Below Deck Season 11 recap episode 1

Below Deck Season 11 is underway with a brand-new captain leading a bunch of new faces in the crew. Here is a brief recap of the premiere.

The premiere of Below Deck Season 11 aired on 5 February on Bravo TV and was made available to stream on Peacock a day after.

As the name of the episode, ‘New Capt, New Rules,’ suggests it centered on Captain Kerry and the new dynamics he is bringing to the season. Captain Kerry Titheradge previously worked on Below Deck Adventure and was chosen to replace the Below Deck OG Captain Lee Rosbach.

Season 11 had an eventful premiere with the new bosun making disastrous decisions and the chefs being unable to match pace with the rest of the crew.

Captain Kerry takes strict charge in Below Deck Season 11

The episode opened with a shot of Captain Kerry steering St. David through the waters of Grenada as if he simply “was born for this life.”

He expressed handling the crew as his most important hurdle in the present moment. He said, “Adventure and danger for me is just another day. The easiest part of being a captain is driving the boat. The hard part’s the crew.”

After the crew check-in, he gathered everyone at the Sky Lounge and made sure to get one thing through. He made sure to put across the point that the crew wouldn’t be getting away with disobeying his authority.

He said, “But don’t take my kindness for weakness. I will f**king turn in a heartbeat if you start taking the piss.”

Below Deck 11 crew make amateur mistakes

Right from the first episode, the viewers see Chef Anthony struggle to adjust to the Yacht workload. Anthony complains on screen that he is doing an 18-man job single-handedly. But his behavior soon comes under the spotlight as he gets an hour and 22 minutes late in serving the guests dinner.

He said, “In my restaurant in France, it was, like, 18 employees. So I can just work, work, work, work, and be a chef and stay in the kitchen. As a yacht chef, you are the only one. You know? It’s all over the place. I gotta, like, run to the bottom, to the top, go back up to the galley.”

Things further get bumpy as the Lead Deckhand Ben forgets to inform the new bosun, Jared, about how much anchor chain was requested by the Captain. This gets Jared in trouble with Captain Kerry who explains he made a big mistake.

He said, “That could cause a problem if the anchor gets caught in the chain. The boat moves back, it can dislodge the anchor. You drag that anchor, you hit the rocks, someone will get hurt. Thankfully, you can correct it. It makes us look like amateur hour.”

Below Deck Season 11 crew struggles with teamwork

The crew drama seems to be brewing early this season as later Ben is seen telling the Deckhand, Kyle Stillie, how nothing was his fault. He said, “I was going to do the anchor. But then, Jared comes down and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna go do the anchor.’ And now he’s blaming me.”

The two can be seen having a conversation where Ben confronts a confused Jared and accuses him of “throwing him under the bus”.

In the meantime, the two stewardesses of the interior team, Cat and Barbie, are seen passive-aggressively dishing it out while trying to clean the galley for the chef. It is clear to the viewers that the crew is struggling with teamwork and refusing to adjust with each other.

At the end of the episode, Captain Kerry takes notice of his crew’s situation and gives out a chilling warning. He said, “The jury’s still out, but I’ll change you out if you can’t do your job.”

After February 5, 2024, Below Deck Season 11 episodes are set to air every Monday at 9 pm ET/PT on Bravo TV and Peacock.