S01.E04: Mercury Mayhem

[TexasGal]

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As the Mercury team prepares for their next charter, Capt. Kerry notifies the crew he asked Kyle to resign; pressures rise for both the interior and exterior team as they are drowning in extra duties; Capt. Kerry lends a hand to the deck crew.

Airdate: 11.22.2022

[oakville]

The guests on this charter should have been warned that they couldn't get their local grits & sweet tea in Norway.

[aghst]

6 hours ago, oakville said:

The guests on this charter should have been warned that they couldn't get their local grits & sweet tea in Norway.

Do they though?

It could be a contrivance, to make the crew worry.  Because it certainly would plaY into the Ugly American stereotype to expect Southern food in Norway.  On BDM, one guest was demanding pancakes for every meal.  Producers probably encourages guests, or maybe more than encourage, to make these outlandish demands on the crew.

Like the guest asking them to move tHe table setting outside, then some of them complain it was cold outside.

I want to see these guests bike down that road.  They don’t seem to be the cyclist types, maybe move down very slowly.  I think they might prefer to ride in a bus, enjoying the view then ride bikes down.

The Adventure theme is suppose to suggest adrenaline-inducing activities but these ladies don’t seem to be adrenaline junkies.

Maybe more like testosterone junkies, the way they were thirsting over the male crew.

Captain Kerry fired Kyle, thinks crew can rally witH one man short.  Meanwhile the stew is constantly asking the deck crew for help in the galley.

She also wants the stews to wear the same, bold makeup?  Oriana is all  “what for, to clean toilets?”

[iMonrey]

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It could be a contrivance, to make the crew worry.  Because it certainly would plaY into the Ugly American stereotype to expect Southern food in Norway.  On BDM, one guest was demanding pancakes for every meal.  Producers probably encourages guests, or maybe more than encourage, to make these outlandish demands on the crew.

I wondered about this too. You don't go all the way to Norway and ask for grits, for Pete's sake. Or sweet tea or country ham. They act like the biggest rubes in the world, so how do they have the money to charter a luxury yacht in Norway? It's like they've never been further away than ten miles from Mayberry.

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I want to see these guests bike down that road. 

I want to see them all fall off a cliff.

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Meanwhile the stew is constantly asking the deck crew for help in the galley.

To be fair, the deck crew didn't look all that busy to me. Nathan had time to stand around while the charter guest flirted with him.

There seems to be a regular pattern where they guest first board then run the stews ragged with endless drink requests. There has to be some way to streamline that. There are only eight guests. Maybe they should have one dedicated stew at the bar so the guests can go to the bar and ask for their drink. Like if they were . . . at a bar. Then the stews aren't running up and down the stairs trying to remember eight different drink orders.

Seven middle aged women and one guy, who's the son of one of the women? What's his deal?

[TexasGal]

6 hours ago, aghst said:

She also wants the stews to wear the same, bold makeup?  Oriana is all  “what for, to clean toilets?”

And hair.  Both of which were conveniently how she styles herself.  A ridiculous thing to worry about, but if you're going to do it maybe all agree up front on what the look is going to be?  Like, ponytail to keep hair away from food (and out of toilet bowls while cleaning) and nude lip if it were me!

[Welshman in Ca]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I wondered about this too. You don't go all the way to Norway and ask for grits, for Pete's sake. Or sweet tea or country ham. They act like the biggest rubes in the world, so how do they have the money to charter a luxury yacht in Norway? It's like they've never been further away than ten miles from Mayberry.

I want to see them all fall off a cliff.

To be fair, the deck crew didn't look all that busy to me. Nathan had time to stand around while the charter guest flirted with him.

There seems to be a regular pattern where they guest first board then run the stews ragged with endless drink requests. There has to be some way to streamline that. There are only eight guests. Maybe they should have one dedicated stew at the bar so the guests can go to the bar and ask for their drink. Like if they were . . . at a bar. Then the stews aren't running up and down the stairs trying to remember eight different drink orders.

Seven middle aged women and one guy, who's the son of one of the women? What's his deal?

A lot to unpack her so I'll try & go in order as I can never get the splitting of quotes right.

If you asked had me to draw a caricature of a white southern baptist woman the one with the dyed blonde hair would look just like the picture I would have in my head. And yes there are a lot of Americans who go abroad & expect exactly the same things they eat at home to be available everywhere, the only culture they know comes in a petri dish.

If they had been men & flirted with a female stew the way that woman did with Nathan he would be called a dirty old man, she is just a dirty old woman who thinks that some people are below her & she can treat them anyway she wants to as they are bought & paid for in her mind.

