‘Below Deck:’ Did Ashley Marti Use Gary King To Get More Screentime?

Did Below Deck newbie Ashley Marti use Gary King to get more screentime? She admitted that she watched when he made his debut on Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 2. Gary was involved in a love triangle with Sydney Zaruba and Alli Dore. He almost ended up in a love square with Ashley, Gabriela Barragan, and Daisy Kelliher.

Gary kissed all three ladies this season. Ashley thought she met her match with Gary. She claimed that she always gets what she wants. She didn’t let Gary’s wandering eye get to her. Instead, she thought she could get her way with him.

Gary King unfollowed Ashley Marti on social media

Gary King from Below Deck Sailing Yacht recently made an appearance on the Beneath the Surface podcast with Daisy and Alli. During the lengthy interview, he talked about that controversial scene involving Ashley. Below Deck fans say Ashley should be charged with rape since she took advantage of Gary while he was drunk. However, Gary claims that he wasn’t assaulted.

He even reached out to Ashley after the episode aired. He cared about her well-being because of the backlash she received. But that doesn’t mean he stays in touch with his Below Deck crew members. He even shaded Ashley at the start of the episode.

“What’s that chick we worked with again, on the show?” Gary asked.

“What chick?” Alli said.

“The one that I unfollowed, Ashley. That’s it.” Gary said with a smile on his face.

Alli and Daisy erupted in laughter. Even though Gary reached out to Ashley after the episode of Below Deck Sailing Yacht aired, he doesn’t keep in touch with her. He also doesn’t keep in touch with former deckhand Tom Pearson.

“Both of them, like in the beginning episodes, they were complaining about age. That age is just a number and you’re so childish blah blah blah etc. etc,” Gary explained on the Tuesday, May 10 episode of Beneath the Surface podcast. “But then on the first night, Tom acted like a 12-year-old getting so p*ssed, that he vomited in the captain’s cabin.”

The first mate then made a comment about Ashley acting “like an 11-year-old girl seeing the first guy she wanted to kiss.” His voice trailed off before joking that she tried to “attack” him.

Did Ashley use Gary to get on Below Deck?

Some Below Deck fans noticed that Ashley was a fan of the show before she joined. The reason why she already had her eye on Gary is that he had a storyline in the previous season. This begs the question of whether Ashley used Gary to get more screentime.

“Well, I think her ways of trying to seduce a man were not very good,” Gary admitted. “I think what she gets, she’ll get. I think she’s been a spoiled girl pretty much her whole life. So, she’s always got what you wanted.”

Gary had even more shade to throw at Ashley. He called her “cringe” and “a little bit desperate” when she told both Tom and Gary that she wanted to hook up with Gary.

It was hard for him to see Ashley’s feelings as genuine as she made it a game between them from that very moment. Gary made it clear that doesn’t deal with immature crew members, which is why he doesn’t speak with them anymore.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Ashley used Gary to get more screentime? Do you think she assaulted him? Sound off below in the comment section.

Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 3 airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.