'Below Deck' season 11 stewardess Barbara 'Barbie' Pascual reacts to what's unfolded so far aboard St. David, and what's still to come.
Below Deck newcomer Barbie Pascual had "no idea" chief steward Fraser Olender attempted to fire her just two charters into season 11.
"When I watched it back, I was like, 'Really? You're gonna do me like that?'" the stewardess, 29, shares with ET over video chat. "You didn't even give me a chance to change!"
After just about a week onboard motor yacht St. David, Fraser took his complaints about Barbie to Captain Kerry Titheradge, saying he'd reached his saturation point when it came to her sass. Kerry checked Fraser, though, and asked if Barbie was getting her work done. The answer was 'yes,' and therefore, Kerry prescribed an attitude adjustment request as Fraser's first line of defense.
"I come off very, very harsh," Barbie confesses. "I don't realize how I come off, and I don't think many people do. I think this opportunity to watch yourself back and be like, whoa! Watching yourself from the third person? It's like... oh, girl!"
Barbie says she's spent the four weeks Below Deck's been airing texting Fraser and fellow stewardess Cat Baugh apologies for how she came across to them in the early days of filming. She reviews her behavior as "tragic," but notes she started working to improve it after Fraser called her out for "being a b***h to" him.
"I think it plays out pretty well... I don't know," she laments. "I left the boat thinking so many things, and now I'm watching, and it's like... not the way I thought."
"You're in store [to see] me trying so hard to be liked, even though my personality is so not likable by these specific people," she shares. "You're gonna see me constantly try to get [Fraser's] approval. Try constantly. Try, try, try, try, but I'm hitting a lot of walls."
The season is building to an explosive moment with Barbie slamming around her cabin, packing her bags, and shouting, "You guys wanted to drive me bats**t crazy? You win!"
"You're watching the buildup as we go," she previews. "You're seeing [Fraser] coddle Cat. You're seeing him come up to me like, 'Bring it or go home...' you know? You're seeing the different pressures, and that just keeps building and building and building and I'm only human."
Barbie won't reveal if she stays or goes -- fans will have to keep watching -- but does tease that season 11 lives up to the franchise's history of unexpected exits.
"Oh, big time!" she laughs. "The people you think are gonna get fired are not, and the people you don't think are... and then maybe, I don't know. It's a whole mess."
Barbie says she became Cat's cheerleader after Fraser called out her treatment of her fellow stew, but seeing what she saw as a double standard between them still stung, especially as green stew Cat struggled to improve her skills.
"This setting was too much for her," Barbie reviews. "[And] I feel like [Fraser] being so cautious of her feelings was in a way not cautious of mine."
"It was like, OK why so hard on me?" she adds. "It must be my personality, you know? Must be my strong personality. When people are strong, other people don't really feel bad for them, 'cause they think that you can just take everything, but even though I'm strong, like, I can't take everything, and I actually do fall apart often, believe it or not."
In real time, Barbie says she and Fraser have made amends and she now considers him a close friend, regularly recapping the goings-on of the show by phone. She's fine with Cat, but surprisingly not great with the interior team's other member, self-proclaimed "vampire and witch" Xandi Olivier.
"Not a fan," Barbie offers when pressed about Xandi, staying mum on the details of their to-be-revealed fallout. There's a lot of season left to watch, including the evolving romantic entanglements of the crew. After first expressing interest in bosun Jared Woodin, Barbie got the "ick" from his "cheesy pick-up lines." She then set her sights on deckhand Kyle Stillie.
"Kyle felt like a safe zone," she shares. "Kyle was just nice... He jokes, he's easygoing. Like, I really got along with everybody on the deck team. I had such problems with my interior that every time I saw a deck member, anybody -- [bunkmate Sunny Marquis] -- anybody that worked on deck, I was like, 'Hey, guys!'"
"And he's hot, too," she adds of the Scottish-born yachtie. "It was easy to look at. His accent he said turns girls on, but did not do it for me. I had no idea what he was saying. ... I wish he walked around with subtitles."
Barbie's and Kyle's romance made it into the season 11 trailer thanks to Fraser, who commented that they were "shagging like dogs." It's not a comment Barbie appreciates.
"I hate that he said that," she groans. "I think that's degrading for a woman... I had a huge problem with that."
As for other trailer hints, like that maybe there's a love triangle for Barbie, Sunny and lead deckhand Ben Willoughby, Barbie's more on board.
"I guess we're gonna have to tune into that," she smiles. "I do love Ben, and I have seen Ben after the show. I'll tease that."
Becoming a Bravo-lebrity via Below Deck is a bit of a dream come true for Barbie, a longtime Real Housewives fan. So, imagine her shock when The Real Housewives of New York City OG Jill Zarin stepped aboard as a guest.
"I was like, 'Jill!' And she was like, 'Do we know each other?'" Barbie recalls. "I know everything about Jill, so I was so excited to have Jill on board and she was really high maintenance, but so am I, and she's a Housewife, what do we expect?"
"She was fabulous. I loved her," she adds.
While Barbie's dream (sort-of) remains becoming a Housewife in her own right, she's happy with her Below Deck gig and excited for the future. She's set her sights on becoming the second coming of longtime chief stew and fan-favorite Kate Chastain.
"I would love to be chief stew," she says. "I would actually like to do another season with Fraser first. That would be ideal. I'd like to do another season with Fraser, because now we're friends, and so, how fun it would be to not be [butting heads]? I'm sure we would butt anyway, but how fun it would be to go back as friends?"
Below Deck airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo with episodes streaming next day on Peacock.
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