Below Deck’s Heather Chase Shaded Fraser – ‘Once He Becomes a Chief Stew’ – But He Already Is a Chief Stew (Exclusive)
Heather Chase from Below Deck shot back at Fraser Olender’s criticisms of her management style, saying, “once Fraser becomes a chief stew, he’ll understand it a little more.” But Olender actually is a chief stew.
Olender dished with Showbiz Cheat Sheet about how he quickly moved up in ranks and was promoted to chief stew after he filmed Below Deck. “I filmed the show and then I went back to my boat and shortly after I was promoted to chief stew,” he said.
When did Fraser Olender from ‘Below Deck’ become a chief stew?
Olender said he’s still getting into the role but he loves it. “I’m so so pleased about that and loving it,” he said. “Still getting my teeth into it. It’s somewhat new, it was only in May that I got promoted. But I had a good, strong, difficult season. It was just packed with guests and so it was a really great opportunity to try out my chief stew dream goals.”
Below Deck has never had a male chief stew and Olender is only the second man to work in the interior. He said there isn’t much male representation in the interior. “I mean, it’s definitely something that is growing, but it’s very, very rare to come across a man on the interior,” he remarked. “It’s a very dated industry and very kind of setback in traditional ways. And it’s changing and it’s getting there. But that’s also a huge part of why I enjoyed doing this so much. You know, want to spread the word, you know, that for guys there absolutely is a place for them on the inside and out. And yeah, we just got to break the mold.”
‘Below Deck’ set him up to become a mixologist
Olender credits Below Deck for helping him expand his skills, which includes becoming a skilled bartender. He revealed on the show he came from a housekeeping background so making cocktails was something relatively new for him.
“I hadn’t really ever had to make a drink before. So in my experience, we’ve always had teams of at least seven people on the interior,” he shared. “So when you have specific duties like housekeeping, you don’t need that. And that’s great. But I had no previous experience. But saying that, I have discovered something I truly love, which is mixology. So I’ve been able to come across something I didn’t even know I enjoyed, and I just have to go with it. And you just start looking at recipes. And then also, I would just start changing them, and then they just sort of trend.”
Olender was thrown behind the bar almost instantly and asked to make a chocolate martini. He worried his drink wasn’t going to go over well, but the guest loved it – in fact, she continued to request it.
Olender said viewers will see his journey becoming the yacht bartender. “I really get into it later on,” he said. “We start doing cocktail parties and all the rest.”
The ‘Below Deck’ interior team had their work cut out for them
And while Olender has been shady toward Chase about “doing a bit of work” on her part, he admitted the boat was in disarray when the crew arrived. “It was, it really was,” he said about the chaos on the boat.
“But I don’t blame Heather either, because it really was [a mess],” he remarked. “We were all coming to grips with everything. It was a joint effort into trying to think of this or that. I just think I moved the quickest, and therefore I kind of took it on, you know, took it on myself to be everywhere and do everything because it was sink or swim, and we just had to get this charter going well. So I just thought if I’m if no one else can do it, I might as well run around myself.”
