Below Deck season 11 has brought Chief Stew Fraser Olender’s character into question, making viewers wonder if he’s actually a villain or if he’s simply being painted as one. Throughout Fraser’s time in the Below Deck franchise, he’s worked hard to become a valuable member of any team he’s part of. Fraser’s commitment to his work has been shown on both Below Deck Mediterranean with Captain Sandy Yawn, as well as the original Below Deck, first with Captain Lee Rosbach, and now with Captain Kerry Titheradge. Fraser has worked his way up to becoming a Chief Stew, proving that he knows what he’s doing in his day-to-day aboard a superyacht, and he feels comfortable delegating tasks to the stews who work beneath him. Though Fraser is good at what he does, there are some issues that have come up for the stew in the past, especially when it comes to his management style.
During Below Deck season 10, two of Fraser’s stews had some major issues with one another. Camille Lamb, who was working as a Deckhand/Stew and helping out any part of the team that needed it, struggled to take orders from her colleagues, and fellow stew Alissa Humber took that seriously. While the tension between Camille and Alissa had been heating up, Fraser struggled to manage the stews emotions without getting involved himself. When the pair wound up fighting in front of Captain Sandy and a group of charter guests, Fraser didn’t take accountability for not handling the issue himself. Instead, he tried to smooth things over and undermined Captain Sandy in front of Camille, making it appear like he had the upper hand when he didn’t. Fraser’s attitude didn’t work for the Captain, who made it clear that she was in charge aboard the St. David at the time. While Fraser had to deal with some serious attitude, it appears he may not have learned from his mistakes.
Throughout Below Deck season 11, Fraser’s issues with managing crew members have become more apparent with each passing charter. Though he swore he wasn’t looking for a repeat of the issues he dealt with on Below Deck season 10, Fraser has created an environment for his stews where it’s clear that he has a hierarchy, which makes him difficult to talk to as their manager. While Fraser has tried to draw a line regarding what he shares with his employees and what he keeps private, he’s also been tough to talk to about issues that come up throughout the charter. Fraser’s treatment of Barbie Pascual, who has been struggling through the charter and working hard to ensure that the guests and the crew are all taken care of respectively, has made it clear that he’s more of a villain than most expected. While Fraser tried to protect Cat Baugh throughout her time on Below Deck season 11, he’s been tough enough on Barbie to make an impression.
Throughout the run of Below Deck season 11, Fraser has been particularly difficult to work with. He made it clear early on that he didn’t want a repeat for himself of Below Deck season 10, where things spiraled out of his control in a spectacular way. Fraser struggled to keep his staff in order during ˆ season 10, and when Camille and Alissa both left the St. David in quick succession, he was left to pick up the pieces of his team. Though Fraser has done well to build a team of stews that is competent and listens to him, he’s still struggling through the issues he faced last season haunting him at times. Fraser’s memory of Below Deck season 10 has pushed him to want things to be more perfect, more pristine, and less emotionally damaging than before. Though he’s right to have difficult memories of the last ˆcharter season, Fraser is now being too tough on his stews.
While Fraser has been working hard to ensure Below Deck season 11 is nothing like Below Deck season 10, he’s taken the majority of his stress out on Barbie. The new stew has struggled through the charter season with Fraser, who has been taking issue with her at every turn. While he hasn’t been able to say anything negative about her work ethic since very early in the season, Fraser has been looking for any reason he can to get rid of Barbie, consistently citing her “attitude” as the root of his issues with her. Barbie, who typically is very straightforward about the way she feels, hasn’t done much outside of work during her time aboard the St. David. Though she’s clearly very good at her job, Barbie doesn’t pull her punches when it comes to conversations with Fraser, or anyone, aboard the St. David. She’s clear that Fraser isn’t a fan of hers, so she doesn’t bother to treat him like is.
While Fraser has been tough on Barbie, he spent the earliest days of the charter season working hard to protect one of her fellow stews from any issues she might’ve faced. Fraser struggled with the way that Cat was being treated aboard the St. David, and while Barbie hadn’t exactly been kind about the new stew, she hadn’t been harsh, either. Cat and Barbie butted heads early on, as Cat felts she was experienced enough to take on a superyacht when it was clear that she wasn’t. Cat was easily overwhelmed, highly emotional, and struggled when she wasn’t in control of a situation. Unfortunately, a lot of what Cat dealt with on the St. David was her being unable to control things, and work that kept her struggling when she didn’t know how to handle it. When Cat got a call from a friend back home that made it feel like she needed to leave the ship, she took advantage of it and left the St. David. Fraser tried to help Cat at every turn, prioritizing her over Barbie for what seemed like spiteful reasons.
