Gabriela From ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ Quits: ‘They Broke My Spirit’
Gabriela Barragan said Ashley Marti turned the Below Deck Sailing Yacht crew against her almost immediately – which she never truly knew until much later in the season.
While Barragan said she’s still friends with most of the crew, she described an uncomfortable work environment, not feeling as though she was truly part of the crew camaraderie. “I had no idea she was poisoning the well and getting in everyone’s ear and changing their perceptions of me,” Barragan recounted about Marti on the Gangplank Report podcast.
“Which explains why some of them weren’t really giving me a chance or trying to get to know me,” she continued. “Because it seems like they were all pretty much listening to her. And no one came to me to see my side.”
Gabriela had no idea Ashley was talking about her until ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ episode 6
Barragan regrets that the crew saw her drunk and angry side. But shared that by the time she left the boat she felt broken. “They broke my spirit,” she said. “And I disappointed myself and let myself down. And I just felt like I’m better than this.”
“No one got to know me during work hours, she said. “I was too busy with the guests when the rest of the crew was in the galley snacking, joking.” She added that Marti was nice to her face and she thought they had gotten close during the season. So she was completely blindsided to see that Marti felt the way she did.
In fact, she had no idea this was going on until episode 6. When Marti would give her the cold shoulder, Barragan chalked it up to Marti being young or that she was having a bad day. “Seeing all this for the first time I’m like oh wow, this is dark,” she said. “Yeah, this was kinda scary.”
Barragan said she confided and felt close with Kelsie Goglia, Gary King, and Tom Pearson. She had more than one talk with Goglia.
What happened between Chef Marcos and Gabriela?
She also cleared up what happened with chef Marcos Spaziani. Barragan and Spaziani seemed to gel initially, but as they got to know one another, she could tell she annoyed him. Barragan has no idea what exactly annoyed him, but she said he was very dismissive of her when she’d tried to get to know him.
Over the past few episodes, she and Spaziani’s relationship grew increasingly tense. She eventually felt ganged up during the crew day off and finally snapped. “I think I was in every right to say you guys are annoying,” she said. And that’s mean. And that’s why I went off on Marcos because he was laughing.”
She never said anything to the crew because they were unaware of what was going on with her. But she does believe Spaziani knew she was upset and mocked her. And added, “Stop trying to paint me as an evil person just because you don’t understand my humor. It’s not that serious.”
Months after filming ended, Spaziani reached out to Barragan. He apologized and suggested they meet up at some point. “But then I would not hear from him and he’d unfollow me on Instagram,” she said.
Gabriela addressed rumors of racism on ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’
Barragan also addressed rumors of racism and especially wanted to clear up a rumor that Daisy Kelliher made a racist remark. Barragan said that Kelliher absolutely did not make a racist comment and she felt horrible that Kelliher got dragged into a blind item rumor that recently cropped up.
“Daisy never said anything to me remotely racist,” she said. “And I didn’t experience any microaggressions from Daisy. So that was really weird that she was named in the blind item. And it did cause a big s***storm for me. I had other cast members DMing, me in Daisy’s defense, and basically trying to make me take responsibility for the item when I don’t even know who wrote it.”
Eventually, Barragan connected with Kelliher and said they are in a good place. “We had a great conversation,” she said. “And I wanted her to know I didn’t think that of here and I never did.
