Fraser Olender has opened up about where he stands with Captain Sandy Yawn following their tussle on .
The pair when the 59-year-old – who usually steers the way on the Below Deck Mediterranean spin-off – briefly stepped in to replace Captain Lee Rosbach on the original series, following his health issues.
She sparked a huge backlash when she referred on the boat, and revealed that she was close to sacking him at one point.
Shedding light on , Fraser insisted that they have actually become ‘buddies’ since production ended.
‘I saw Captain Sandy in London about three weeks ago. Of course, we get along,’ he insisted to .
‘This happened so long ago. People think it’s all current. It happened two years ago.
‘We are friends [and] we’re buddies. She taught me a lot. I’m very grateful for her.’
Captain Sandy ruffled feathers almost immediately after stepping foot on the boat in season 10 of Below Deck, firing two members of the interior crew in the short time she served as Captain Lee’s replacement.
She also had a rollercoaster time with Fraser, and took aim at his leadership skills in front of his team on many occasions.
In one shocking scene, she left her colleague in tears as she fumed: ‘When I see where we can change things, I expect you to go downstairs and shoulder what I just told you. That needs to be improved and not permeate the boat with cancer.
‘You have now infected my entire program. The fish stinks at the head and right now you are that head.
‘What you have done is created the worst experience that I have ever experienced on a boat with a chief stew.’
Unpacking the scenes in a previous chat with Us Weekly, she admitted that she regretted her choice of words during the dressing down.
‘I had cancer and I will say this, I should have chosen different words,’ she confessed.
‘I’ve been a captain for many years [and] those were the terms we used. So, [in terms of] evolving, I would change my terminology for sure. [It was a] bad choice of words.’
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Bravo in the US on Mondays at 9pm and is available to stream on Hayu on the same day in the UK.
