Ben Worked With Fraser Olender Before ‘Below Deck’ – Teases ‘More Twists and Turns’ This Season
Ben Willoughby knew chief stew Fraser Olender prior to Below Deck and even talked with him about joining the show.
Willoughby also revealed that more “twists and turns” are coming this season. And he shared the advice Olender gave him prior to joining the series.
Ben teases ‘a lot of emotion’ coming up on ‘Below Deck’
Willoughby teased that the Below Deck drama is only heating up. “There are a few more twists and turns in the story, to say the least,” the deckhand said on the Above Deck Podcast. “There’s a lot of emotion in the next episode because I believe I’m very much the glue between the three departments.”
Adding, “So with Camille sort of leaving, it definitely changes things,” he continued. “Emotions kind of rise to the surface. There’s certain people that I don’t like making decisions. And it’s tough because you get this connection with somebody.” Willoughby and deck stew Camille Lamb had a steamy boatmance. But she was fired after she fought with stew Alissa Humber and for struggling with the demands of the job.
Willoughby was visibly shaken when she left the boat. “It’s just so out of my control or out of both of our control,” he said when Lamb was fired. “Because you meet someone, you go on a date and say, I really like you, we’re maybe potentially going to be boyfriend, girlfriend, and then someone goes, no sorry, It’s not happening. It’s hard to explain. I’ve never had any encounter like it. You’ll see what happens next.”
What advice did Fraser give to Ben about joining ‘Below Deck’?
Willoughby recalled working with Olender before Below Deck and the advice Olender gave him about joining the show. “I worked with Fraser on a previous yacht,” he said. “He came on for a few days on board the boat I was working on. I had no idea who this guy was. He came aboard, and he was going to be new butler on board. He was only on about four or five days.”
“But I was just friendly to him, like, mate you know where everything is, like asking questions, whatever,” he continued. “And then it was not ’till afterwards, a couple of weeks later, I met him, he was on Below Deck and I said, ‘Hey, I’m currently in the process of going through casting and let me know your thoughts.’ He gave me his thoughts on what you should do or not do. But he ultimately just said, ‘You won’t regret it if you do it.'”
Ben teases ‘dynamic changes’ coming this season
Olender and Willoughby worked the Mediterranean season together. “We were in France. We were in a shipyard, period there. So we had a big spray paint job. It was going on about six months,” he recalled. “So he came on board and was like, ‘Mate, they didn’t want me on there because I’m on the show.’ That’s the other thing as well.”
“But yeah, this next episode is really going to be one of the one to watch, Willoughby teased. “I reckon it’s when the dynamic just changes because I’m the engine on the show. I get everything done. Like (bosun) Ross (McHarg) is fantastic to work for and I just compliment him and his job is so laid back. It was kind of easy, and yeah, we just got the job done.”
Below Deck is on Monday night at 8pm ET on Bravo.
