‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’: Daisy ‘Struggled’ to Manage Ashley and Gabriela – ‘They Were Obsessed With Their Title’

Daisy Kelliher said the power struggle between Ashley Marti and Gabriela Barragan on Below Deck Sailing Yacht was intense and she’d never experienced anything like it in her yachting career.

Marti seems clearly annoyed to be in the third stew position, pointing out that she and Barragan have the same amount of experience in yachting. But Barragan came to the position with significant bartending experience and is older than Marti. Still, the power struggle already began to play out early in the season and Kelliher said it was the last thing she needed.

The ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ stews were ‘obsessed with their title’

Barragan and Marti’s bickering because of rank became problematic, Kelliher recalled. “It impacts the season quite a lot and impacted my season a lot,” she said on the So Dramatic podcast.

“I really struggled managing them,” she added. “It was a very weird situation. I’ve never been in that situation. They seemed incredibly obsessed, both of them with their positions. They were both incredible stews. It was unfortunate. I felt that they couldn’t see the bigger picture and concentrate on their jobs rather than … Yeah, they were very obsessed with their title, which I’ve never seen before.”

Daisy would have liked if the stews worried more about the job

During the latest episode, Kelliher was concerned about how to pull Erica Rose’s charter together. She was in the crew mess trying to party plan and Marti joined her. In the meantime, Barragan cleaned cabins and was frustrated when Marti didn’t complete the tasks on her list. Barragan confronted Marti in the crew mess, which sparked more drama.

Kelliher just wanted Marti and Barragan to get their job done instead of focusing on their rank. “Especially because I was chief stew and they really didn’t seem concerned about that,” she said. “[They were] being way more concerned about themselves but it was a challenge. We got through this.”

“You know, they’re both great girls and I loved working with them both,” she said. “And you know happy to work with either of them again in the future, but it was not easy for me, for sure. And I think for the rest of the crew as well, to have to deal with their bulls***.”

She added that this season was the opposite of last season. Kelliher and chef Marcos Spaziani got along well but she had challenges with her interior team.

Gary King said Ashley and Gabriela’s feud spilled over to the other departments

King shared on the podcast that the tension between Barragan and Marti impacted the entire crew. “Well, to elaborate on that story, I mean, I don’t want to give any spoilers, but they’re not making it easy for [Kelliher] to deal with the job, it kind of reflects on the rest of us,” King said. “Because we all work in a close environment. We’re all there for each other, which we were. And I think you’ll see how it plays out this season, I think Daisy did a great job handling it as well.”

King also had his own tension with Marti on this season of Below Deck Sailing Yacht. She was clearly into him and he kissed her, which he totally regretted. “She showed me how her actions were and it was a massive turn-off for me,” he said. “Since then it didn’t really go any further. It didn’t materialize into anything.”

He added, “That’s what I didn’t like about the whole Ashely thing. She turned things awkward straight away. I think it just shows her maturity level.” Marti looked jealous when she saw King and Kelliher playfully flirting and then asked King if he was “playing the field.”