Two Below Deck: Sailing Yacht crew members are suing Gary King, NBCUniversal, Bravo, Endemol Shine, and producers of the superyacht reality TV series for sexual battery, a hostile work environment, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination.
In the latest self-declared “Reality Reckoning” filing from lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, hair and makeup artist Samantha Suarez and camera operator Grey Duddleston claim they were canned from Season 4 of the 51 Minds produced series and allegedly put on a “do not hire” list.
The career devastating career fallout came after a violent July 23, 2022 assault in Sardinia by a seemingly drunken King that Suarez feared could have escalated to rape. “Suarez immediately reported the terrifying incident to 51 Minds, which opened up an investigation,” the 16-claimed filing in LA Superior Court says of the attack by the SailingYacht First Officer. “When production spoke to King, he admitted what he had done. He was not fired, however. Instead, King was warned that he would be fired if something like that were to happen again.”
“Unsurprisingly, King engaged in further misconduct. Duddleston, Suarez’s then boyfriend, witnessed King untie the bikini tops of two female cast members without their consent, make lewd remarks to a female audio technician, and grab the genitals of two male camera operators, the jury trial seeking suit adds. “Duddleston reported these incidents, per standard operating procedure, over the crew walkie-talkie system. Rather than terminate King, 51 Minds (alongside the studio, NBC) opened an investigation into Duddleston for inappropriate use of the walkie-talkie system.”
A lot of this first emerged back in 2023 in a Rolling Stone (full disclosure Rolling Stone and Deadline are both owned by PMC) piece on NBCU and producers covering up King’s misconduct. Tuesday, neither NBCU or Bravo responded to request for comment on Suarez and Duddleston’s multi-damages seeking action.
With company waivers, psychologists, and “cruel and unjust” misconduct by Below Deck franchise fav King, the filing asserts “Suarez and Duddleston are informed and believe, and based thereon allege, that 51 Minds had actually decided to terminate King after the conclusion of Season 4 but were overruled by NBC, which did not want to sacrifice its cash cow for the sake of two crew members.”
Season 5 of Below Deck: Sailing Yacht concluded on January 27. Bravo hasn’t announced a Season 6 yet.
