UPDATED with latest: A judge has denied a motion by NBCUniversal Media LLC, Bravo Media LLC and Mountain View Productions LLC to force into arbitration the claims of a former Below Deck camera operator who says the defendants covered up a cast member’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang issued her ruling regarding the claims made by plaintiff Grey Duddleston. He maintained the studios could not compel arbitration due to the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows individuals who possibly have been the victim of sexual assault or harassment to choose to pursue their claims in court rather than being bound by a mandatory arbitration agreement.
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Chang heard arguments on the motion January 20 and took the case under submission prior to ruling on Friday.
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Duddleston, who was a camera operator, and hair and makeup artist Samantha Suarez filed the lawsuit in March 2025 against the entities as well as castmember Gary King, whom they allege is a “known drunkard and serial harasser.” The suit’s allegations include sexual battery, retaliation, harassment and negligent hiring, retention and supervision.
Among the allegations: In summer 2022 while filming Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4, Suarez was a hair-and-makeup artist and Duddleston a camera operator. According to the complaint, when Suarez went to King’s hotel room to drop off a case of water and snacks, King opened the door in his underwear and refused to take the water. Suarez claims she walked past King to put the water inside the room and on her way out, King allegedly lunged toward her and physically restrained her.
In 2023, two crew members of Below Deck Down Under Season 2 were fired due to what were deemed non-consensual sexual advances to co-workers. Those encounters were caught on camera and dealt with on board by Captain Jason Chambers. Chambers was not the captain on Sailing Yacht Season 4.
For more on the specifics on the allegations against King, see our reporting below.
Another hearing is scheduled for April 28, in which defense attorneys will attempt to get Suarez’s claims dismissed. The lawyers say Suarez, a Georgia resident, cannot sue in a California court because her claims involve alleged conduct by King on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, more than 6,000 miles away.
“A determination that Suarez can avail herself of California’s laws with these allegations would transform the California court system into the International Court of Justice … and encourage the very forum shopping that resulted in the instant lawsuit,” the entities’ lawyers contend.
PREVIOUSLY, February 25, 2025: Two Below Deck: Sailing Yacht crew members are suing Gary King, NBCUniversal, Bravo, Endemol Shine and producers of the superyacht reality TV series for sexual battery, a hostile work environment, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination.
In the latest self-declared “Reality Reckoning” filing from lawyers Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos, hair and makeup artist Samantha Suarez and camera operator Grey Duddleston claim they were canned from Season 4 of the 51 Minds Entertainment-produced series and allegedly put on a “do not hire” list.
The career fallout came after an allegedly violent July 23, 2022 assault in Sardinia by a seemingly drunken King that Suarez feared could have escalated to rape. “Suarez immediately reported the terrifying incident to 51 Minds, which opened up an investigation,” the 16-claim filing in Los Angeles Superior Court says of the attack by the Sailing Yacht First Officer. “When production spoke to King, he admitted what he had done. He was not fired, however. Instead, King was warned that he would be fired if something like that were to happen again.”
“Unsurprisingly, King engaged in further misconduct. Duddleston, Suarez’s then boyfriend, witnessed King untie the bikini tops of two female cast members without their consent, make lewd remarks to a female audio technician, and grab the genitals of two male camera operators,” the jury-trial-seeking suit adds. “Duddleston reported these incidents, per standard operating procedure, over the crew walkie-talkie system. Rather than terminate King, 51 Minds (alongside the studio, NBC) opened an investigation into Duddleston for inappropriate use of the walkie-talkie system.”
A lot of this first emerged in a 2023 article in Rolling Stone (full disclosure: Rolling Stone and Deadline are both owned by PMC) on NBCU and producers covering up King’s misconduct. On Tuesday, neither NBCU nor Bravo responded to request for comment on Suarez and Duddleston’s action.
With company waivers, psychologists and “cruel and unjust” misconduct by Below Deck franchise fav King, the filing asserts that “Suarez and Duddleston are informed and believe, and based thereon allege, that 51 Minds had actually decided to terminate King after the conclusion of Season 4 but were overruled by NBC, which did not want to sacrifice its cash cow for the sake of two crew members.”
Season 5 of Below Deck: Sailing Yacht concluded January 27. Bravo hasn’t announced a Season 6 yet.
City News Service contributed to this report.
If Gary treats people like this with the camera rolling, after being warned, imagine what he’s been like to work with all these years before? AND is this why he was edited this past season being contemplative about his alcohol habits, were they trying to set the audience up to feel sympathy for his “struggles”?
Sound like HR doesn’t care.
Sadly, HR only has so much power. If NBCU wants to keep someone, they have to weigh their decision and roll the dice. In this case, NBCU lost the bet. On top of that, these “independent/licensed” productions don’t have the same oversight a regular production does. Gary is a horrible person and horrible department manager – I wouldn’t let him captain a rowboat.
These allegations have been public for several years. Astounding that Bravo kept bringing this asshole back
More like “Below Board”!
what a wonderful business –
What a horrible way men treat women.
True.