Has the queen of the sea passed the Below Deck chief stew torch to Fraser Olender? After two chief stews on the show since her departure, former Below Deck chief stew Kate Chastain, who currently stars in Peaock‘s The Traitors, says Olender has what it takes to rock the role.
Chastain recently weighed in on Olender’s Below Deck job performance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “I think he’s doing fantastic,” Chastain said about Olender. “The only thing is he’s trying to be their friend a little too much. But I think he’s quickly learning that’s not the best approach.”
Kate Chastain from ‘The Traitors’ said Fraser from ‘Below Deck’ is ‘wonderful and lovely’
Chastain personally knows Olender. “He’s so wonderful and lovely,” she said. WWHL host Andy Cohen wondered if Chastain gave him any advice. “I really felt like he knew what he was doing going into it,” she said.
Olender spoke to Chastain before his second season and first season as chief stew on Below Deck. “I spoke to Kate [Chastain], my idol of the franchise, who gave me some great advice,” he told Decider.
“After we filmed the season, I saw her in London,” he said. “In addition to having a wonderful time together, she gave me a good dose of what I need to know going into this madness.”
Hannah Ferrier thinks ‘Below Deck’ found their chief stew in Fraser Olender
Kate Chastain from The Traitors isn’t the only Below Deck OG chief stew who has given him the seal of approval. “I did also speak to Hannah Ferrier from Below Deck Mediterranean in addition to a few other OGs,” Olender told Decider. “I felt prepared, but when I got there, it turns out that I absolutely wasn’t [laughs]. Without the support of the OGs, I couldn’t have found the strength to get on the flight and get to the boat.”
When Olender appeared on Hannah Ferrier’s Dear Reality, You’re Effed podcast, the former Below Deck Mediterranean chief stew said the series finally found its permanent chief stew.
“So I was watching the last episode with my husband last night and I went ‘Babe, I think this is it. I think they found a chief steward that is going to do season after season,’” she recalled to Olender.
‘Below Deck’ chief stew role opened opportunities like ‘The Traitors’ for Kate Chastain
Ferrier explained what it takes to command the chief stew role on Below Deck. “I think there’s a lot of things that you need to kind of do that role on Below Deck,” she said. “You need to have like the experience and be able to do the chief stewardess or chief steward side. But you also need to have like the charisma and some personality because it is a TV show at the end of the day. It’s a TV show about a job, but you don’t want to watch somebody boring doing it, you know? So you’ve definitely got that pizazz.”
Kate Chastain and Hannah Ferrier both had that “pizazz” which has carried them beyond Below Deck. Chastain was a breakout hit in Peacock’s The Traitors and is expecting a baby. Ferrier moved back to Australia and recently starred in the Australian version of The Real Love Boat. She hosts a weekly podcast, plus she and Anastasia Surmava own Ocean International Training Academy.