You really expect these type of guests to get off their asses & go to the bar & ask for a drink? How quaint.

The son is obviously the token gay that women of a certain age like to hang out with so someone can tell them how wonderful they are every 5 minutes.

They are a bunch of uncouth old hags who should have stayed in whatever religious sect they crawled out of. No doubt they're divorced because their husbands shacked up with the secretary and who would blame them after seeing this lot.

This lot just annoyed the crap out of me more than most "guests do because they really do give Americans abroad a bad name, and I'm not even American which shows how bad they are.

[iMonrey]

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You really expect these type of guests to get off their asses & go to the bar & ask for a drink? How quaint.

There's literally a bar right there on the deck. Why do the stews have to keep running back and forth between the deck and the galley when there's a bar right there? The guests don't even have to "get up off their asses," they are close enough to the bar to just ask for a Mai Tai or Margarita or Dirty Martini or whatever. I do not get all this crazy running around, there is no need for it. It seems to be set up deliberately to run the stews ragged, but it happens every damn charter now. You'd think they'd have come up with some way to deal with it. Like, I don't know, use the damn bar that's right there on deck.

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If they had been men & flirted with a female stew the way that woman did with Nathan he would be called a dirty old man, she is just a dirty old woman who thinks that some people are below her & she can treat them anyway she wants to as they are bought & paid for in her mind.

It's embarrassing, really. Nathan is young enough to be that lady's son. You just want to take her aside and go "Lady, he's not gonna fuck you."

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The son is obviously the token gay that women of a certain age like to hang out with so someone can tell them how wonderful they are every 5 minutes.

I kind of got that impression too, but what the hell is he doing hanging out with seven Baptist women who want to pray before they get on a boat? How many times have they tried to "pray the gay away" for him?

[Oosala]

Oh ugh.  I'm almost halfway thru this episode and I had to get on here.  First with the praying and mentioning Jesus.  You silly b*tches.  First, not everyone is religious.  Second, not everyone is Christian.  You're not in North Carolina anymore and it's a big world out there.  It's that prideful kind of religiosity that I absolutely despise.  "Look at me everyone.  I'm praying out loud.  I'm holier than thou."  I seem to recall, from my Catholic upbringing, Jesus didn't like that prideful kind of religiosity either.  You are utter failures and hypocrites and I hate you.  I may add to this post as I watch more of the episode.

Also the bosun complaining that Nathan didn't come to him first with his complaint about the physical threats from Kyle.  Please.  As if you would have done anything about it.  You were so afraid of Kyle, it was pitiful.  Nathan knew if he wanted action, he'd have to go directly to the captain.  And now Nathan is made to appear in a negative light.  Nice job, bosun.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Oosala

[aghst]

These guests didn't ask for fancy cocktails but on other BD shows, we've seen them ask for stuff that often required the chef to cook or prep something to put on top of those cocktails.

Otherwise, yeah, why are they running down to the galley, is there no room on the bar for blenders and all those different glasses and such?

Or they seemed to be busy washing the glasses, to be able to fill more orders.

[MyMaui]

These guests are the worst.  Really?  You are on a luxury yacht in Norway and you want your hometown food and act all uppity about it?  And then the blonde says bring snacks on board?  You don't deserve this yacht.  Shut up.  You see a beautiful table setting and then say you want to eat on deck?  Yeah that was done on purpose. Producer or primary or both.  

I can see the deck crew helping but honestly the chief stew asked too much.  You have 2 stews and yourself.  One of you can clean, one can get drinks, and the other can float.  No reason for the deck to be called when they are on a break eating.  Maybe the chief can stop asking and start working.  You did the table and now you need people to help you move it?

This season is just bad. I love the views but I only like the chef, Nathan, and Capt Kerry.  The others are just bad.  Chief is just nails on a chalkboard.

Also, they heard Kyle with Nathan, they showed it last episode and now this episode they are shocked at what he did?  Really?  

Edited November 24, 2022 by MyMaui
spelling

[Tanukisan]

Like a disorganized Stew Crew, these comments are in order of the episode scenes broadcast…

Nathan (regarding Kyle’s dismissal) – “I really didn’t want to make it a big issue.”  Yeah, well, why then did you go directly to the Captain about it rather than first go to your Bos’n?  Oh, yes, that’s right, you don’t like your Bos’n.  I predict trouble ahead.

So now we have “Voodoo Jess” starting fires in the galley to fend off evil spirits?  This isn’t going to end well either.  And Kasie is talking about assigning colours to people?  Yikes.  This group gets weirder and weirder.

Chav Faye wants her interior crew to have their hair, makeup, etc. “all the same”.  You mean – insane?  And by the way, if you’re running around without shoes on, don’t be surprised when you stub your toe.

