Below Deck’s Ashton Pienaar called out by fans for “odd” DMs

Ashton Pienaar was one of the most divisive Below Deck season 6 & 7 cast members and is now getting called out again, this time for sending “odd” DMs to fans.

The Below Deck franchise has seen the rise and fall of many crewmates’ popularity, including the notorious Ashton Pienaar.

As the only crewmate to nearly drown on the show, Ashton’s brush with death didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most controversial cast members of seasons 6 and 7.

Since the show, Ashton has been focused on becoming a fitness coach and increasing his engagement — something one fan found out after getting a string of unusual DMs.

Posting to Reddit for some clarity, one fan who goes by ‘bubbles67899’ shared screenshots of Ashton messaging them, asking if anyone else had received the bizarre communications.

In the messages, Ashton asks what was it about his account that attracted bubbles67899, following up twice when he received no response.

“I get he’s hawking his fitness thing but the follow-up is odd?” Bubbles67899 asked Reddit, with other users revealing they or someone they knew had received the same message after following.

The general consensus agreed that Ashton’s message seemed “very multi-level marketing scammy.” One person pointed out, “Instagram influencers or whatever they call themselves are trying to [monetize] their followers. Probably using a bot or whatever to gauge replies and then follow through with a sale/offer or something.”

Ashton describes himself as a “Yo-Yo Diet Recovery Coach” on Instagram, claiming to help people “go from soft & sad to hard & happy without restrictive dieting or hours in the gym.”

It seems, however, that this marketing strategy may not have been a hit with fans. At least not on Reddit.

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