Below Deck Medical Emergency Was Even More Intense Than We Saw
Reality TV shows are often known for playing up the drama to lure in viewers, but once in a while, things are actually understated on scene. That's what happened on a recent episode of Below Deck during a medical emergency.
The episode, which aired at the end of October, showed charter guest Brandy needing some medical attention during a beach picnic. While it initially looked like she might have had too much to drink, soon Brandy was curled up on the beach under a towel seemingly unable to move.
When Captain Lee saw what was happening, he ordered her to be brought back to the Valor motor yacht immediately. While it seemed like Brandy was just going back to the boat to get some rest, things were a bit more complicated than that.
Captain Lee said that Brandy had to stay in bed for hours
Captain Lee recently revealed on Twitter that Brandy needed to remain in bed for a while, and that he was by her side the whole time. "Awwww, another reason to love [Captain Lee Rosbach]!!" wrote one Twitter user. "Sitting on the bed comforting a sick guest!"
"Trust me it was a long few hrs," responded Captain Lee.
It seems that Captain Lee has quite a few fans, because they were quick to respond to his tweet, admiring his compassion. "Captain Lee IS the perfect man!!" wrote another Twitter user.
But Captain Lee wasn't just staying with Brandy to be nice. He was genuinely worried that something serious was going on, and felt it was necessary to keep an eye on the guest through the night.
Captain Lee was not a fan of Brandy
Captain Lee opened up more about the dramatic incident in an interview with Decider, revealing that he did not approve of Brandy. "What a great wife she would be, said no one ever," remarked the captain, revealing a snarky side to his personality. "I don't know what she was on but it was something. There was no way you could spin that to say that that was a good look for her or anyone else. I thought it was rather pathetic."
The Valor caption also revealed what happened after Brandy was sent back to the boat and went to bed. He said that he stayed with her in order to check on both her mental and physical states. "The first thing I had to do was make sure that she was actually physically okay," he said. "After I was sure that she was physically okay then her mental state had to be addressed, which was like, I don't know, it was like taking a burlap bag full of bobcats and they're all trying to get out at the same time. I mean, she was just everywhere."
Captain Lee wasn't the only Below Deck cast member who wasn't a fan of Brandy. The show gets some pretty outrageous guests, but one cast member said that Brandy outranks them all. "She was our craziest charter guest of my life," Kate Chastain said in an Instagram story on the Below Deck Instagram account (via Bravo's The Daily Dish). "She takes the cake!"
Captain Lee added that the entire incident terrified him, even though it seemed like he kept his calm pretty well from what we saw of the medical emergency on Below Deck. "She scared me, and I'm fearless," he said on the Instagram story.
Brandy's friend says she suffers from anxiety attacks and seizures
However, it turns out that Captain Lee and the rest of the crew's assumptions about Brandy may not have been true after all.
Helen Hoey, one of the Below Deck charter guests traveling with Brandy, revealed some critical information on Another Below Deck Podcast, and it looks like Captain Lee's snarky comments were totally unfounded. According to Hoey, Brandy suffers from some health issues, and her medical emergency was not substance-induced as many people assumed.
"She's an amazing person and she literally suffers from seizures and panic attacks," said Hoey on the podcast (via Cheat Sheet). "So what you saw, was that. And you're on vacation, and you're like, 'OK, I'll just have a glass of red wine to help me to relax.' Sometimes it has a negative effect on you."
Ultimately, viewers of the episode saw a doctor come aboard to check Brandy, who admitted she had been drinking heavily for the last two weeks, and didn't fess up to any other health issues when asked. The doctor's antidote? Drinking plenty of juice. Whether her condition was brought on solely by overindulging on Champagne, as Brandy suggested, or something more, as her friend alluded to, we'll likely never know.
The Below Deck cast is trained for medical situations
While Captain Lee isn't a medical doctor, Brandy was in good hands with him by her bedside. According to Bustle, every member of the Valor crew has medical knowledge and they also know how to administer first aid as well as assess whether a medical emergency needs outside attention.
Crew members must also complete STCW (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) 95 training, which trains crew members in boating safety, first aid, CPR, and other topics. While Brandy is not the kind of guest that comes along very often, it's good that the crew is prepared.