Gary King Addresses Sitting in the Hot Tub with a Topless Sydney Zaruba
"If someone wants to be free and be naked, who am I to tell them differently?" the Below Deck Sailing Yacht first mate said.
The Parsifal III crew has given us some of the most memorable nights off in Below Deck history in Season 2 of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, and the June 7 episode was no exception.
After Alli Dore told Gary King that she wanted to put their relationship on pause for the remainder of the charter season, he seemed to get a little flirty with Sydney Zaruba whom he had hooked up with during the crew's very first night off of the season. The Below Deck Sailing Yacht crew then took the party from the restaurant to the Parsifal III's hot tub in the June 7 episode (clip above). Gary and Daisy Kelliher stripped down to their underwear to take a dip. Even though Sydney didn't have a bra on underneath her dress, Daisy still encouraged her to get in the hot tub.
When Alli stumbled upon just Gary and a topless Sydney sitting in the hot tub together after Daisy had stepped away, she became very upset at both Gary and Sydney, causing a dramatic end to the evening. Gary apologized to Alli the next morning, and they both agreed to be professional around one another as they finished out the charter season. But by the end of the episode, Gary and Alli were looking very cozy with one another and even kissed.
Now looking back on the hot tub moment during his appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on June 7, Gary didn't seem as regretful about hanging out with Sydney that night. "No, to be honest, I don't think a girl being topless is anything to be ashamed of," he said. "Maybe in the circumstances with Alli, it wasn't the best thing, but at the end of the day, if someone wants to be free and be naked, who am I to tell them differently?"
However, he showed remorse for the way he acted with Sydney while he and Alli were on a break. "Yes, I think that was very immature of me, and that's where my apology came from. No one should be treated like that, especially Alli. I just feel I was a bit heartbroken when she broke up with me," Gary explained on WWHL. "It was a cowardly action of me, and I've realized that. And at the end of the day, we can only see our mistakes, and we can grow from them. And that's what I'm hoping I can do."
Gary similarly apologized to Alli in a post on Instagram prior to the May 31 episode of Below Deck Sailing Yacht. "Tonight’s episode of [Below Deck Sailing Yacht] is not one of my proudest moments. I must admit that what I was doing was wrong and I realised it. No women should ever be treated like that, I’m glad we’ve worked through it. I’d like to apologise to [Alli] for my actions," Gary wrote. "All I can say is that we learn from our mistakes and I have first hand, I know that it might not mean much but it wasn’t my intentions. I also hope I have not embarrassed my mother."
Alli previously opened up about how difficult it was to be around Gary after she had put their relationship on hold. "Boatmances, I mean, they can be complicated, and for me, it was really difficult being with someone who I really, really liked, working with them and having to end our situation, and then see him every day," Alli said during a "Pita Party" chat on Instagram with Daisy and Hannah Ferrier on June 1. "And then he was going out of his way to ignore me. He was going out of his way to make a point, to make an impact so that I would know that, 'I'm hurt, and you need to know that I'm hurt.' So that put an extra element of discomfort for me."
That "discomfort" only grew as Gary flirted with Sydney during the crew dinner. "And then sitting through that dinner, you know, was horrible," Alli shared. "I could see what was going on next to me, the flirting that was going on next to me. It made me feel really f--king weird."
The yachties will be back in the hot tub for the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 2 finale. Get your first look, below.