After Cat’s departure from the St. David, the crew had to get to work. With a missing member, the interior crew needed help to get the St. David ready for its next charter and keep it stocked throughout the time they were away from the dock. Barbie and her fellow stew Xandi Olivier, who Fraser promoted to second stew within the first week of the charter season, were doing more than they could handle. Though Fraser appeared busy every time he was on camera, the Below Deck season 11 start didn’t appear to be helping out with any of the excess work that the interior team had due to Cat’s departure. Rather than helping his girls, Fraser decided to prioritize his own work, and even his own relaxation in moments. Fraser hasn’t appeared to be as busy as his stews, nor does he seem to have much going on outside of reprimanding them for making mistakes.
With Fraser working hard to ensure that he’s not getting involved in the drama or fostering arguments between his stews, his attitude has unfortunately pushed him in another direction entirely. Fraser, who has made it clear that he’s not interested in dealing with Barbie, has openly begun to favor Xandi during his time on Below Deck season 11. While it may not be clear to the rest of the exterior team and the crew at large, Fraser and Xandi have spent time together on nights out and off the superyacht, which is fine, but his clear friendship with the stew has made it tough not to feel for Barbie. Fraser has gotten to a point where he talks behind his employees’ backs, making comments about Barbie to her colleagues when she isn’t there to defend herself. Rather than acting like he’s there to supervise, Fraser is acting like a disgruntled manager who doesn’t actually care about what happens to his employees.
Despite not seeming to have work of his own on Below Deck season 11, Fraser has been able to find new ways to comment on the work that the interior crew does. Rather than trusting Xandi and Barbie, who have never given him anything but the sense that they know what they’re doing, to do their jobs, Fraser has begun to micromanage in ways that are damaging his relationships with the rest of the crew. In wanting everything to be done his way, Fraser has made himself nearly impossible to work with and has forced others to struggle just to follow his orders. Throughout the charter season, Fraser has developed some micromanaging habits, inserting himself into situations where he isn’t needed and instructing people on how to do things it’s likely they already handle. While he’s complained about others micromanaging in the first place, Fraser has been able to take on the role of a micromanager seamlessly.
While Fraser reports to the Captain of the St. David, he’s taken opportunities to undermine Captain Kerry when possible, even if they’re not necessarily pre-planned. Though Fraser has been irritated at the way Captain Sandy has reacted to his attitude in the past, he’s been able to move on and decompress from dealing with the at-times difficult Captain. Fraser and Captain Kerry’s relationship hasn’t necessarily been more difficult, but there have been moments where Fraser has directly disobeyed Captain Kerry’s wishes, which isn’t something necessarily forgivable in the situation they’ve been in. Fraser has made it clear that he wanted Cat to stick around on the St. David, and even after she chose to leave, Fraser wanted someone to replace her that he would be able to mold. Rather than agreeing with Captain Kerry that Cat’s issues were somewhat too big to fit into the picture of the crew as a whole, Fraser wanted her to stick around and even stuck his neck out for her on occasion.
Below Deck season 11’s chef, Anthony Iracane, has been having a difficult time throughout the charter season, but Fraser isn’t making it any easier on the chef. Complaining frequently about the disorganization of the galley and the mess that Anthony has struggled to clean up, Fraser has made his stance clear on the chef. Though Fraser has his points about the chef’s lack of organization and the way that can throw the rest of his crew off, Chef Anthony has been open about his struggles to the point that Fraser shouldn’t be complaining about some organizational issues. During one of the most recent services, Fraser watched as Barbie confused Chef Anthony, struggling with the menu that needed several different substitutions to make it palatable for the charter guests. Rather than jumping in to help in any way, Fraser allowed Barbie to confuse the chef, which caused the chef to make the wrong combinations of meals for the hungry, irritated charter guests.
Though it may be understandable to some, Fraser’s issues with Anthony appear to be far more mundane than the problems he’s brought up with others in the past. Anthony having a disorganized galley is a solvable issue, and the fact that he hasn’t acknowledged it as such is difficult to watch. Knowing that Chef Anthony has a learning disability, which makes him more prone to being disorganized, makes Fraser look like he’s not really paying attention to what’s going on outside of his own actions on the St. David. Fraser has struggled to find real issues with Anthony, as well as with Barbie, after swearing that they’re making his life at work more difficult. Though Chef Anthony’s disorganization is likely irritating for Fraser, it isn’t a proper grievance in the same way that Barbie getting on his nerves isn’t. Fraser has brought his personal issues into the crew of the St. David, taking things more personally than professionally.
Although it’s clear that Fraser, like everyone else on Below Deck season 11, isn’t perfect, it’s also clear that he struggles to believe he could be making errors in judgment or any issues of his own in general. Though Fraser acknowledges he’s not perfect on social media frequently, it appears that he thinks he has done very little wrong throughout the charter season thus far. His moral superiority is obvious when he speaks to Barbie, whom he often talks down to. Though Fraser hasn’t explained that he feels superior to the rest of the St. David’s crew, and likely wouldn’t, it’s clear in his actions that he believes he could be doing things better than some, someday. Fraser’s issues in assuring his crew that they’re being heard, as well as the fact that he consistently defies the Captain’s orders as they move through the charter season, have been tough for Below Deck viewers to wrap their heads around.