Below Deck‘s Captain Kerry Titheradge just hinted that season 13 will make franchise history with surprise changes.
“This season, we’re going to have some changes that I don’t think we’ve ever seen on Below Deck before,” Kerry exclusively told Us before the season premiere on Monday, October 12.
Kerry teased how the cast shakeups would play out, adding, “There’s definitely some changes. There’s gonna be some decisions made that maybe I may have to rethink — if I could rethink again — which way I went with.”
The captain was excited to rewatch pivotal moments months later.
“I’m excited to look back on myself and see how I manage the boat with hindsight in mind,” he noted. “I’m already seeing things in the first episode that I had no idea about. So off the bat, there’s already things that I’m excited to see myself.”
Bravo released the first look at season 13 in September, which featured Captain Kerry front and center on motor yacht Azul V. He is joined by a few returning favorites, including chief stew Fraser Olender and second stew Rainbeau de Roos.
New crew members Chef Moe Vilomar, Bosun Alex Wright, deckhands James Bishop, Matthew Fitzpatrick-Buck and Jessenia Stidger and stews Kaylee Brown and Rosa Simms-Preston are also introduced.
Season 13 marks the first time Below Deck is back in Thailand since 2019.
“This season, for me, it was such a different and unique part of the world. The Caribbean is lovely. I also did Norway, which was very exciting. But going into Thailand, it was a totally different experience,” Kerry shared with Us. “I really wanted to feel the place and they call it ‘the country of smiles,’ and the energy that you get from that country it just reverberates for everybody.”
He continued: “Everything comes from the top, right? So if I’m stressed and wound up and micromanaging and just not happy to be around, it kind of filters through the whole crew.”
While Kerry was determined to kick off the season on a high, things took a turn due to the boat’s older equipment and the extreme weather in Thailand.
“With Thailand, the weather changes very quickly with very little warning and that is definitely one of the biggest challenges. Having a vessel that I need to baby — it’s a great boat as far as [the] guest experiences — but the weather is probably the biggest one,” he shared. “We’ve got weather that can come from nowhere. We have one storm, I know if it’s coming and I can feel it [in] my bones and I can see the system moving in.”
Kerry didn’t have the same “advance warning” as in the Caribbean and the U.S.
“I knew it was coming, but it ended up coming from the opposite direction. So being aware of that [is challenging],” he explained. “Plus the big tides are huge because the vessel doesn’t have the horse power to fight the tides. So I wanted to plan ahead — especially coming into the marina. The tides coming in can get me in a lot of trouble, so that would probably be the most difficult part. And there’s a lot of wildlife there as well. The monkeys look friendly, but we shouldn’t get too close to them. ”
Below Deck airs on Bravo Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
