Below Deck: Mediterranean was a beautifully dramatic successor to the already popular flagship show when it premiered in 2016. It even found the mirror image to Kate Chastain's infamous persona with chief stew Hannah Ferrier. In the subsequent second season, Captain Sandy Yawn joined the crew (after the late Captain Mark Howard decided to bow out). Ferrier and Yawn would go on to share many seasons together on Bravo – that is until the former fired Ferrier in 2020 for having undeclared drugs aboard the yacht. Apparently, the franchise alum is now claiming that she and the captain “weren't friendly at all” whilst working on the show.
As far as fans saw, the two co-stars would sometimes butt heads, but they also seemed to have a general respect for the other’s position. Hannah Ferrier’s eventual firing obviously ended their rapport. Yet whilst on the Kyle & Jackie O Show podcast, Ferrier indicated that the Bravo editors left out the fact that she struggled with Captain Sandy from Day 1 on Below Deck: Mediterranean. She said:
So the way things can be edited. It was probably edited in a way where it looks like we were better than we were for the years before that we filmed together. … We weren’t friendly at all. It was every season sitting down with production going, ‘How can we get these two working together, where it’s an environment where they can work together?'
The former series star makes it sound like she and Captain Sandy were bitter enemies on the reality series. Which is surprising, because it truly didn't come across that way on the show, and Bravo isn't one to leave out major drama from viewers. The Mediterranean alum went on to say that the captain was evidently on her case due to preconceived notions from Season 1, saying:
She’s a micromanager. But what had happened is she’d watched the show before she came on, and she’d made her decision about me on a few things had happened. … I think it was like about 45 seconds from our first introduction they had to stop production and be like, ‘Sandy, you can’t talk to her like that,’ like straight off the bat. … It was something where I’d literally pronounced a dish wrong or something when the chef hadn’t told me and given me enough notice to remember. And also, it’s that competitiveness, wanting to kind of be the fan favorite.
Following her dramatic exit from the fifth season of Below Deck: Mediterranean, Hannah Ferrier would later announce that she was quitting yachting for good. But her early retirement didn't end the apparent feud with Captain Sandy, which clearly lives on. The two have gone back-and-forth about the other in the press and online, culminating, with Ferrier accusing her old boss at one point of being a hypocrite toward women. Captain Sandy maintains that she was in the right with her decision to fire the notorious chief stew, although bosun Malia White has some slight regrets for her part in the drama.
The show goes on, though. Captain Sandy is expected to return in her capacity as leader in Mediterranean’s future seventh season. Meanwhile, her former co-star has since gotten engaged and had her first child with her fiancé. The Bravo vet also has a pretty successful podcast show now, where she talks with reality stars, including some of her fellow franchise alums.
Hannah Ferrier has said in the past that she would only consider returning to the show if Captain Lee requested her. The slightly shady remark suggests that the old riff between the two castmates likely won’t see improvement anytime soon – especially if it was indeed years in the making.
