Fraser Olender was missing a stew on his team when Jill Zarin and her friends had their charter on the motor yacht St. David. Had the chief stew had a full team, he could have assigned one stew just for The Real Housewives of New York alum as his crew member Barbie Pascual joked during the latest episode of Below Deck.
As that was not the case, the interior crew ran into a lot of difficulties catering to the demanding crew. And having chef Anthony Iracane’s performance lackluster compounded the difficulties, as most of Jill’s complaints had to do with food.
The crew had their chance to react during the cast confessionals. And now Jill is making her opinion known as to what really went wrong during her time on board.
Jill defended her high expectations
The RHONY original star went on the Tuesday, April 9, episode of the Juicy Scoop podcast to revisit the charter, complaints and all.
“I went into it with the attitude that I want to make a good show. I was me, I literally was me. I was me the way I am in my real life,” Jill explained.
“If I like my Diet Coke then I want another. If I don’t like it then I will send it back. If I don’t like my food then I send it back. Most people do,” she added.
Jill came with high expectations, which shouldn’t be a surprise to viewers of old-school RHONY. But she did point out the hefty price tag for such a vacation should allow for such a mindset.
“It was $45,000 for two nights. You get on the boat at 12 and right away you get lunch,” she revealed. “You get an explanation — which I actually taped on my phone that I am going to post — of [chief steward] Fraser [Olender] explaining the layout of the next two days.”
Fraser set certain expectations about food service
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During this welcome speech, the seasoned yachtie stated that the guests could expect a continuous supply of snacks and food. Jill quickly pointed out that this was not the case.
“In fact, one of the things he emphasized which is ironic is that there would be snacks and food all the time everywhere. He actually emphasized and completely didn’t deliver,” she told host Heather McDonald. “When I think about the trip, it was the head stew’s job to make sure things went seamlessly, and I kind of blame him for the trip being a total disaster.”
Indeed, Below Deck viewers saw Jill continuously checking in on meal planning and food service. Fraser was on the receiving end of most of it, but it was Anthony who did not deliver.
In one scene, Jill gives Fraser “another recommendation” for a “button for the primary.” She added of her own experience, “I used to have a doorbell and it would go up to the kitchen.”
The experience had Fraser feeling like Jill was “crawling into” his brain and “eating away” at his soul during filming. But the retired Bravolebrity had little sympathy for the chief stew.
Rather, Jill “felt terrible” for the other charter guests.
“They spent an enormous amount of money. I wanted them to have an amazing experience. I did this show because my friends wanted to go on TV — I don’t blame them. I didn’t mind doing it with them because as long as I am me, I am good,” Jill concluded.
