Owning up to her mistakes. Heather Chase is apologizing after her use of the N-word during a conversation with Below Deck costar Rayna Lindsey received major backlash.
“I am sorry for the hurt my ignorance caused Rayna in tonight’s episode. While I apologized to Rayna throughout the season, I cannot express enough how remorseful I am,” Heather wrote in a statement via Instagram on Monday, December 13. “Over the past nine months since this episode was filmed, I have learned how my words and actions can affect others and I vow to do better in the future.”
During the latest episode of Below Deck, Heather used the N-word while going to the bathroom with Rayna during a crew night out. After they returned to the boat, the deckhand explained to the stew that she shouldn’t use the racial slur as a white woman. Heather, for her part, didn’t recall saying the N-word but apologized and later said Rayna’s comments “made me feel bad.”
After the episode aired, Rayna referred to the situation as “traumatic” while taking part in an Instagram Q&A with her followers.
“It’s like watching a car crash over and over again,” the Bravo personality wrote, adding that Heather seemed “too comfortable” repeating the N-word back at her. “Like I said, she said that s–t regularly.”
Rayna continued to explain that rewatching the scene made her “skin crawl” while hinting that “things kinda get worse” between them later on.
“Something happens so bad that it becomes impossible to trust anyone. With time and the reunion I hope we can unpack everything,” she said on Monday, noting that she and Heather “have never been friends if that helps answer your question.”
When a fan asked why Rayna waited to talk to Heather about the situation, she responded, “I battled a lot with trying not to get upset and give the ‘angry black woman’ narrative. I also thought she had said it again in the crew mess so I was like alright time to address this.”
Although the costars didn’t seem to work out their issues, Rayna explained that she hoped the incident was a lesson for Heather, saying, “I wish her nothing but the best though. She’s young and hopefully can learn from these mistakes.”
The chief stew previously addressed the issues that came up as she attempted to work cohesively with Rayna and her other coworkers.
“Of course, it all feels like a blow to the chest,” Heather told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month about her ups and downs with the exterior team. “So, I mean, it sucked to hear the chit chat behind my back, and I understand people’s frustrations, but maybe let’s focus more on being team players and not drama starters.”
Heather also teased how some of her relationships with her costars will continue to decline as season 9 plays out.
“I wear heart on my sleeve, I truly do. I care about every little thing, every detail, every crew member, every guest, I put it all before myself and I think we’ll all see a point where I kind of break and realize, I can’t just give, give, give, give, give 24/7, and just be fumbled over and stabbed in the back,” she said at the time. “I think I’ve learned to maybe not to take things so seriously, to think before I talk in some realms, and in other realms, be a little more sure of myself and remember why I am in this position.”
Below Deck airs on Bravo on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET
