Jill Zarin is shedding light into where she stands with Fraser Olender after he didn’t publicly defend her in the wake of her Below Deck debut.
“Fraser and I, and we kept in touch for a year,” Jill, 60, exclusively told Us Weekly about her initial friendship with the chief steward. “But after that, I never want to talk to him. Not at all up until this week.”
Jill’s appearance on Below Deck has been a major topic of conversation for viewers — and cast members — due to her lengthy preference sheet on St. David.
“[Fraser] even apologized and said, ‘I feel bad about the bad pressure you’re getting. You don’t deserve it. You’re a nice lady. You didn’t do anything wrong,’” Jill told Us. “So I asked him if he would come out and say something and he didn’t.”
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The Real Housewives of New York City alum made it clear that she has no plans to mend her friendship with Fraser, adding, “I’m done. He doesn’t want to listen. I tried to reach out with him on Instagram. He just said, ‘I feel bad that you are getting a lot of hate and you don’t deserve it.’ And I said, ‘Well, can you say something?’ And he ignored it.”
During Jill’s two-day charter, she pointed out some areas that the crew could improve on, which didn’t sit well with every person on the yacht. Stew Barbie Pascual specifically referred to Jill as “overwhelming” and “freeloading” but she has since walked those comments back.
“Barbie [defended me]. So did Kyle [Viljoen] from Below Deck Mediterranean. He came out and said, ‘What Jill asked for was not unreasonable. She was not being mean. She was not disrespectful,’” Jill noted to Us. “In fact, quite the contrary. I kept saying how Captain Kerry shouldn’t be bothered with this and the captain shouldn’t be bothered with that. I said [how] I feel so bad for them. We are so tired. How are they going to keep working tonight? I was so empathetic on past trips.”
Jill explained that Fraser’s response once the episodes started airing is what took her by surprise despite him saying on screen that he “just hated Jill” and not the other guests.
“I had a great time with Fraser. We laughed. We did. We had a great time. I had a great time with Barbie. I think that they’re making a good TV show. Sometimes they may overproduce themselves,” she shared. “After I got off the boat, I DMed Fraser. I said, ‘Thank you so much for the most amazing time. We had the best time ever. Love to stay in touch.’”
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The former Bravo star recalled using the opportunity as a teachable moment by sending a list of areas the crew could improve on.
“He wrote back, ‘I’ll write it down. Thank you so much. Let’s stay in touch. Love to see you again,’” Jill continued. “Did he ever complain about me or say, ‘I don’t ever want to talk to her?’ [No], because I was nice.”
Despite not having regrets about her time on the show, Jill wanted to offer her side of the story after the drama, saying, “We wanted to go. My friends wanted to go and we had a great time. I didn’t enjoy the commentary saying nasty things about me behind my back and not giving me an opportunity to respond to any of the criticism.”
Before Jill’s episodes of Below Deck aired, Fraser had nothing but praise for her. “She’s sweet. She’s very lovely and very funny — but demanding,” Fraser exclusively told Us in February. “[But] all guests are demanding. They’re charter guests and they’ve got their preferences and sometimes they can be frustrating.”
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Some of Jill’s requests included strictly Diet Coke and not Diet Pepsi. She also jokingly noted that she was “allergic to sugar.”
Fraser weighed in on Jill’s most surprising request, saying, “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.
With reporting by Johnni Macke
