Lauren Cohen, and Max Hagley, are two crew members on Below Deck Mediterranean who’ve managed to slide under the radar when it comes to controversy. So, what better people to gossip with about the hookups and drama, than them, right? And, that’s exactly what went down when Lauren and Max visited Hollywoodlife.com in New York City on July 10! We covered a lot of ground with the crew members to get you ready for tonight’s episode, which airs on Bravo at 9/8c! SO, lets jump into the choppy waters, shall we? You see what we did there…
Hot topic #1: Hannah‘s texting scandal — Right now, Hannah is in the hot seat on BDW. Long story short, she hooked up with one of the [very hot] charter guests, Jason, which is a big NO NO. And, when she and Jason were texting, she made a comment to him about the crew complaining about Jason’s group’s tip. Well, the messages that were meant to be private, went public when Bugsy discovered the iPad that Hannah’s texts were synced to. Now, half of the crew is pretty irritated and half of the crew is either indifferent or team Hannah.
So, what were Lauren and Max thinking while Hannah’s scandal unfolded? “That was nuts,” Lauren EXCLUSIVELY told us. It definitely put a major wedge into the entire crew dynamic… I read the messages too and it was quite funny, because at first I was like, ‘Oh this is juicy stuff.’ Then, I was like, ‘Oh this is actually a primary charter guest.’ The crew kind of found it exciting and Jason is so hot!” In the end, Lauren sees both sides, although Hannah is her girl. “I like everybody… Obviously Hannah is my girl.. so I’m Switzerland!”
Max, take it away! “Ok, so, there’s team Hannah [as Max pointed at Lauren] and then there’s not team Hannah,” he said. “It’s made a huge divide in the group. I didn’t mind Hannah. She can hook up with who she wants to hook up with. It was the fact that she mentioned the crew in the messages… For me, that was like, you shouldn’t have done that. But, it wasn’t for us to deal with. For it to go above us, it goes to Captain Sandy.”
Hot topic #2: Malia‘s love triangle — As you know, Malia is fully emerged in a love triangle with Chef Adam and Wes. Both crew members have been vying for her attention, and she’s been enjoying it from all angles. Some may see it as Malia having the time of her life and exploring her options; while others may view her actions as a bit unfair. And, we can’t forget about how [on last week’s episode] we found out that Malia and Adam actually knew each other before Sirocco! “That was a bombshell,” Lauren admitted; while Max was just as surprised as she was. “What gets me is when her and Adam first met, they’re like, ‘Oh hi, nice to meet you.’ You didn’t pick up on anything. If that were me, I couldn’t hide it.” Neither could we, Max!
Ultimately, both Lauren and Max didn’t take a side since they don’t spend a ton of time with Adam. But, they shared their soft spot for “grandpa Wes,” when they gushed over his quiet, yet nice personality. Lauren, then sympathized with her roommate [Malia] on the show when she said, “She’s just trying to handle the love triangle the best she can. But, I don’t know what I would do if that were me.”
Hot topics # 3: Onion-gate — When Kenny, a valued charter guest, made a food request for “no onions,” Adam basically took it as a personal shot to his chef ego; something we know he deeply cares about. When it comes to the food and his kitchen, it’s Adam’s world and we’re all just living in it. So, he ended up disregarding all direction and purposely put onions in Kenny’s soup. And, his actions almost cost the crew their hefty tip. In the short, everyone was pretty annoyed with Adam. And, Max and Lauren were still in shock over his actions.
LC: “Kenny didn’t even throw a fit [when he discovered the onions]. I honestly think it was an ego thing for Adam. Like, ‘You can’t tell me how I’m going to cook my food. I’m the chef.'”
MH: “I’ve hung out with Kenny; this guy is one in a million. He’s seriously the nicest person I’ve ever been out with. ‘Like [Adam] what was going through your mind? Any other charter guest but Kenny.’ We were all lucky that Kenny was so placid in the way he is. Imagine if it was someone else? And, Adam did something like this in the beginning of the show too.” [aka the female guests with the butter].
So, what can we expect to see on tonight’s episode?
LC: “Well, Hannah seems to be picking a fight with everyone right now, except for me, which I’m fine with [haha]. The dynamics are getting worse and you’ll see that in this week’s episode! It’s not fun [right now]. The iPad debacle is still unfolding and everyone’s still trying to get to the bottom of it… some people know; some people don’t know; everyone’s finding out in different ways and the story is getting flipped. We have really fun, new guests on board this week … she owns a tequila company, so there’s enough said! Work-wise, in the yachting aspect, we have some people who get to do cool stuff. It’s funny because the work side of things is coming together, but personally, it’s a different story. People’s true colors are coming out.”
MH: There’s definitely a different sort of vibe on the boat now. It’s really tense and awkward. We’re all falling out, but at the same time, the yacht is being run well! We’re falling to bits [haha].”
HollywoodLifers, what do you think is going happen on tonight’s episode?