Why Below Deck Season 11's Dylan Pierre De Villiers Isn't The Villain

Summary Dylan Pierre De Villiers isn't the villain viewers think he is, despite some wrong moves.

Dylan's tough past shaped his positivity, sharing affirmations and striving for the best.

Ben, with more experience, appears more as a self-centered villain, unlike Dylan's intentions.

Below Deck season 11’s Dylan Pierre De Villiers isn’t the villain many think he is, even though he’s rubbed some of the show’s viewers the wrong way. Dylan joined Below Deck season 11 midway through the charter season, coming in as a replacement after the entire exterior team was reorganized. The beginning of the season seemed like it would be positive for the St. David crew, with new Bosun Jared Woodin leading the exterior team of Lead Deckhand Ben Willoughby and Deckhands Marie “Sunny” Marquis & Kyle Stillie. When things started to get complicated for Jared, the team began to struggle.

Jared, who made a few overwhelming mistakes early on in the charter season, became too much of a liability for Captain Kerry Titheradge to keep aboard St. David. Needing to move things around to make the exterior team work efficiently, the Captain promoted Ben to Bosun, which pushed Sunny to the Lead Deckhand position and left an open spot for another Deckhand to come aboard the St. David. The Captain called for crew services to bring in another exterior crew member, bringing Dylan aboard St. David in a crucial moment, but his behavior has been rubbing viewers the wrong way.

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.

Dylan Has A Sweet Backstory

Close

While Dylan has had viewers questioning his abilities aboard the superyacht, his backstory has pushed some Below Deck viewers to have a more view of him. Dylan explained in his past, he was highly overweight. During his childhood in South Africa, Dylan wasn’t maintaining a healthy weight and wasn’t able to control his eating habits due to several different mental factors. Having been bullied, Dylan shared that he struggled with his mental health for years before getting things under control both mentally and physically. Though he was overweight, Dylan relied on his family to pull him through a difficult time.

Dylan Wants To Be Positive All The Time

As a result of his difficult past, Dylan works hard to be positive as much as possible. Though this seemed like it may simply be an over exaggeration from the new Deckhand when he started his work aboard St. David, he’s shown in more than one instance that he’s genuine when he says he tries to be as positive as possible. Dylan not only tries to preach positivity to his fellow St. David crew members, but he often is seen sharing his own affirmations. The Deckhand is even shown on Below Deck season 11 listening to recorded positive affirmations overnight.

Dylan’s positivity is a sweet trait that the Deckhand has cultivated throughout his young life. Dealing with some negativity in his youth, rather than turning to violence or something troubling, Dylan decided to combat the negativity in his life by creating positivity of his own. Though there was likely some dissonance between the negativity Dylan dealt with and his decision to create his own positivity, the fact that he was able to create a space for himself that allowed him to have a great outlook for his future. Dylan’s ability to be his own light was an exemplary, incredible feat.

Dylan Isn’t The Villain Like Ben Is

Custom image by César García

Throughout Below Deck season 11, Dylan has proven though some of his decisions are a bit misguided, he isn’t the villain that viewers have made him out to be. Some struggled to understand where Dylan was coming from with some of his actions, like when he drunkenly hit on Sunny after learning that she and Ben weren’t exclusive, but his actions aren’t inherently villainous. Dylan, unlike Ben, hasn’t had experience aboard a Below Deck superyacht and didn’t know what to expect out of the experience, which made some of his actions come off more negatively than they may have otherwise.

Unlike Dylan, Ben’s been a part of Below Deck for more than a season, giving him an understanding of what it means to be on the series. While working aboard a superyacht takes certain skills, working on a Below Deck superyacht is a completely different skillset for the yachties. Ben, who has had the experience before, has come across throughout Below Deck season 11 as more of a self-centered villain than ever before, has convinced some viewers that he’s more of a victim than a villain. Overall, Ben’s poor behavior has proven he’s more of a villain than Deckhand Dylan.

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