‘Below Deck Mediterranean’: What Happened to Pete Hunziker From Season 5?
Below Deck Mediterranean deckhand Pete Hunziker all but slipped away from the camera’s lens when editors eliminated him from the storyline after producers fired him from season 5.
Despite being fired for sharing a racist and sexist meme, Hunziker is somehow still a curiosity for fans with some wondering what happened to him after the show wrapped. Fans never got an update on Hunziker nor was he invited to attend the season 5 reunion. So where is Hunziker now?
What happened with Pete on ‘Below Deck’?
Hunziker may have been edited out of the show, but he still experienced the season with the cast. He shared some Instagram story photos and videos where he seemed to bump into a few Below Deck crew members in Florida during the winter. But otherwise, the only contact he’s had with the cast was when they wondered what he was thinking when he shared the meme.
“Yeah, he was odd,” Captain Sandy Yawn said about Hunziker during the reunion. “Honestly, I had a few conversations with him. The lack of consciousness with what’s going on in our planet and in our world. And that picture was so disturbing. I was blown away.”
In fact, Yawn said she reached out to Hunziker about the meme. “I did,” she recalled. “We texted. I go, ‘What are you thinking?’ Like what is wrong? He wrote back, ‘Oh my God it was a mistake.’ And then I didn’t hear from him.” Yawn still follows Hunziker on Instagram and so do Hannah Ferrier, chef Hindrigo “Kiko” Lorran, Jessica More, and Alex Radcliffe from Below Deck Med Season 5.
What is Pete Hunziker doing now?
Hunziker seems to still be (somewhat) in yachting but admitted he struggled to find work after being on the show. “Well, I’ve been retired I guess a month now,” Hunziker said on an Instagram story video in February 2021. “Nobody’ll hire me since you know, I’m fired on Below Deck and all that s***.”
He was seen with Radcliffe in the video and shared that Radcliffe gave him a job. “I went to the lead deckhand and he hired me right away,” Hunziker said. Radcliffe joked, “Hey someone had to hire him, ya know?” Hunziker is later seen working on the boat, which is when Radcliffe ribbed him. “He’s about to get fired again real fast.”
After Below Deck fired Hunziker, he pivoted to a new source of income. He became another reality TV star to open an OnlyFans account.
In June 2023, Hunziker revealed he underwent surgery for a spinal fusion. The former Below Deck cast member shared images of his recovery on Instagram.
Will Pete Hunziker ever return to Below Deck Mediterranean? That seems highly unlikely given the fallout of his social media post. Instead, he joins the list of Below Deck alumni whose ships have sailed.
