Captain Sandy has learned a major lesson following Ruan Irving‘s forged document drama on Below Deck Mediterranean.
During the Monday, October 9, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Sandy was asked whether she plans to work with Ruan again.
“I have not [spoken with him],” she told a fan during the aftershow. “No, [I wouldn’t work with him]. Not in a million years. No, sorry.”
The captain revealed earlier in the show that she thought Ruan already knew his paperwork wasn’t authentic when he got on board the yacht.
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Season 8 of the Bravo hit got off to a rocky start in September when Sandy was alerted to the fact that her bosun’s documents may not be real. Ruan admitted at the time that he brought copies of his medical license and was told to get the originals shipped to him.
Later in the premiere, Sandy received a call from the Port Authority because Ruan’s Yachtmasters paperwork had someone else’s photo attached when scanned online.
“You have got to be freaking kidding me. This is someone else’s picture on Ruan’s certificate. This is major. This is, like, a whole different level. This is not OK,” Sandy told the cameras. “The entire vessel could be arrested because of one crew member.”
Ruan appeared shocked by the news, adding, “On one of the boats because the ticket expired, we needed to get a ticket done quickly. A guy came on the boat and he issued us our tickets. I have been on boats for three years with that same ticket and I swear to God the last thing on my mind is that the ticket was false.”
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Ruan initially promised to retrieve the proper paperwork so he could rejoin the boat. However, he later called Sandy to let her know he wasn’t planning to return.
“Sorry about this, captain, but I don’t think I am going to get the ticket sorted in time. I don’t want to hold the vessel up any longer, I am just going to go back home and I don’t think I am going to come back,” he said over the phone in the September episode. “I am kind of just deciding to just call it quits and just head back to South Africa. I am just going to go back home and sort out what I need to sort out.”
Former Below Deck star Captain Lee has since questioned why Sandy didn’t do her own due diligence before the boat set sail.
“The only person who is responsible for everything that happens on that vessel is the captain,” Lee said on the Wednesday, October 4, episode of his “Salty With Captain Lee” podcast. “Port State Authority don’t give a s—t [if you are filming a show]. That is not putting money in their pocket. They don’t care.”
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He continued: “Why didn’t she match that when looking at his credentials? I have no idea. I am looking at everyone’s credentials and I am scrutinizing anyone that gets on my boat. I am responsible and I take that seriously.”
Lee concluded by saying he didn’t believe Sandy intentionally missed the mistake.
“It is her issue. She gets whatever award she gets for missing [the problem]. It is the captain’s responsibility. To me, it would be so embarrassing to hand over documents that I hadn’t examined first. Do I think she was trying to pull a slick one? No. It doesn’t make any difference because she is ultimately responsible,” he noted. “I am sorry she had to go through that, but that is a lesson well learned. Trust, but verify.”
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
