NBCUniversal Media LLC, Bravo Media LLC and Mountain View Productions LLC have tentatively settled with two former “Below Deck” crew members who alleged the studios covered up another cast member’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Attorneys for Grey Duddleston and Samantha Suarez filed court papers on Friday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang notifying her of a conditional resolution in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Jan. 15.
No terms were divulged.
Duddleston and Suarez filed the lawsuit in March 2025 against the entities as well as the other cast member, Gary King, whom they allege is a “known drunkard and serial harasser.” The suit’s allegations included sexual battery, retaliation, harassment and negligent hiring, retention and supervision.
The show chronicles the lives of the crew members who work and reside aboard a super yacht during charter season. The studio attorneys contended that Duddleston signed an agreement with Mountain View in May 2022 in which he concurred that any work-related disputes would be addressed by an arbitrator rather than a jury, but the judge found otherwise in a February ruling.
The defense attorneys contended that Suarez, a Georgia resident, could not 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 further maintained.
In summer 2022, while filming “Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season Four,” 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, he 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 lunged toward her and physically restrained her.
Suarez says she reported the encounter, but that King was not fired. Duddleston was Suarez’s boyfriend at the time.
After reporting King’s alleged misconduct with the crew’s walkie-talkie system, Duddleston was investigated for alleged inappropriate use of that system, the suit further alleges.
Suarez and Duddleston say they were both later terminated and that they remain “virtually unemployable in their field.”
A hearing on the status of the settlement is scheduled Jan. 5.