Doomed from the start. Although Hannah Ferrier and Captain Sandy Yawn reached a low point with the chief stew’s departure from Below Deck Mediterranean — the issues between them started from the moment they met.
“The way things can be edited — it was probably edited in a way where it looks like we were better than we were for the years before that we filmed together,” Hannah, 35, alleged on the “Kyle & Jackie O Show” podcast on January 18, about how her firing came off different than it really was. “We weren’t friendly at all. It was every season sitting down with production going, ‘How can we get these two working together where it’s an environment where they can [coexist]?'”
Captain Sandy, 56, and Hannah’s professional relationship had its ups and downs since the twosome started to work together in season 2. According to the Australia native, they were never able to see eye-to-eye because Sandy is “a micromanager” when it comes to her crew.
“But what had happened is she had watched the show before she came on, and she made her decision about me on a few things that had happened,” Hannah recalled about their rocky start. “I think it was like about 45 seconds from our first introduction they had to stop production and be, like, ‘Sandy, you can’t talk to her like that.’ Like straight off the bat.”
Hannah and Sandy’s issues reached their peak when Malia White reported the chief stew for having Valium and a CBD vape pen in her cabin. The captain made the controversial decision to fire Hannah during season 5 due to Maritime Law. The duo continued to make headlines when Sandy shut down Hannah’s claims that there was one-sided competitiveness between them.
“That’s not true. I’m a real captain and I expect a level of service,” Sandy told Showbiz CheatSheet in April 2021. “Hannah was there for the camera. I was there as a captain. Two different things. I actually care about yachting. And I care about my job. I’m a captain and she waits tables.”
The Ocean International Training Academy founder wasn’t shocked by how Sandy viewed their different positions onboard.
“This is the thing, nothing that she says like that takes me by surprise because I’ve known for years that’s her view on the interior and on people who work on the interior,” Hannah exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2021. “So it came as a shock to other people, but it didn’t come as a shock for me because I’ve always felt very second rate to deck crew and things like that when I’ve worked with her.”
Sandy later clarified that she had moved past her feud with Hannah.
“She’s still angry. It’s so hard because for me, it wasn’t personal. It’s about my career,” the Florida native shared with Us in September 2021. “When a crew member shows me something and three other crew members are copied on it, my hands are tied. Yeah. I can’t.”
At the time, Sandy noted that Hannah’s firing may have come from the chief stew looking to leave the Below Deck franchise.
“Hannah, she’s got her dream. She’s living her dream. She wanted a baby,” Sandy told Us about her former coworker, who welcomed daughter Ava in October 2020. “Sometimes in my past, I have done things that I wasn’t aware of subconsciously because I wanted out. But my behavior was the way out because I didn’t know how to get out. I kind of feel, like, maybe that was some of her. But I wish her the best.”