Fraser had to treat her differently on the job as she was struggling to hang on, until she felt it best to depart St. David. In the brief lull without a four-person team, the chemistry between Fraser, Xandi, and Barbie was improving. But when Paris Field, someone Fraser was six degrees away from and had a connection with, Barbie dropped back down to the bottom of the totem pole, causing her to start to check out. Everything that Barbie felt she was experiencing was self-inflicted. She did it to herself. Not every single group of employees will mesh, but it’s up to them to create the chemistry and atmosphere for the sake of working conditions. Barbie was not willing to adjust her spoiled rich girl persona.
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Barbie Might Not Be the Right Fit for ‘Below Deck’
On any other boat, Barbie Pascual might be an incredible employee, excelling at her job. But there’s something about being on Below Deck that is not connected. Being on this show is harder than the average yacht job. Not only does the crew have to endure the long hours that go along with yachting, they have to compete with cameras in their faces while they’re trying to do the job at hand. Perhaps Barbie knows how to turn it on for the cameras, but she’s not connected to life and work on St. David. Barbie knows who she is and knows that she’s lived a life of entitlement, but to treat her superiors in the same vein is not fair.
Whether Fraser’s way of working is right or not, he’s in charge and she must respect his seniority. It’s normal not to agree with everything you’re told to do, but to put on an attitude because you disagree can be grating. Barbie gets easily defensive when put on the spot and compares herself to her counterparts to make herself look better. Aside from the boy she’s flirting with, not many of her coworkers see her in a good light. They’re not fond of her. So much so, they don’t want to even hang out with her during crew excursions. Nothing was more awkward than Barbie sitting at the beach club alone as everyone else was having a great time. And when Fraser tried to make amends, she threw the situation back in his face. Time to treat her with kid gloves again! Fraser is not a complainer. He wants the guest experience to go swimmingly, meaning he has to treat his team in a certain way. When Fraser has to go out of his way to alert Captain Kerry about the problems he’s experiencing with Barbie, you know it’s bad.
When it comes to service, Barbie has been inconsistent. She has not been entirely focused, causing her to take quite a long time to deliver a request for a guest. Which is quite ironic when she got on her former coworker Cat about her slow pace. Surely Barbie would respond by saying service and guest cabins are two different beasts. In the most recent episode, Barbie’s time on service almost sank the entire guest experience. After completely misunderstanding that the charter guests felt the food was too salty, he relayed the wrong information to Fraser. This, in turn, was told to Chef Nick Tatlock by Fraser, causing the next meal to flop and actually be too salty. Yet Barbie would not be blamed or be forced to take accountability. Hopefully, she’ll be put in her place at the reunion.
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Barbie’s Up and Down Boatmance Reveals A Lot About Her
Upon starting her relationship with Kyle Stillie, Barbie was apprehensive of how she would be perceived, especially knowing her father was going to be watching. With that in mind, perhaps Barbie has been censoring or editing herself in a manner so she could be seen as a victim in certain situations. The tears may have been real, but the reasons for them are questionable. Even when the pair first hooked up, Barbie didn’t treat him with the right amount of respect. It took her some time to check herself, but Kyle was willing to wait. But for Kyle, it started to affect how he was performing on deck.
When Bosun Ben Willoughby questioned Barbie about the hook-up and the aftermath, she once again took offense to the comments and snapped at Ben. While it may not be his right to interfere in Barbie’s personal relationship, when it affects his crew, he does have a right to question her. Barbie had a very different upbringing than many of her coworkers. She has a very conservative background, but it’s not an excuse to let her beliefs disrupt the boat as a whole.
Barbie has stated on Watch What Happens Live that she lives in her own truth, and she speaks her mind, but she’s well aware of her needing a reality check. It’s possible that Barbie has learned from her atrocious ways, but from what viewers have seen, she’s just not cut out for this life on Below Deck. She claims she’s doing her best, but her coworkers are not seeing it. Well, the fans are. And they don’t necessarily agree. She knows she’s spoiled, but being spoiled on Below Deck has not fared well. Everyone deserves a second chance, and Barbie deserves a redemption. Hopefully, if she were to return for another season she’ll get an attitude check first!
Below Deck airs new episodes on Mondays on Bravo. All seasons of Below Deck are available to stream on Peacock.
This article was originally published on collider.com