Below Deck Season 11’s Fraser Olender Has Become A Bad Chief Stew (He’s Taking Things Too Personally)

Summary Fraser's struggle with professionalism on Below Deck season 11 has impacted his ability to do his job effectively.

His personal issues with stew Barbie have led to unprofessional behavior, causing tension within the crew.

Captain Kerry had to intervene and advise Fraser to separate personal feelings from professional responsibilities.

Below Deck season 11 has seen Chief Stew Fraser Olender become less of a professional throughout the charter season, which has made it impossible for him to do his job. Throughout Below Deck season 11, Fraser has struggled to maintain control over his own emotions when it comes to his stews. Though he’s been working hard to be professional about the issues he’s been facing with Barbie Pascual, he’s becoming increasingly more uncomfortable with her personally, which has led to him making some unprofessional choices during the crew’s time off, as well as with his requests to Captain Kerry Titheradge.

Although Fraser has struggled with crews before, this is the first time that his judgment on a charter simply doesn’t seem sound. Throughout the charter season, Fraser has turned to several other members of the Below Deck season 11 cast to try and vent about personal issues he’s having as though they’re professional problems. While Fraser has every right to feel the way he does, his issues with his staff have reached an interesting place where he’s been unable to see that he’s conflating his problems with actual, tangible issues in the workplace. Fraser has truly shown some bad judgment.

Related 20 Best Reality TV Shows Right Now Reality TV is more popular than ever. With so many to choose from, here are some of the best reality TV shows to stream or watch right now.

Fraser Struggled Throughout Below Deck Season 10

The Drama Was Too Much For Him

Custom Image by César García

While Fraser is no stranger to drama, things have yet to reach the heights of what he experienced on Below Deck season 10. During his first outing on the series as Chief Stew, Fraser struggled to keep his stews under control throughout the charter, at some points giving up on managing them entirely. While the St. David was under the leadership of Captain Sandy Yawn, who was filling in for Captain Lee Rosbach, Fraser had to make some difficult decisions about the women on his team. When stew/deckhand Camille Lamb and stew Alissa Humber's attitudes clashed, Fraser stepped in.

While his directions were clear - that Camille and Alissa needed to sort out their problems without charter guests around - things took a turn for the worse as the women continued clashing throughout the charter. Camille, who was having issues of her own with her work ethic, wasn't sure how to manage the issues between herself and Alissa when Fraser didn't appear to be on her side. When Captain Sandy got involved, Fraser tried to keep things between the interior team, but Captain Sandy wouldn't have it. She worked with the stews to solve the issue, admonishing Fraser for his approach.

Fraser Didn’t Want A Repeat Of His Last Charter Season

He Tried To Be Different On Below Deck Season 11

From the start of Below Deck season 11, Fraser made it clear that he wasn't interested in a repeat of the last charter season he spent aboard the St. David. Below Deck season 10 had been difficult for the Chief Stew, and he wasn't looking forward to drama like that again. Unfortunately, Fraser's time on the St. David during Below Deck season 11 hasn't been drama-free in the way he was hoping. Regardless of the fact that he wasn't looking for the sort of drama that Camille and Alissa provided, the drama he's gotten into with Barbie has matched up.

Fraser Babied Cat And Made Things Difficult For Barbie

He Wasn’t Able To Keep Himself Out Of The Drama

Custom image by César García

Early on in the charter season, the St. David welcomed three new stews to the superyacht. Barbie, Xandi Olivier, and Cat Baugh were all brought in to work beneath Fraser on the interior team. The stews were excited to work together and were hopeful that they wouldn't have too challenging a time on the St. David. For Barbie and Xandi, their time on the superyacht started out hectic, but they were able to keep themselves composed in the environment. Cat, unfortunately, was not able to do the same. She struggled throughout the first charters, unable to cope with the pressure.

Fraser quickly took to Cat, as he wanted to help her to succeed and didn't like the fact that she felt micromanaged by Barbie. Barbie, in turn, was simply trying to delegate tasks the way she had on other superyachts, not realizing that she was giving Cat work to do rather than just divvying up the work that needed to be done. Cat complained about Barbie to Fraser, but when that got back to Barbie from Ben Willoughby, she was angry that her fellow stew hadn't come to her. The damage with Fraser's view of Barbie had already been done.

Fraser Has Been Bringing His Personal Feelings Into His Work

He’s Not Being A Good Boss

Close

Although Cat left the superyacht crew after a few charters due to personal and professional issues, the stain she left on Fraser and Barbie's relationship has yet to be removed. Throughout Below Deck season 11, Fraser has taken every opportunity to push Barbie down or make her feel like a lesser stew. Though Barbie has been working hard to ensure that her job is done without error, owning up to mistakes she has made in the few times they've come up, Fraser doesn't like her attitude. Rather than appreciating that she isn't lashing out, Fraser can't handle her staying quiet.

Throughout the last few episodes of Below Deck season 11, Fraser has taken every opportunity available to bond with Xandi and the new stew Paris Field, but has left Barbie out of their time together. Taking her work attitude personally, Fraser has iced Barbie out of group activities and left her to pick up the slack when he and Xandi want to do something off the yacht. While Barbie has done her best to stay quiet about feeling isolated from the rest of her team, it appears that even her being quiet about her disappointment has been the wrong move.

Captain Kerry Had To Speak To Fraser About His Behavior

He Struggled To Realize He Wasn’t Being Professional

Custom Image by César García

During the most recent episode of Below Deck season 11, Captain Kerry had to let Fraser know that he was bringing his issues with Barbie into his professional role aboard the St. David. When Fraser came to the Captain asking to have Barbie fired for what he deemed insubordinate, the Captain explained that he felt Fraser was wrong. He explained that he needed to be able to deal with Barbie's personality on a professional level, and asked him to consider the work that Barbie was doing rather than judging her personality. Below Deck's Fraser has a long way to go.

Below Deck airs Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT on Bravo, then streams the following day on Peacock.