Below Deck season 9 star Chef Rachel Hargrove spectacularly quit the show and burned bridges at Bravo after a fight with a publicist.
It all started On Tuesday, when Chef Rachel wrote a tweet trashing fellow Bravo celebrity Austen Kroll from Southern Charm.
“Cheers to the most narcissistic twat on [Bravo TV],” Rachel tweeted, linking to a Bravo article on Austen.
The next day, Rachel shot off a series of incensed tweets. Apparently a Bravo PR handler tried to get her to walk back her comments on Austen, making her go nuclear.
Chef Rachel Quits Below Deck & Shares Text Message Conversation With Bravo Publicist
Wednesday evening, Chef Rachel wrote an angry tweet announcing she was finished with Bravo.
“I don’t sit down I stand up…. I’m tired of the BS… I refuse to participate in [BravoCon 2022], [Below Deck], [Bravo TV]…” Rachel wrote in part in a tweet. “Done with the bullies in TV.” Chef Rachel made it clear she was dropping out of BravoCon 2022 conference in October. The annual conference allows fans to meet the network’s reality TV stars over a weekend for the cost of several hundred dollars.
The fiery tweet included screenshots of text messages between Chef Rachel and a Bravo publicist.
Chef Rachel Alleges Austen Was A Rude ‘Idiot’ In Person
The publicist texted Chef Rachel to tell her it was inappropriate for her to talk negatively against another Bravoleb.
“It’s not in our best interest to have you saying negative things about other shows on the network. Each show and talent should support each other or just not say anything at all,” said the Bravo publicist.
Chef Rachel responded by saying the Southern Charm star Austen Kroll “knows not to talk to me again” and alleging he’s a “drunk cokehead.”
In the screenshotted text messages Rachel leaked on Twitter, the publicist asked for more context.
“He was in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale where I live.. we met up….but what was actually good was I met his brewing team. We were all hanging out. He didn’t like the fact I don’t party and was doing his whole thing… being an idiot. He contacted me two days later after…” wrote Rachel in her response, the rest of the long text cut off.
Rachel added that him and “chep”, possibly a typo for Southern Charm co-star Shep Rose, allegedly threw her “bag on the floor” before “waiting to go to dress rehearsal”.
The Bravoleb handler apologized for the bad experience with the Southern Charm star. But she asked Rachel to remove her initial tweet calling Austen a “narcissistic twat”.
Chef Rachel also included a screenshot of Austen Kroll messaging her the tweet she wrote about him and adding “Racehl? wtf”.
Did Rachel Actually Quit Bravo & Below Deck?
For anyone in doubt of the meaning of Rachel’s tweet about severing ties with Bravo, she followed it up by adding, “Ps….. F**k Below Deck.”
In another tweet, she wrote she would “no longer be associated with organizations I don’t believe in..” She included hashtags for Below Deck, BravoCon, Bravo big boss Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live and America’s Next Top Model, then adding a middle finger emoji all in the same tweet.
Last week, Chef Rachel got attacked on Twitter for tweeting a picture of former America’s Next Top Model host Tyra Banks. The photo showed the super model had gained weight. In her tweet, Chef Rachel, a former ANTM contestant, mocked Banks weight gain because the host had allegedly called her a “plus size model” when she was a size two back when she auditioned.
Chef Rachel’s Instagram stories also included some of her disdain for Austen. In one more tweet in her Twitter tirade, Chef Rachel also suggested she may “break the fourth wall” of the Below Deck show. Already, Rachel’s Below Deck season 9 co-star Rayna Lindsey claimed the show is fake. There may be a whole lot where that came from.
Oddly, before attacking the network, Rachel spent time with Andy Cohen earlier this year and posted a picture of the pair with a caption singing his praises.
This isn’t the first time Rachel Hargrove has quit Below Deck. In Below Deck season 8, Chef Rachel swore at Captain Lee and quit mid charter season. However, she ended up returning the very next day to finish out the season.
Below Deck Reddit fans are also discussing the latest brouhaha. Some fans are claiming Rachel already starred in an upcoming season of Below Deck and are wondering if she may get edited out now.
It’s too early to tell if the mercurial Chef Rachel will walk back her latest scathing comments about Bravo, Below Deck and Southern Charm star Austen Kroll, but if she tries to make amends, will Bravo take her back?
