Samantha Suarez is speaking out against the reality star.
Gary King is being accused of sexual harassment. In a new Rolling Stone exposé, Samantha Suarez, who worked in the makeup department for Below Deck Sailing Yacht, claims that the cast member tried to force himself on her during production of season 4, which took place in the summer of 2022 in Sardinia, Italy. ET has reached out to King and Suarez for comment.
In a statement to ET, Bravo, the network that airs the Below Deck franchise, said it "is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows."
"We require our third-party production companies to have appropriate workplace policies and trainings in place and a clear process on how to report concerns," Bravo said. "The concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time and action was taken based on the findings."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for 51 Minds Entertainment, Below Deck's production company, told Rolling Stone, "51 Minds is committed to providing an environment in which every member of the casts and crews on our productions feel respected and, most importantly, safe."
"51 Minds provides mandatory harassment and sensitivity training for every series it produces at the outset of each new season and lays out a clear process on how and to whom to report any questionable activity," the production company said. "With any complaint filed, a timely investigation is launched and, based on the findings, appropriate actions are implemented to ensure the safety of our cast and crew, up to and including termination. With regard to the incident reported by Ms. Suarez involving Mr. King, the case was investigated and reviewed as soon as it was submitted, and production acted accordingly based on the results."
Suarez, who first joined the franchise during season 10 of Below Deck, tells the outlet that, one day in July, she accompanied King back to his hotel room after he filmed interviews with producers while drinking.
"There is no limit to alcohol consumption whatsoever, which I think poses a really big problem," she says.
Suarez claims to the outlet that King was behaving erratically when they arrived at his room, and alleges that she tried to contain King, before telling him she had to leave to help other cast members.
Suarez claims that King repeatedly asked her not to leave and suggested she get in bed with him, despite knowing that she was in a relationship with someone else. Suarez says she continued to tell King she needed to leave, but would return with snacks and water later. When she did return, Suarez claims King answered the door in his underwear and asked her not to leave the room.
When she turned to the door, though, Suarez claims King came up behind her, grabbed her, pressed her against his body, and refused to let go of her, even as she tried to kick and elbow him off of her. When Suarez managed to get out of his grasp and open the door, she claims he slammed the door behind her.
"At that point, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I was freaking out," she says. "It just happened so fast."
Suarez says she received a phone call in that moment and stepped into the hallway to accept it.
"He tried to come up behind me and put his arm around me. He's in the hallway in his underwear and it's all weird and f**ked up, and so I'm just like, 'Just go back in your room and don't come out,'" she claims.
Suarez says she immediately told producers about the alleged incident. Suarez claims that they apologized and assured her King would be fired if any other incidents took place. Suarez says she entered into "a super depressive state" as a result of the alleged incident.
Two crew members tell the outlet that Suarez told them about the alleged incident, and three other people with no involvement in the show, production company or network likewise backed up Suarez's story, the outlet reports.
"You're an executive producer on the show and you're not even worried that your cast member put his hands on me and is being a creep currently while being on TV? Somebody shouldn't be able to keep a platform for being a gross creep," Suarez says. "Nobody knew how to handle [my situation] and I think that's why it was handled so poorly, because nobody knew what to do or what the right thing to do was. I was told there weren’t any protocols and the only thing was to reach out to HR but even then, nothing was really happening."
"Why can't you just get on TV and be like, 'Gary had to be removed from the show for his misconduct?' If anything, that would make me respect the producers and the show and everything a lot more if they were just honest instead of trying to sweep things under the rug, which is what feels like happened," she adds.
The situation with King isn't Below Deck's first controversy. Earlier this month on Below Deck Down Under, Captain Jason Chambers fired Luke Jones and Laura Bileskalne for inappropriate behavior.
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