Below Deck Med Season 8 debuts with fastest crew member removal in history

Captain Sandy has let go Bosun Ruan Irving from Season 8 of Below Deck Med for alleged forgery.

For the first time in Below Deck history, a crew member was sent ashore on day one. Ruan Irving, the intended bosun, got into hot water for allegedly forging his certificates.

Not only was his medical license considered “not certified” due to being photocopies rather than originals, but Ruan’s Yachtmasters had also raised suspicion of forgery.

When Captain Sandy received a call from Port Authority, they warned her that the entire crew could be “detained” as a result of Ruan’s allegedly forged documents. Unsurprisingly, this left Captain Sandy with no choice but to remove the bosun from the ship.

Bosun Ruan Irving from Season 8 of Below Deck Med gets removed by Captain Sandy

In a shocking turn of events, Ruan was asked to leave the boat by Captain Sandy during Episode 1 of Season 8. When Captain Sandy attempted to scan Ruan’s Yachtmasters, she noticed someone else’s face on the ticket.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me,” Sandy began in her confessional. “This is someone else’s picture on Ruan’s certificate.” Infuriated, she added, “This is major, this is like a whole different level. This is not okay. The entire vessel could be arrested because of one crew member.”

According to Captain Sandy, in order to get a Yachtmasters, one must attend school first. When Sandy grilled Ruan by asking where he went to school for his Yachtmasters, he claimed to attend classes at Monoco. “No,” replied Sandy. “You can’t get your yachtmasters on a boat in Monaco because they don’t have a school in Monaco.”

Following the incident, The Captain removed Ruan from the ship. She gave him the opportunity to get his certificates verified, yet she was already assigning Luka as the interim bosun in the meantime. “I think it’s like 0.5 percent that Ru can provide his certificates,” Captain Sandy admitted.

Following the messy chain of events, Ruan told The Captain that he was going to “call it quits.”

“Sorry about this captain but I don’t think I am going to get the ticket sorted in time,” he eventually told her. “I don’t want to hold the vessel up any longer, so I am just going to go back home and I don’t think I am going to come back.” He added, “I am kind of just deciding to just call it quits and just head back to South Africa.”

Stay tuned to Bravo for all new episodes of Below Deck Med.