Jen Howell. Bravo

On Tuesday night's episode of Below Deck, the Bravo reality show that features the crew of a chartered yacht, viewers noticed something disturbing. One of the crew members, stewardess Jen Howell, appeared to be sexually assaulted on camera, when a passenger groped her butt as Jen worked a dinner party. In that same scene, a passenger is heard telling Jen, “I think you’re very pretty” and another commented “cute AF.”

In response, Jen's manager, First Stewardess Kate Chastain, said in a confessional interview, “Unfortunately, a guest will be served too much [alcohol], so they think, maybe, Hey, I can sexually harass the yacht crew. However, as an experienced yachtie, you learn how to deal with these kind of charter guests. And, unfortunately, Jen is not a yachtie.”

Kate also told Jen directly, "Listen, Jen, I think you might be giving them mixed signals and you don’t realize it. You were like this [puts her hands around Jen's waist to demonstrate]." To which Jen responded, "I was getting her the f*ck out of here and I didn't want her to fall."

Earlier in the episode, Jen recounted an incident where a guest — the same one who later appeared to grope Jen — allegedly took her shirt off in front of the stewardess. The alleged incident wasn't shown, but you could hear Jen and the woman speaking through a door, and the woman is heard telling Jen, "You're not allowed to leave," "I'm giving you what you want," and "give me a hug." Before the door to the room was closed, the woman was heard telling Jen, “My husband likes you.” Later, in confessional, Jen said she'd never been propositioned by a married couple before.

The following day, ahead of a "girls in pearls, guys in ties" beach party, Kate — who was made aware of the alleged topless incident — offered Jen a pearl necklace with a whistle on it. "If you’re ever not feeling safe," she said.

Considering that more and more industries are speaking out about sexual assault and harassment right now, including the TV industry, many viewers were disturbed by Kate's reaction and the fact that the episode aired without some sort of corrective commentary. They took to Twitter to express their dismay.



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@Kate_Chastain I love you, but sexual harassment is not something that should be normalized or "dealt with". #BelowDeck — Skeleton Jack (@IPunchedCupid) November 1, 2017

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Experienced yachtie or not, no one should have to get used to being sexually harassed by the guests @Kate_Chastain @JenHowell_13 #BelowDeck — kaitlyn michelle. (@asdfjklkaitlyn) November 1, 2017

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I’m feeling like #belowdeck needs to do a PSA at the end of this episode about sexual harassment — The Bag Whore (@MyBagHabit) November 1, 2017

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Anyone else creeped out by these men?!? #BelowDeck pic.twitter.com/FW9f6qCNqR — All About Reality... (@RealityTVBabe00) November 1, 2017

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No Kate. Someone can't touch you if you don't want regardless if it's a yacht or not. That bordered on "asking for it." defense. #belowdeck — Wags (@jwags77) November 1, 2017

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This charter guest sexually harassing Jen and then groping her is disgusting, to say the least. #BelowDeck — Allyson Koerner (@AllysonKoerner) November 1, 2017

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that is sexual harassment and it is not at all okay. it also happens all the time to women in their workplaces. #BelowDeck — h 🌸 (@queen_ghorbani) November 1, 2017

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I’m upset at Kate’s treatment of sexual harassment. Saying “it’s typical of this business” is only perpetuating the problem. #BelowDeck — Carly Cloud (@CarlyC26) November 1, 2017

Jen and Kate have commented on Twitter. With regards to the "mixed signals" comment, Jen said that Kate was "just trying to lighten the mood as much as she could at that moment." Kate thanked her for the tweet, saying, "People are just jumping on a bandwagon but you know I had your back."

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I think she was just trying to lighten the mood as much as she could at that moment... — Jen Howell (@JenHowell_13) November 1, 2017

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Thank you @JenHowell_13 😊



People are just jumping on a bandwagon but you know I had your back xo — Kate Chastain (@Kate_Chastain) November 1, 2017

Jen also tweeted, "All jokes aside, tonight's subject matter isn't something that should be taken lightly. The support of @Kate_Chastain & crew was paramount."

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All jokes aside, tonight's subject matter isn't something that should be taken lightly. The support of @Kate_Chastain & crew was paramount.. https://t.co/nFhfrRAIeS — Jen Howell (@JenHowell_13) November 1, 2017

And Kate tweeted, "sadly, this type of misconduct in the yachting industry is not unusual, but It certainly is gross" and shared a link to a story about her own alleged sexual assault, which she wrote about in her book, Lucky Charming.

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sadly, this type of misconduct in the yachting industry is not unusual, but It certainly is gross. #BelowDeck

https://t.co/sfGEbL1XL7 — Kate Chastain (@Kate_Chastain) November 1, 2017

Cosmopolitan.com reached out to Bravo for comment. The network provided responses from Jen and Kate, below. As of publication, Bravo hasn't responded to a request for comment from the network itself.

Jen: “I was obviously uncomfortable at the time, but the crew has been incredibly supportive ever since. It’s important to me that we’re able to share this experience, and let everyone know that such actions shouldn’t be tolerated.”

Kate: “This behavior is indefensible. I have been extremely forthright in writing and speaking about my own personal experiences from previous yacht guests, in hopes of raising awareness about this serious issue. Professionally, as a department head, I have an obligation to protect the stews that work under me and personally, as someone who has experienced this misconduct first-hand, I would never want it to happen to anyone else. In this particular instance, Jen did the right thing by removing herself from the situation and letting me know what was going on. Had the behavior escalated or continued after I was made aware, I was prepared to alert the Captain and additional steps would have been taken to ensure the safety of everyone onboard.”

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Lilian Min I'm the night shift at Cosmopolitan.com and a writer and reporter around the web.

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