OMG, and now we have to make fun of the guests because Chav Faye doesn’t know what “sweet tea” is?  Please.  It’s tea with sugar already mixed.  And if you don’t know – how about ASK? 

Good Lord, flowers get spilled and it’s like a 3-alarm fire?  Really?  Oooh, the teak, the teak.  It’s flowers, not acid.

So you’ve got 3 stews and you can’t even keep up with drinks orders?  And you have to ask a short deck crew for help and you’re not even serving lunch or dinner?  And the guests have to suggest you make a pitcher of tea to keep up with the tea orders?  Sheesh. 

Chav Faye is “disheartened and frustrated” that the guests just don’t embrace everything she’s done without question.  So they want to eat outside to take advantage of the breathtaking Norwegian scenery, rather than the confined interior space.  And the weather supports that, apparently.  So why the shock and outrage?  These guests haven’t been sloppy drunks or made unreasonable demands.  OK, so they don’t understand you can’t get grits and Tito’s in Norway like you can Down South, but still, that’s not an excuse to vilify your customers.  And when everything was moved the guests were very impressed and complimentary about the décor!  It was a win for you – apart from your whinging.  And in defence of the guests who did ask for things Norway doesn't have, they also asked for "ham" and were denied that.  I've been to Norway.  They have ham.

Kudos to Oriana (I think) who suggested to the still-awake guests they leave post-it notes on the Captain’s door rather than wake him up.  A good way to engage the guests and keep things positive.  And then the Captain goes to the guests in the morning and has the sticky notes on – brilliant!

What will happen next week?  Will Jess be incapacitated because of a burn?  Will Oriana burn her bridges with Chav Faye?  Will the deck crew be able to do deck stuff rather than galley stuff?  Stay tuned…

[oakville]

15 hours ago, aghst said:

Do they though?

It could be a contrivance, to make the crew worry.  Because it certainly would plaY into the Ugly American stereotype to expect Southern food in Norway.  On BDM, one guest was demanding pancakes for every meal.  Producers probably encourages guests, or maybe more than encourage, to make these outlandish demands on the crew.

Like the guest asking them to move tHe table setting outside, then some of them complain it was cold outside.

Wouldn't the owners of the boat notify the guests that their food requests could not be accomodated because they are in Norway as opposed to North Carolina?

[aghst]

That's the point, are they real food requests?

I think many of the things listed in preference sheets are fake, or at least massaged by producers to make "good television" by making things more trying for the chef and the crew.

Like the one time they had to make a 12-course dinner and all the crew had to be roped into washing the serving ware between courses and helping with the service.

I don't think any guest requested anything like that.

[oakville]

52 minutes ago, aghst said:

That's the point, are they real food requests?

I think many of the things listed in preference sheets are fake, or at least massaged by producers to make "good television" by making things more trying for the chef and the crew.

Like the one time they had to make a 12-course dinner and all the crew had to be roped into washing the serving ware between courses and helping with the service.

I don't think any guest requested anything like that.

That makes sense, but the guests seemed to be shocked that they couldn't have grits & sweet tea

[maggiemae]

Cheetos, "snacks", grits, sweet tea...put in on your preference sheet.

Although anyone can google sweet tea. 

How odd the chief stew wants all of them to look similar. Not right.

And already freaked out needing extra help from the deck crew?

And constant, constant complaining? What a dream to work with.

[aghst]

I don't even know if you can get grits in all parts of the US.

Probably in big cities like NY or Chicago, maybe they could pay to have them flown in and there's enough local demand for at least one restaurant to offer it.

So who'd expect grits in Norway?

That's the thing about these BD shows, the guests go out of the way to board these yachts.  Some of them are repeat guests and they were going to Croatia during the pandemic to board a yacht for a 2-day charter?

The guests are being cast for the show, just like the crew members an they're playing roles.

A lot of these places demand more than 2 days on a yacht so they would visit other parts of Norway or at least go to other European destinations before or after they do the TV show.  During the pandemic travel restrictions, they couldn't do that so they were in essence flying across the Atlantic to do a TV show, though I guess they could have visited other parts of Croatia and one or two other European countries which opened early.

[rur]

34 minutes ago, aghst said:

I don't even know if you can get grits in all parts of the US.

Probably in big cities like NY or Chicago, maybe they could pay to have them flown in and there's enough local demand for at least one restaurant to offer it.

As someone who grew up in the North with a Southern mother who fed us grits (which could be bought in a grocery store), I can pretty much assure you that grits usually won't be on a menu until you go below the Mason-Dixon Line. I suspect producer hijinks -- aren't all Southerners always eating grits and cornpone?

