SO3.E14: The Circus

[aqusdealer]

"Tensions arise behind the curtain of Circus Night; in the galley a disagreement over breakfast spirals into a heated argument, forcing Capt. Jason to get involved."

 

Airs 5.5.25

Edited May 4 by aqusdealer

[iMonrey]

Tzarina really lost the moral high ground in this one. At first I was literally applauding her when she told Lara that if it only took 15 minutes to clean the crew mess she should have someone in her own department do it. I don't get why Lara seems to think the sous chef is responsible for cleaning the crew mess. There have literally been only two sous chefs on any Below Deck show, ever. And both of them were on this season. Did Anthony have to clean the crew mess?

So yeah, I was happy to see Tzarina stand up for herself and Alesia, and when she said "we'll talk about it later" and Lara replied "No we won't" I was cheering for Tzarina when she said "I will. With the captain." Finally.

The problem is she lost me with the hot plates. If Lara and Bree were literally burning their hands on them then Lara was right, they couldn't serve them that way.

Then Tzarina had to go and throw gas on the fire by saying Lara started work late when she knew it wasn't true. I get that she was feeling her oats and it might have felt good to spin Lara up after all the crap Lara has pulled on her. But she sunk to Lara's level and couldn't claim the high ground anymore. And now she's back to crying about not being in the cool kids club. Oh, Tzarina. One step forward and two steps back. 

I'd be interested to know the real story about Tzarina leaving the previous boat she worked on with Lara. Was she in fact fired or did she leave of her own accord? I think it might be something in the middle. Neither she nor Lara are reliable narrators.

[snarts]

Sadly, I think this whole thing with Tzarina & Lara stems from a bit of jealousy/insecurity. Tzarina's comment at dinner about high school & feeling left out sealed it for me. Tzarina came into the season thinking she & Lara would be BFFs. She's butthurt Lara is closer to the other girls. She started viewing her as the enemy & taking everything personally. The petty work squabbles blew up. 

Meanwhile, Lara's a control freak who doesn't like to compromise. The crew mess is the crew's responsibility, not just the interior. While we've not had a sous chef on previous seasons, it makes sense that person would be responsible for it. Jason sure didn't seem surprised Lara tasked her with it.

If anything, maybe Tzarina should reassess Alesia's workload. It seems odd that they're up working at the same time yet Tzarina goes to bed right after dinner service leaving Alesia to clean the entire kitchen. 

Neither are perfect Tzarina creeps me out a bit..I get sense Alesia & Bri are starting to feel the same. 

[SemiCharmedLife]

Tzarina definitely needs to calm down and rise above the small stuff.  She is making mountains out of molehills and it IS a call back to middle school.  She needs to accept that Lara is not her friend and she needs to control almost everything.  Unless it is a major point involving her food, Tzarina needs to let it go. She needs to remind herself that she is the professional and place a few boundaries. That said, I think Lara has brought on much of this herself.  She's acting very clique-y and can't be bothered to compromise with Tzarina.  In my opinion, she loved getting under Tzarina's skin, and I think that's why Tzarina wanted to make that comment about her being late for work- to jab her back.  However, it won't work, if it's not true!

[Chatty Cake]

Do charter guests really want the people running their asses off for them to dress up like buffoons for a stupid theme?  Goofy Harry in a silver diaper was painful to look at.  
Who cleaned the crew mess before sous chefs were available? That nugget of information was avoided completely.  Lara wants to boss Alexia around because Tzarina is her supervisor and she just can’t help herself. Alesia is coming off lazy by complaining so much.
Speaking of Lara’s management, keeping Bri in service all season has backfired. Both stews should have been cross trained early on. 
The oddball bosun should not be flirting in front of people ever. He is awkward. Alesia should not be encouraging him. How could she even look at that weirdo after handsome Johnny? 
Could Marina be any more desperate? She is chasing this Nic around like a horndog. I don’t think he likes her but figures if she’s throwing herself at him why not? 
Tzarina lying about Lara coming in late dilutes all her valid complaints about her. Then the liar has the nerve to start crying like a baby at the crew dinner. She needs to quit confiding in helmet head goofy Harry. He’s just going to go running back to Bri and Lara like a little gossipy bitch. Plus Lara doesn’t care. 

[iMonrey]

5 hours ago, Chatty Cake said:

Goofy Harry in a silver diaper was painful to look at.  

It was Nick wearing the silver shorts, and can I just say? Oh my.

This is the second time in a row where all the guys went into the restaurant bathroom together to talk about which girls they like. This reeks of production telling them to do that. It would not happen organically. Dudes don't go to the bathroom in groups then stand around and talk about girls. In fact that's kind of a trope about what women do so I guess someone on production thought men must do it too.

Whoever is trying to turn this show into Love Island needs to knock it off. It's super cringe-worthy and makes everyone look like they're about 14.

[Chatty Cake]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It was Nick wearing the silver shorts, and can I just say? Oh my.

