Below Deck’s Gary King Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Staffer: ‘He’s Next-Level Scary With Women’

The Below Deck franchise was praised earlier this month for its handling of a sexual misconduct scandal.

Now, a staffer for Below Deck: Sailing Yacht is speaking out about her experience with longtime cast member Gary King.

Samantha Suarez, a makeup artist on the fourth season of the Bravo hit, revealed that she also helped a talent manager with day-to-day tasks.

Suarez told Rolling Stone that she first met King at a hotel in Sardinia that was used to keep the cast sequestered due to COVID protocols when the cameras weren’t filming.

Samantha recalled a day she led King back to his room after filming interviews for the show.

According to Suarez, King was inebriated and didn’t want to be isolated in his room, but keeping the cast apart during down days was crucial.

After escorting him to his room to work with other cast members, King allegedly asked her to stay and said that she should join him in bed.

She left but returned later in the day to give him snacks and water, but he was in his underwear when he opened the door and asked her to stay in the room with him.

“I was like, ‘I have to go — I need to go bring other people water and food,’ and he’s like, ‘No, no, please,'” Suarez explained to Rolling Stone.

“So I stepped into the room to set the case of waters down and again, he’s repeating, ‘Don’t leave,’ and I was like, ‘I have to go, I’m not staying.'”

She said King grabbed her to stop her from leaving the room and that she had to “kick and elbow him.”

Suarez contacted an HR representative, who told her an investigation into the incident would occur.

Samantha was later asked to refrain from discussing the encounter because “it was becoming water cooler talk” on the reality TV series’ set.

King was removed from the hotel and ordered to sleep on the boat for the rest of the season.

He didn’t provide a statement to Rolling Stone, but the network did.

“Bravo is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows,” the statement reads.

“We require our third-party production companies to have appropriate workplace policies and trainings in place and a clear process on how to report concerns.”

“The concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time, and action was taken based on the findings.”

Gary’s behavior on-screen was called into question as Below Deck: Sailing Yacht Season 4 played out, with him saying on Instagram that the season “was not my best… I know that I have a lot of work and growing to do and will do everything to be a better person.”

None of Suarez’s claims made it to the screen.

We’ll keep you updated on whether King or Bravo releases follow-up statements.

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