Below Deck fans want season 9 Chief Stewardess Heather Chase edited out of the show for using the N-word in front of Deckhand Rayna Lindsey. Fans of the show are calling for Chase to be completely canceled off episodes in the latter half of the season for using the racist slur.
A Reddit user posting in r/belowdeck asked how Bravo can keep Heather on the show after saying “the full, hard r, N-word on TV…”
With nearly 41 fans upvoting it by Friday afternoon and fans arguing back and forth in the comments on whether Chase should be canceled from the show, the demand for cancelation is contentious.
However, the post mistakenly claims Chase said the N-word more than once on the show. There is only one time on camera, after her and Rayna were leaving the restroom, where she repeated a line with the n-word in it after Rayna said it. She also appears to not use the “r” at the end of the word. Regardless, fans and Rayna are right to be upset with her using the word at all. Rayna also claims she heard Heather say the N-word a second time. Also while at the restaurant, but that show producers edited it out from what was aired on the show.
A Below Deck subreddit moderator closed the comments on the post calling for Chase to be canceled because it wasn’t “leading to productive conversation, just personal insults being slung at each other and excusing racism.”
Why Heather Won’t Be Edited Out of Below Deck
Bravo editing Heather Chase out of Below Deck season 9 is highly unlikely. The role of chief stew is such a major part of the plot on the show. For weeks Bravo have previewed episodes with Chase and Jake Foulger flirting, suggesting her possibly cheating with the lead deckhand. Furthermore, Captain Lee seems to be a fan of Chase. On top of that, Rayna already told fans on an Instagram Q&A that Heather isn’t fired.
“You might as well say edit out the boat because the chief stew is everywhere,” said on commenter on the post.
“They aren’t going to edit her out, they didn’t edit Lexi out for the same reason. It creates additional drama for the show,” another Below Deck fan surmised.
Another Reddit user pointed out that Pete Hunziker from Below Deck Mediterranean season 5 was edited out of the show for something arguably much more overtly racist than the situation with Chase.
“Let’s not downplay the image Pete used, it wasn’t just a raunchy photo, it was black woman chained up regardless of where he posted it it was too far over the line,” said the fan. However, the fan still thinks Chase should be fired, but doesn’t think it will happen because she’s not a lowly deckhand like Pete.
Fans are also not impressed with Captain Lee and Eddie Lucas after Rayna revealed they didn’t really do anything about the Heather situation while filming on My Seanna.
Below Deck Fans Mad At Eddie & Captain Lee For Lack of Response
Fans were also upset with First Officer Eddie Lucas not asking Rayna at all about the incident after she told him.
A hospitalized Captain Lee was also attacked on Twitter for not addressing it when he live-tweeted Monday’s controversial episode. Rosbach shot back that he’s in the hospital recovering from spinal surgery and that it would be addressed in his blog post he was late posting.
Another Bravo fan pointed out that the reality TV network has had trouble in the past addressing racism and other major controversies of its stars, and does the right thing about “25%” of the time. “Ramona, Luann, Tamra, Kelly, Kim Z, Brandi Glanville, Mary all got to keep their jobs.”
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Rayna rejected Chase’s apology posted on Instagram after Monday night’s episode aired.