This is the second time in a row where all the guys went into the restaurant bathroom together to talk about which girls they like. This reeks of production telling them to do that. It would not happen organically. Dudes don't go to the bathroom in groups then stand around and talk about girls. In fact that's kind of a trope about what women do so I guess someone on production thought men must do it too.

Whoever is trying to turn this show into Love Island needs to knock it off. It's super cringe-worthy and makes everyone look like they're about 14.

I saw Nick in the silver shorts but I thought goofy Harry put some on also after his awful giraffe thing was over. 
The guys talk in the bathroom was so fake and embarrassing to watch.

[howiveaddict]

I seem to recall Captain Sandy yelling at the interior to clean the crew mess.  But, they didn't have a sous show who knows?

[snarts]

While I was sitting in yet another boring meeting this afternoon I realized that Tzarina claimed she left her last boat because Lara “stole” her sous-chef to be a cook/stew. But at the start of the season, Tzarina shared that she'd never actually had a sous chef before.

She also told Alesia that she & Lara had been friends for years so she was shocked that they have conflict. So which is it? She's contradicting herself allover the place. 

14 minutes ago, howiveaddict said:

I seem to recall Captain Sandy yelling at the interior to clean the crew mess.  But, they didn't have a sous show who knows?

Past seasons have shown arguments over who cleans it. We had one of the lecherous bosuns demand that a stew clean it after a night out at 2am. There was one season where they rotated who was responsible each day per a posted list Never have we had an official sous chef before so again, it makes sense to me that it would fall under their purview. 

[Mr. Miner]

If I see the guys go to the restroom as a group one more time, I’m going to lose my shit!

[ZettaK]

The food looked good, but Tsarina's behavior was not. I realize Lara is not a saint, but she made up the accusation about Lara waking up late. She is also a strange and awkward woman.

How appropriate for Harry to dress as a giraffe.

Edited May 10 by ZettaK

[Me from ME]

6 hours ago, ZettaK said:

She is also a strange and awkward woman.

Exactly! I think she puts a high value on popularity (of which she has none) and is lonely. She expresses it by cuddling with the female staff and macking on the males and it isn't ever reciprocated or initiated.

[Chatty Cake]

1 hour ago, Me from ME said:

Exactly! I think she puts a high value on popularity (of which she has none) and is lonely. She expresses it by cuddling with the female staff and macking on the males and it isn't ever reciprocated or initiated.

She should focus on being a chef. The dudes aren’t going to like her over the stews. The stews would be fine with her if she wasn’t so desperate to be besties with everyone.

[Book Junkie]

On 5/5/2025 at 8:29 PM, iMonrey said:

Tzarina really lost the moral high ground in this one. At first I was literally applauding her when she told Lara that if it only took 15 minutes to clean the crew mess she should have someone in her own department do it. I don't get why Lara seems to think the sous chef is responsible for cleaning the crew mess. There have literally been only two sous chefs on any Below Deck show, ever. And both of them were on this season. Did Anthony have to clean the crew mess?

So yeah, I was happy to see Tzarina stand up for herself and Alesia, and when she said "we'll talk about it later" and Lara replied "No we won't" I was cheering for Tzarina when she said "I will. With the captain." Finally.

The problem is she lost me with the hot plates. If Lara and Bree were literally burning their hands on them then Lara was right, they couldn't serve them that way.

Then Tzarina had to go and throw gas on the fire by saying Lara started work late when she knew it wasn't true. I get that she was feeling her oats and it might have felt good to spin Lara up after all the crap Lara has pulled on her. But she sunk to Lara's level and couldn't claim the high ground anymore. And now she's back to crying about not being in the cool kids club. Oh, Tzarina. One step forward and two steps back. 

I'd be interested to know the real story about Tzarina leaving the previous boat she worked on with Lara. Was she in fact fired or did she leave of her own accord? I think it might be something in the middle. Neither she nor Lara are reliable narrators.

I agree with everything about your post, especially Tzarina. Girl, you were winning the war and then you messed it up, then messed it up more by telling everyone that you lied about Lara's tardiness! 

That being said, I don't know why Lara was crying about Tzarina's tardiness claim. If you know it's not true, why are you so upset? I would've told Tzarina that she was crazy since it wasn't true and moved on. This is the biggest bunch of crew crybabies I've ever seen. I Harry's bawling was over the top for what he was dealing with, and this episode Lara's crying because Tzarina falsely accused her of being late. Like, what? I still don't know what Bri was crying about. Because this ONE day she was having to run around more?  Toughen up, buttercups.

ETA: Lara's tears may have been manipulation to rally everyone to her side against big meanie, Tzarina. Who I just now remembered ALSO cried because she's not in the cool kids club. Tzarina places WAY too much importance on popularity for a grown woman.

