Below Deck fans have been waiting for Jill Zarin‘s highly anticipated appearance — and the former Housewife didn’t disappoint.
During the Monday, April 1, episode of Below Deck, Jill, 60, was a guest on the newest charter and it didn’t take long for her to give primary energy. Stew Barbie Pascual was the first to experience Jill’s demands when the former Real Housewives of New York City star complained about her drink.
“I have to say that this ice machine is not the best. Dump it,” Jill told Barbie, who was able to find different ice. “This is nugget ice. I don’t care about anyone else. My Diet Cokes? [They go] into the freezer.”
In a confessional, Barbie shared her initial thoughts on Jill, saying, “Jill is the primary in her head. She’s overwhelming.”
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Jill was also not thrilled with the bathroom situation on the ship, St. David.
“Can I tell you something else? Because I’ve chartered a lot of yachts before and every bathroom is loaded with toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, bandaids. Has anyone ever said that before?” she asked Barbie. “Even Tums [since] some people can’t handle the water or whatever it is. You should have Tums in the bathroom.”
Jill continued: “That was all. I’m like, the complainer, I’m sorry. There’s chocolates on the pillow, right?”
Barbie attempted to placate Jill’s demands, telling chief steward Fraser Olender, “Jill just pulled me into the bathroom and she said that yachts are supposed to have all this stuff. She is painful.”
While speaking to the cameras, Barbie expressed her frustration. “I think she’s annoying and I think it is too much,” she noted. “You are a freeloading guest who is extremely demanding. This is too much for me. I need another stew just for Jill.”
Jill subsequently got a special basket with toiletries, which she considered “scrambling” on the crew’s part. On the second day of the character, Jill brought up her issues with timing.
“It’s such a big boat. They can’t be here all the time. But sometimes, like, if you need hot sauce on a hot plate of food, you don’t want to wait five minutes for it because it is going to be cold,” she told her fellow guests.
Jill elaborated on her observation to Fraser, saying, “Can I give you another recommendation for the yacht? I had this on mine. A button for the primary and it is like a doorbell. I used to have a doorbell and it would go up to the kitchen.”
The demands made Fraser feel as if Jill was “crawling into” his brain and “eating away” at his soul. Later that day, Fraser was off the boat preparing for a beach event, which is when lunch went awry without his knowledge.
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“I am thinking about the food, not the service. I am talking about the food. I know I wrote on my [preference sheet] that I wanted food out all the time. But there has to be something that is out all day,” Jill mentioned in front of Barbie. “That is why I have to get involved. I am a little pushy but at least you will be satisfied.”
For lunch, chef Anthony Iracane attempted to make a meal that took everyone’s dietary restrictions into account. However, the confusion led to some guests receiving their meals on time and others — such as Jill — having to wait longer.
“This is not good. [The] burger is cold. Anybody else? Tell the truth. Just tell them, they don’t mind. I mean, they want you to tell them,” Jill said to her friends. “My instinct was not to be surprised and to know all the meals in advance. I am much better off knowing in advance and this way I can make adjustments to make it better.”
According to Anthony, it felt as if Jill was “taking over the boat,” noting, “It’s like she’s a f—king captain. She’s taking over the ship.” Barbie, meanwhile, told a friend over the phone that she hated “this f—king Housewife so much.”
Fraser spoke to Jill about the issues, which she assured him weren’t that serious.
“First of all, don’t be sorry. But when you are sitting there and you don’t know what is going on then half the dishes come out and the other half don’t. Mine comes out cold.Something is off,” she explained. “You do it once and you make sure you never do it again.”
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The episode ended with Anthony being affected by all the demands. Captain Kerry Titheradge subsequently reminded him that they need to be catering to their primary — who wasn’t Jill — first.
“What is happening is that Jill is rattling our cage too much and we are focusing on Jill. We should be focusing on the primary,” Kerry pointed out. “We can’t drift away from what the primary wants, otherwise we make more and more mistakes.”
Before Jill’s onscreen appearance on Below Deck, Kerry and Fraser teased the challenging charter.
“She’s sweet. She’s very lovely and very funny — but demanding,” Fraser exclusively told Us Weekly in February. “[But] all guests are demanding. They’re charter guests and they’ve got their preferences and sometimes they can be frustrating.”
Fraser also commented on Jill’s craziest request, sharing, “It’s going to be the ice. She didn’t like any of the ice apart from a specific one. From a specific freezer. So we had to have a specific ice box that kind of followed wherever she went. I love it. If that’s the biggest concern, then we should [be good].”
Below Deck season 11 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
