First mate Gary King and Captain Glenn Shephard sit down with ET to break down what's to come on season 4 of the 'Below Deck' offshoot.
There are rough seas ahead for the crew of Parsifal III... but mostly of the proverbial kind, as the cast of Below Deck Sailing Yacht navigates an unexpected love triangle!
After three years of working together and keeping things mostly platonic (save for one drunken make-out session in a hot tub), chief stewardess Daisy Kelliher finds herself caught between first mate Gary King and chief engineer Colin Macrae. Season 4 is Colin's first as a single man, creating a dynamic Gary couldn't have anticipated.
"Now, I'm shooting myself in the foot," Gary admits to ET of not pursuing Daisy in their first two seasons together. "Daisy and I have had a connection -- well, I certainly believe so, for many years -- and I think there's chemistry there and ... it certainly hit me. I was like, wow. I've had my chance to get with Daisy, I didn't take my chance, and now she's hooking up with Colin and I'm jealous over it. So, it's quite a contradiction, but it's just how I felt really."
"Looking back now, after the season, going back to previous seasons, season 2 and 3, you can kinda see there was maybe a connection between Daisy and Colin," he confesses. "I certainly noticed it."
Daisy's been clear: had Gary wanted her, he should've pursued her in the two years they knew one another before Colin expressed interest in her.
"I guess I didn't shoot my shot just knowing we live two different lives," he confesses. "I guess that could be my only reason, and I've never believed in long distance. I've tried that, it didn't work out, and I'd said I'd never do that again. ... Daisy and I see each other for maybe two months a year, and I don't think that's a feasible relationship."
While the whole ordeal caused some personal strain among the "dream team" trio, Captain Glenn Shephard says it didn't trickle into their work.
"I'm glad that they kind of police themselves," he chuckles. "Our crew in general are pretty good at being discrete."
"Some of this crazy stuff that happens on this show, I don't see it until it's on air, like, six or nine months later, you know?" he remarks. "I didn't know about Daisy and Colin right at the beginning; I knew a little bit later on, but again and that's a testament to them just keeping it-- obviously, these guys know, but they do a pretty good job, like, I don't think the guests are clueing into it, at least not at the beginning."
While there's a bit of a rivalry set to play out on the episodes still to air, Gary says he's all good with Daisy and Colin today.
"Me and Colin chat all the time," he offers. "I'm not gonna let someone get in the way of a friendship. I mean, you can see from season 2 and 3, Colin and my relationship is really, really good. Yes, it was a love triangle and yes, Colin and I do argue a little bit... I guess that's all I'm gonna say, but I think we've brushed it under the rug. Our friendship is strong enough to not let anything get in the way of it."
Seeing as Glenn couldn't weigh in on the triangle in real time, though, ET surprised him with a video message from Daisy, asking, "Team Colin or Team Gary?"
"Don't tell him," Glenn whispers, jokingly holding his hand up to block Gary's view of him talking. "I'm probably Team Colin!"
"Jesus, I'm team Colin!" Gary cracks.
"Gary's a mess," Glenn ribs. "Colin's a great guy. Gary’s a great guy, I love them both. They're like family. It's, you know, choosing teams is kinda like choosing your favorite kid, but Colin's a little more settled down. So, if Daisy's asking me, if she wanted to have a long-term relationship with either of these two guys who I would say, it's win-win. But if I had to choose one, I would probably say, go with Team Colin, 'cause [Gary's] got more women chasing him; it's just gonna be more difficult!"
Glenn speaks from experience in the love department; he went Instagram official with longtime love Danelis Jimenez last year, after keeping their romance a secret for most of Below Deck Sailing Yacht's run.
"There were reasons at the beginning that we didn't want to, personal reasons," he says of keeping his relationship under wraps, "but then things changed enough that we could say, it's time now so, you know, 'cause it was almost awkward. I would get a lot of questions about, 'Oh, are you single?' Or, 'Are you a bachelor? What is going on?'"
Gary points out, Glenn did keep a picture of Danelis next to his bunk, which some eagle-eyed fans spotted.
"She looks younger than her age and so people, some people [would ask], 'Is that your daughter?' It's like, no...'" he shares.
Glenn says appearances by Danelis on future installments of BDSY aren't out of the question; she certified to work aboard the vessel and helps him manage Parsifal III when cameras aren't around. She missed out on the dramatics of season 4, though, which kicked off with the boat unable to leave the dock, its engine unusable after salt water destroyed some of its mechanism.
"I have been on that boat for 13 years, I have been doing this for 20-something years, and I never had that kind of situation, where it's really bad," Glenn laments, "but it's also, you have no idea how it can get good. You don't know if it's going to get good. You know, there's a good chance it's not going to and that puts a lot of pressure on you."
Glenn does concede that what viewers are seeing at the start of the season "is pretty much the worst," but there are more challenges to come.
"Smoke, fire scare," Gary rattles off. Gary actually missed the initial issues with the charter season, sidelined by positive COVID tests.
"I kind of wished I had COVID at that moment," Glenn jokes.
When Gary does arrive (in episode 3), he walks into what sounds like a chaotic scene.
"I got there early in the morning after a negative COVID test -- after a couple negative COVID tests -- and it was after a crew night out, so everyone was feeling a little bit fragile," he teases. "I walked into the crew mess, and I think it was [stewardess Lucy Edmunds] standing there with her T-shirt off, and she had these scratches down her back. I'm not sure what happened!"
"I came in with all this energy, being stuck in a hotel room, and no one was really welcoming, to be honest," he adds. "Daisy was in bed! I had to wake her up."
As for what comes after that, both Gary and Glenn promise "great guests and great sails."
"Some of the best guests we've ever had," Gary proclaims.
Below Deck Sailing Yacht airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
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