How to Watch
Watch Below Deck on Bravo Mondays at 8/7c and next day on Peacock.
Below Deck's Chef Lawrence Snowden couldn't quite find his sea legs in the St. David's galley, leading him to quit his job before Season 12's first charter even ended.
"I think, at this point, I'm just too pissed off. I don't need this in my life," he vented in an Episode 2 confessional, before tendering his resignation to Captain Kerry Titheradge. "F–k this. I'm out."
The reason for Chef Lawrence's departure? Adjusting to an intense new work environment, while also navigating the filming process, ultimately led his stress levels to go off the charts. By the second episode, Lawrence said he was "shaking" and felt like he was "going to have a panic attack," despite never having experienced one before.
"I'm gonna be going home," Lawrence announced in a producer interview, describing the decision as a weight "lifted off" his shoulders. "I'm not one to just pack things in, in the first day. It feels a bit like a failure. Problem is, when everything is going wrong around you, obviously… there's a limit. I definitely feel a lot more relaxed now."
Despite his planned exit, Lawrence agreed to stay on long enough to help his replacement, Chef Anthony Iracane from Season 11, get his footing.
"I think the crew are great, and Captain Kerry's a nice guy," he added, citing his religious faith as helping him get through the "challenging few days" he'd just experienced. "He's genuine and he's only been good to me. But my gut's telling me, Just walk away."
How the Below Deck crew reacted to Chef Lawrence leaving
Though Kerry initially tried to encourage an "overwhelmed" Lawrence to put on his "big boy pants and get the job done" as he started to "spiral," the captain ultimately abandoned ship. "If someone's willing to quit so quick, I can't have that. I need someone I can trust," he explained to Chief Stew Fraser Olender.
In a confessional, Kerry elaborated, "I showed him support, but that support couldn't get him out of his funk. He has decided he can't be here any longer, and I'm not gonna try and convince him to stay."
Fraser, for his part, tried his best to play it cool. "I could freak out right now. I could panic," he admitted in a confessional, after asking Lawrence if there was anything he could to do to help him. "But I've got no other option, and f–k, I've got no chef."
Related
He's the one who suggested re-hiring Chef Anthony to his captain. "Yes, he had issues, but that man is skilled," Fraser advocated for his friend whom he described as being like a brother.
Details on Chef Anthony Iracane's return to Below Deck
By the end of Below Deck's June 9 episode, Chef Anthony officially made his triumphant return and, after briefly meeting Lawrence in the galley, he also reflected on coming back "home" to the St. David.
"It's a redemption," Chef Anthony said, referring to Captain Kerry firing him during Season 11. "I'm not a loser and I can be a winner. And I can make all my family proud. It's going to be showtime. It's going to be the Tony show."
It appears the circumstances surrounding Anthony's dismissal will soon lead to drama between him and Fraser, though.
"Me getting fired on St. David, I was, like, kind of destroyed about that," he added, revealing that fellow yachtie Barbara "Barbie" Pascual called him after the season wrapped with some new intel. "She told me Fraser was a big part of me getting fired. That hurt me so bad. I still don't really know what happened, so I think I have all this anger. [At] the same time, I can't believe I get this kind of second chance."
As Anthony makes his transition back to the St. David, don't miss what else Captain Kerry spilled about Chef Lawrence's premature Below Deck exit.
