From costars to pals! Below Deck Sailing Yacht‘s Daisy Kelliher and Gary King fueled romance rumors after a cozy theme park trip — but the pair are strictly platonic.
“I honestly got such a kick out of how people were jumping to conclusions when we posted a photo together at Disneyland,” Daisy exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, February 11, while promoting season 3 of the hit Bravo series. “So, our phones were blowing up. He did the joke story being, like, ‘Yeah, we’re dating.’ And no, we are just friends. We’re lucky that we are two adults who can share a kiss and still be friends.”
The Ireland native explained that she is too familiar with the first officer for there to be anything romantic going on, saying, “That would be a stupid move to get wrapped up in Gary. I do think we care genuinely a lot about each other. We did last year, we do this year. So, we have a complicated friendship, but no we are not for each other.”
Below Deck viewers have witnessed the duo’s ups and downs since the chief stew and Gary joined season 2 of the spinoff series. During the sophomore season, which aired in 2021, the South Africa native found himself caught in a love triangle between Alli Dore and Sydney Zaruba. Daisy and Gary later raised eyebrows when they shared a steamy kiss in the trailer for season 3.
“Gary’s a magnet. Like, there’s a reason why he gets all these girls. He’s very, very funny. He’s very charming,” Daisy noted, referring to Gary’s connection with other women on the Parsifal III. “He is very charismatic, and I get it and I normally am drawn to that. Everyone loves a good flirt, and I don’t find him attractive, but I could see the draw. But this season, I think why it got complicated is because we were both a bit upset about how we spoke about each other last season.”
Daisy explained that she and her costar made an effort to go “above and beyond” when it came to working together the second time around. “It ended up [with] us, like, flirting and I guess maybe building a bit of sexual tension, which wasn’t our intention,” Daisy told Us. “We retreat[ed]. But I think that’s relationships and that’s the beauty of humans.”
For Daisy, who has remained close to her former costar Alli, watching those flirty moments back may be the most difficult part about the upcoming season.
“I did tell [Alli] about the kiss during the show and she took it really well. She has her own family now, [but] I do feel bad. Honestly, I didn’t remember it and my interpretation was that it was very friendly because we are friends,” the stewardess, who has hosted a Below Deck rewatch Instagram show called Pita Party, said. “Looking back, it didn’t look so friendly. So, [Alli and I] haven’t [really] discussed it. We are gonna talk about it because we are gonna recap the show. I guess we’re both just waiting to see.”
The Bravo personality clarified that she got “very honest” with Alli about what happened on the boat.
“I do feel bad, but from my part, it was very platonic. Because she was there for our complicated relationship last year, I think she does understand,” Daisy told Us. “You’ll see it play out through the season, me and Gary, and for some reason it’s not black and white. It’s very complicated. But Alli is still my girl, and I would never want to hurt her.”
Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 3 returns to Bravo with a supersized premiere on Monday, February 21, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Mandie DeCamp