[howiveaddict]

I can see no country ham or grits, but anyone can make a pitcher of Iced tea and put sugar in it.  I'm sure there are tea bags all over the world.    Also the glass they served the guest looked like it didn't have ice in it.  Surely they have plenty of ice for all these cocktails.  I don't sit around and get wasted so I'd want to drink iced tea.  Or preferably diet mt dew, but they probably don't have that.  In fact diet dew would be on my preference sheet.  LOL

Also, Europe does not have grits, but it does have polenta which is similiar. Also probably something like country ham which is very salty.  Maybe not Norway though.

Breakfast the stew screwed up the egg orders.  

Did anyone notice one of the guests had on a fur stole?  She probably  borrowed it from her mee maw. That's the style it looked.

[coastal515]

I can’t get past the fur centerpiece for dinner. So unappetizing to be looking at all that hair while I’m trying to eat. 

[pasdetrois]

When these southern women agreed to producer-driven shenanigans (sweet tea, grits, country ham), they should have refused the suggestion that they sexually harass the Black crew member. Horrible behavior. As was the forced prayer circle.

Being ordered to wear too much makeup and big hair is a BD first.

The phrase sweet tea arose when southerners began to drink their iced tea without sugar, for health reasons. Before that, pretty much all of us drank sugared iced tea automatically. Restaurants had to offer both options. I remember them having to brew it specially when someone asked for unsugared iced tea.

I make homemade grits every weekend.

Faye stated that these women were high class. Um, no they weren't. These were garden variety middle class southern white women, presumably with jobs and an itch to be on TV.

Edited November 24, 2022 by pasdetrois

[Welshman in Ca]

In fairness to the chavette chief stew she did ask the primary at least 3 times where she would like to eat & all 3 times she said inside, then once she actually went outside when the inside table was set changed her mind, I would have been pissed then as well. Then by the time everything is ready for outside she complains that "it's much colder outside now that the sun has gone down", no shit Sherlock that's how it usually works as apparently the sun is rather hot, maybe pray for it to come back up, I'm sure it will if you pray long enough. Just fuck off & jump overboard while the boat is moving.

Edited November 24, 2022 by Welshman in Ca
I meant inside in my first sentence not outside. Sorry

[iMonrey]

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Chav Faye is “disheartened and frustrated” that the guests just don’t embrace everything she’s done without question.  So they want to eat outside to take advantage of the breathtaking Norwegian scenery, rather than the confined interior space.  And the weather supports that, apparently.  So why the shock and outrage?

Welshman in Ca pointed this out above although they meant to say the primary asked to eat indoors. The stews do spend a lot of time on tablescapes on these shows, it's sort of their thing, so moving all of it was no easy task. 

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That makes sense, but the guests seemed to be shocked that they couldn't have grits & sweet tea

Grits. On a luxury yacht in Norway, grits. I mean, there are just no words. 

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As was the forced prayer circle.

To be fair nobody was "forced" to pray, the guests asked the captain and Nathan if they wanted to pray with them and both volunteered. I'm no fan of public prayer myself, the Bible even advocates against that. Unless you mean producers "forced" the group into a prayer circle.

[aqusdealer]

23 hours ago, oakville said:

I think many of the things listed in preference sheets are fake, or at least massaged by producers to make "good television" by making things more trying for the chef and the crew.

Bingo!

I used to build sets for advertising shoots. With three days notice I could have a box of grits and a cured country ham in 90% of the world... Norway for sure. It would really just come down to cost.

If they didn't have what the guests requested (probably weeks/months earlier) then IMHO production wanted it that way.

[NYCFree]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

To be fair nobody was "forced" to pray, the guests asked the captain and Nathan if they wanted to pray with them and both volunteered. I'm no fan of public prayer myself, the Bible even advocates against that. Unless you mean producers "forced" the group into a prayer circle.

When one works for tips, anytime one is “invited” to do something it is pretty much a command performance.

[nokat]

38 minutes ago, NYCFree said:

When one works for tips, anytime one is “invited” to do something it is pretty much a command performance.

Can you imagine if they had said "no, but you are welcome to," because yes, you are expected to bow to anything the primary wishes, even if you are another faith. I don't really care, but I would feel pressured.

13 hours ago, aqusdealer said:

Bingo!

I used to build sets for advertising shoots. With three days notice I could have a box of grits and a cured country ham in 90% of the world... Norway for sure. It would really just come down to cost.

If they didn't have what the guests requested (probably weeks/months earlier) then IMHO production wanted it that way.

If they had the time to prepare. With lockdowns though, we know how many problems there were. 

