‘Below Deck’: Kate Chastain Came Very Close To Firing Laura Betancourt, Even Closer Than Rocky Dakota
Despite dealing with her fair share of challenging stews, Kate Chastain from Below Deck never fired anyone during her six years on the show. But that’s not to say she wasn’t close.
While she admits Raquel “Rocky” Dakota came close to getting fired, it was Laura Betancourt from season 6 who actually came closest. “Laura [Betancourt], after she yelled at me to check myself, that was probably the closest I ever [got],” Chastain told Bravo’s The Daily Dish. “I’m glad that Captain Lee wouldn’t let me because, actually, we’re like friends now. It was just in that moment, I was so over it.”
Betancourt arrived mid-season to take over for Caroline Bedol who suddenly quit. She quickly learned her third stew skills were rusty but lashed out at Chastain for being too demanding. During a heated moment while on charter Betancourt told Chastain to “check” herself.
Thankfully Laura Betancourt could see the humor in it and ended up becoming friends with Kate Chastain
“I think the fact that Laura told me to check myself, Captain Lee had a stern talking to with her, and then the next day I made her a checklist and told her to checklist herself, the fact that she laughed at that joke at her expense, my respect for her immediately skyrocketed,” she continued. “We were kind of looking at each other like, OK, you yelled at me, I got you back, we’re good now. Let’s move forward.”
“So I kind of feel like the yoga saying, ‘the light in me honors the light within you,'” Chastain remarked. “This is like the bitch version, like, ‘the bitch in me honors and recognizes the bitch within you.'”
From there, Betancourt blended well with the interior team. She, Josiah Carter, and Chastain worked seamlessly together. In fact, they had several moments of levity during the final charter. A group of women on a girls’ trip ended up fighting and the stews were in stitches.
Did the charter guests hear the ‘check yourself’ moment?
The group of charter guests at the time shared that they could tell there was tension within the interior and one person heard the smackdown. Charter guest Linda Jones blogged about her experience on My Seanna, revealing she and her friends had a wonderful time.
“I personally did not hear any of the staff arguing, but one of my friends did hear an argument going on below deck,” she wrote. “So she did pick up that people were yelling and screaming and having an argument.”
Part of the tension between Betancourt and Chastain was that Betancourt continued to miss important checklist items when she did turndowns and cleaned cabins. Jones noticed too. “We didn’t have any service problems, except one night we wanted to shower before dinner and we didn’t have any bath towels in our room,” she recounted. “When we told Kate, I think she spoke to Laura about it, but it wasn’t mentioned on the show.”