Edited May 8 by Book Junkie

[aghst]

On 5/6/2025 at 2:53 AM, Chatty Cake said:

Do charter guests really want the people running their asses off for them to dress up like buffoons for a stupid theme?  Goofy Harry in a silver diaper was painful to look at.  
Who cleaned the crew mess before sous chefs were available? That nugget of information was avoided completely.  Lara wants to boss Alexia around because Tzarina is her supervisor and she just can’t help herself. Alesia is coming off lazy by complaining so much.
Speaking of Lara’s management, keeping Bri in service all season has backfired. Both stews should have been cross trained early on. 
The oddball bosun should not be flirting in front of people ever. He is awkward. Alesia should not be encouraging him. How could she even look at that weirdo after handsome Johnny? 
Could Marina be any more desperate? She is chasing this Nic around like a horndog. I don’t think he likes her but figures if she’s throwing herself at him why not? 
Tzarina lying about Lara coming in late dilutes all her valid complaints about her. Then the liar has the nerve to start crying like a baby at the crew dinner. She needs to quit confiding in helmet head goofy Harry. He’s just going to go running back to Bri and Lara like a little gossipy bitch. Plus Lara doesn’t care. 

 

It's what TV producers think is a good idea for a charter, to have the crew put on costumes and perform.

But the crew and the "guests" seemed to enjoy it and it's a way to fill some air time with some "colorful" acts.

As for the  Tzarina vs. Lara feud, I can believe tempers get frayed and the little snipes come to a head.

But this is a show which encourages little feuds and confrontations or try to play them up, encourage the cast to play up beefs.  A lot of Tzarina calling Lara a bitch or cursing her in the past few episodes have been with the camera showing the back of her head, so we don't know if she said these things as she was being filmed or they overdubbed it later, to make it seem like there was more drama between the cast members, which is a BD staple.

If we hear after this season ends that  they never made up and now avoid working with each other, then maybe it was real.  But if they say they're besties again, then likely a lot of this enmity was fake.

 

[SemiCharmedLife]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

 

It's what TV producers think is a good idea for a charter, to have the crew put on costumes and perform.

But the crew and the "guests" seemed to enjoy it and it's a way to fill some air time with some "colorful" acts.

As for the  Tzarina vs. Lara feud, I can believe tempers get frayed and the little snipes come to a head.

But this is a show which encourages little feuds and confrontations or try to play them up, encourage the cast to play up beefs.  A lot of Tzarina calling Lara a bitch or cursing her in the past few episodes have been with the camera showing the back of her head, so we don't know if she said these things as she was being filmed or they overdubbed it later, to make it seem like there was more drama between the cast members, which is a BD staple.

If we hear after this season ends that  they never made up and now avoid working with each other, then maybe it was real.  But if they say they're besties again, then likely a lot of this enmity was fake.

 

Based on what I've seen on WWHL, the enmity is real, and all the stews are on Lara's side, even Marina, who Lara has never favored.  

 

On 5/6/2025 at 2:53 AM, Chatty Cake said:

Do charter guests really want the people running their asses off for them to dress up like buffoons for a stupid theme?  Goofy Harry in a silver diaper was painful to look at.  
Who cleaned the crew mess before sous chefs were available? That nugget of information was avoided completely.  Lara wants to boss Alexia around because Tzarina is her supervisor and she just can’t help herself. Alesia is coming off lazy by complaining so much.
Speaking of Lara’s management, keeping Bri in service all season has backfired. Both stews should have been cross trained early on. 
The oddball bosun should not be flirting in front of people ever. He is awkward. Alesia should not be encouraging him. How could she even look at that weirdo after handsome Johnny? 
Could Marina be any more desperate? She is chasing this Nic around like a horndog. I don’t think he likes her but figures if she’s throwing herself at him why not? 
Tzarina lying about Lara coming in late dilutes all her valid complaints about her. Then the liar has the nerve to start crying like a baby at the crew dinner. She needs to quit confiding in helmet head goofy Harry. He’s just going to go running back to Bri and Lara like a little gossipy bitch. Plus Lara doesn’t care. 

I would prefer real entertainers from the nearby resort town, if it were me....But, I guess the crew are semi famous since they are on tv, so maybe the guests want to see them "clown around."  It takes time away from dinner service, as well as turn downs, so it is quite invasive.

On some iterations of BD, the deck crew has been tasked to clean the crew mess.  

[iMonrey]

On 5/6/2025 at 5:25 PM, snarts said:

While I was sitting in yet another boring meeting this afternoon I realized that Tzarina claimed she left her last boat because Lara “stole” her sous-chef to be a cook/stew. But at the start of the season, Tzarina shared that she'd never actually had a sous chef before.

She also told Alesia that she & Lara had been friends for years so she was shocked that they have conflict. So which is it? She's contradicting herself allover the place.

She might have meant she's never had a sous chef on the show before, although I'm not especially inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt.

RE: Her "friendship" with Lara - from what I can gather, they worked together on another boat and didn't get along. But apparently when they were both cast to be on this season Lara called her and acted all smiles and rainbows and told her how happy she was they were doing this together and that she didn't think she could do it without her.

My take is that Lara reached out because she'd never been on Below Deck before and Tzarina had so she tried to make nice and Tzarina foolishly mistook her fakery for genuine friendship. Once Lara got her bearings on the show she didn't feel like she needed Tzarina anymore and dropped the act. And I think that's what's got Tzarina so confused because she thought they were genuinely friends, whereas Lara was just playing nice for awhile there.