[nokat]

I found the primary to be a sour faced unpleasant person.  She seemed to be looking for things to complain about.

I agree about just get a pitcher full of sweet tea. I've heard this before on BD shows, just get a pitcher full of margaritas or tea or whatever. I've seen them use the bar too on previous shows, so why not here with an extra deck? Extra drama and may I say abuse of stews.

[Oosala]

On 11/24/2022 at 5:47 AM, pasdetrois said:

When these southern women agreed to producer-driven shenanigans (sweet tea, grits, country ham), they should have refused the suggestion that they sexually harass the Black crew member. Horrible behavior. As was the forced prayer circle.

So much love for this.  Nathan didn't deserve that shit.  These women were incredibly unpleasant.  I agree with previous posts about feeling forced to join hands and pray to Jesus.  I repeat - not everyone believes what you believe, and for these women to have reached that age and not realized that is just sickening.  It really underscores why some non-Americans have negative attitudes re: 'it's-all-about-us' Americans.  Way to represent.  NOT.

[racked]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:10 PM, Tanukisan said:

Nathan (regarding Kyle’s dismissal) – “I really didn’t want to make it a big issue.”  Yeah, well, why then did you go directly to the Captain about it rather than first go to your Bos’n?  Oh, yes, that’s right, you don’t like your Bos’n.  I predict trouble ahead.

I think he meant he had never intended for Kyle to be fired - and we saw that. He was merely asking to move rooms and knew that Lewis wouldn’t have allowed even that because Lewis was afraid of and in awe of Kyle. 

These guests were obnoxious but that’s clearly what producers think we want to see. 

[RoseAllDay]

For some unknown reason my DVR cut out right after Kerry’s discussion with the crew RE: Kyle. So Lewis was a little upset that Nathan didn’t come to him first? LOL. Nathan was right…nothing would have been done because Lewis was too busy trying to be Bully Kyle’s best friend and not the boss. Lewis’s excuse of Kyle’s insubordination to him in the first episode — chalking it up to Kyle being a Texan — was bullshit.

Nathan’s regret/reluctance about coming forward is typical of victims of harassment and threats at the workplace. But he did the right thing. 

Sounds like an interesting episode from the comments…I’ll try to watch it on Peacock later.

[RoseAllDay]

Guests: What a bunch of entitled assclowns. Probably my least favorite bunch ever. Yes, they are paying for this, but that does not give them the right to act so disrespectfully. It always grinds my gears when they run the stews ragged, just because they CAN. And, lady, ya gotta understand that you may not be able to get certain things in certain parts of the world, which is part of the traveling adventure — trying new things. They wanted Norwegian Cracker Barrel. I was bracing for one of them to bitch about the Wagyu beef.

Did anyone else practically see the wheels start to turn when Kerry said he was divorced, and the hitting on Nathan? Gross. He was right — holy acting hoey.

The seaweed on the deck…along with whatever was in that besides the “babies.” Again, asshats.

Michael reminded me of the dude on Sailing Yacht who was accused of doing coke. Why was he even there? Couldn’t be as a 

Jess’s burn looks bad. Can’t imagine the pain.

[Mr. Miner]

On 11/24/2022 at 9:26 AM, Welshman in Ca said:

I'm sure it will if you pray long enough. Just fuck off & jump overboard while the boat is moving.

If I'm reading this right? The Welshman doesn't like these guests.

[maggiemae]

I've been thrilled about all the adventure. Well, not really.

[queta]

On 11/25/2022 at 12:11 PM, Oosala said:

So much love for this.  Nathan didn't deserve that shit.  These women were incredibly unpleasant.  I agree with previous posts about feeling forced to join hands and pray to Jesus.  I repeat - not everyone believes what you believe, and for these women to have reached that age and not realized that is just sickening.  It really underscores why some non-Americans have negative attitudes re: 'it's-all-about-us' Americans.  Way to represent.  NOT.

Ugh. These ladies were such an embarrassment. I've had friends of friends (I'm middle aged) who think it's funny to sexually harass young men who are just doing their jobs (construction, waiting tables, property maintenance, etc.). They think it's hilarious and cute; it's not. It's cringe, awkward, inappropriate, distasteful, rude, low class, etc.) 

And who is surprised there are no grits or Cheetos in Norway? I can see why people dislike us. When I travel internationally and someone is acting like a jerk, they're pretty much always American. We often come across as loud, demanding, self-centered, and ignorant.

[MartyQui]

I cringed when the Nathan harasser asked Oriana who she would date, Oriana says Lewis, and Harasser says she can understand that because he’s more “refined”.  Talk about a dogwhistle moment.