Below Deck: Mediterranean Drama! Star Faces Major Backlash and Desperately Needs a Reality Check

When being a part of the Below Deck: Mediterranean cast, their goals include wanting to grow in the yachting industry to become either a Chief Stew or a Bosun. This is the case with Ellie Dubaich from Season 9, who has shown throughout the season how one of her main goals in her career as a stewardess is to become a Chief Stew someday. This is a dream any of them strive for, but Ellie has shown the opposite, as she is not ready for that role whatsoever. Regarding power rankings, Chief Stew is in charge of the interior team and delegates who will be in charge of each section of the boat, whether it is service or cleaning. As the second stew, Ellie is the person that Aesha needs to rely on whenever she is busy and has to delegate some responsibilities, since they are the ones who have more experience.

During the season, Chief Stew Aesha Scott struggled with Ellie and Third Stew Bri Mueller as they have had issues with their jobs and personal lives, both having a crush on deckhand Joe Bradley. With these issues, as a second stew, Ellie needed to put her job first and not bring any of their drama to their work, but she failed to do so as she started to be condescending towards Bri about mistakes she made as a third stew. She has not taken the time to give Bri any constructive criticism to help her grow in the department. Instead, she has tried to throw her under the bus with Aesha and Captain Sandy Yawn. Throughout the season, Bri has also not been the perfect stew, as she has made mistakes during charters, has not taken accountability for her errors, and has pointed fingers at someone else. Besides her mistakes, she has also claimed she has been micromanaged throughout her time on Mustique by Aesha when, in reality, Aesha has not been able to leave her in charge whenever she needs to take a break. Ellie made mistakes and showed her lack of experience throughout the charter season. Ellie has the right formula to become a Chief Stew, but she needs to understand by listening to her superiors who want to help her evolve and be taken down her high horse, on which she believes she has made no mistakes.

Ellie Went Through a Power Trip Against Bri

When viewers first met Ellie Dubaich on Season 9 of Below Deck: Mediterranean, she showed initiative to learn because she loves her work and wants to become a Chief Stew. From her and Bri Mueller, on paper, she also had the most experience, which is why Aesha Scott decided to give her the role of a second stewardess on the boat, as she had also already done a season in the Mustique before Season 9, which gave her more experience on the yacht as well. Becoming the second stewardess meant that Ellie would be the second in command when it came to Aesha taking breaks or if she was away with the guests; another part of her role meant she would be the one to help Aesha to train Bri with her duties, since she was the greenest out of the two of them. What seemed an easy task for Ellie became a bigger problem for Aesha, which almost meant having to fire both.

One of the main reasons the two stews were having issues was because they both had grown a crush on deckhand Joe Bradley, and it did not help that he strung them along, making them take their competition into the love department carryover during their work. Ellie showed that she was going through a power trip when it came to her position, as she started to act condescending towards Bri during their roles and even went on to call her out because she did not have much experience. Bri stood up for herself and told Ellie she felt she was belittling her, which triggered Ellie to say, “Your lack of experience is in you not being aware of how a boat works.” This statement towards Bri should not have been told as Bri had already been dealing with the stress of feeling she was not good enough for her job, and now she had one of her coworkers accentuate that by saying it out loud. If Ellie wants to become a Chief Stew, she should learn different ways to express concerns so that she doesn’t have to bring down everyone and instead find ways to help everyone grow in the department. If 2/3 of the department does not get along, it becomes a recipe for disaster and more work for Chief Stew.

Aesha’s Relationship with Ellie Has Taken a Toll

As a Chief Stew, Aesha Scott has to put on many hats since she is the one who has had the most experience in the yachting world, but her doing everyone’s job also means that she risks becoming burnt out. This is why Chief Stews need to have second stews who they can rely on whenever they need to take some time apart from the job to recover. This season, though, she has struggled with Ellie. She said she has the experience, but her work has not shown her expertise. During one of the episodes where Aesha needed to take a break, she left Ellie in charge of setting the table and ensuring the guests were always served. Aesha had to stop her break early because Ellie kept asking Bri many questions that should have been easy fixes, and she did not take the time to set the table for the guests’ lunch. At that moment, Ellie started feeling she was being micromanaged and that Aesha did not trust her to lead the service alone. After that, Ellie began to make more mistakes and wasn’t taking accountability for her errors, like making poor drinks for guests and leaving her phone behind in a guest’s cabin when they were not supposed to be on their phones. Aesha decided to call her out on her behavior, and Ellie started feeling attacked instead of taking this as constructive criticism.

This season has taken a toll on Aesha as she has had to work harder on a yacht that requires a team of four stewardesses, and her stews are inexperienced. Luckily, even though the charter season is almost over, she can have a breather as Captain Sandy has recruited a fourth stew to relieve Aesha. What may seem as a positive for the interior team has been taken as a negative by Ellie as she felt threatened in her role, since new stew Carrie O’Neill has more experience than her on paper, which could mean her role as second stew could be taken over. Ellie started questioning Aesha about where Carrie would be in the team as she took over her service role and felt she was being pushed to the side. Aesha explains in her confessional that “If you want to make it as a Chief Stew, the most important part of the job is the guest experience, not her second stews insecurities.” Ellie takes things personally, and she doesn’t separate her professional role from her problems, which can hinder her from achieving her goal of becoming a Chief Stew. For Ellie to make it into the yachting world, she should be able to listen and take criticism, as that is the only way she will grow professionally.