Does 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht' First Mate Gary King Regret Flirting With Sydney Zaruba?

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 2 of Below Deck Sailing Yacht.

The Bravo spinoff Below Deck Sailing Yacht has undoubtedly proven to be like its parent reality show, Below Deck, with inevitable relationships, romances, and hookups. While working aboard the Parsifal III in the middle of Croatia is a dream come true, it appears that a few of the cast members are drowning themselves in flirty behavior, cocktails, and a lot of drama, and we mean, a ton. In Season 2, it appears that a love triangle has taken shape between Gary King, Alli Dore, and Sydney Zaruba.

In Episode 7, when Gary, Alli, and Sydney were the last three up on the yacht after a night of drinking, Gary tried to hit on Alli but was interrupted by a hurt Sydney after watching the flirting from afar. Once Gary went off to bed, Sydney broke down in front of Alli and confessed she has feelings for Gary. She shared with Alli, “I like Gary. I’m not stupid. I know you guys flirt."

She continued saying, “Anything you’ve felt, I’ve seen.” Alli, totally unaware that Syndey was attracted to Gary, told her that she would back off even though they flirt and have chemistry. Before Sydney burst into tears, Alli told her, “I didn’t realize you liked him that much. I feel really bad.”

As the season went on, drama ensued between this love triangle, and it all began earlier in the season after Gary and Sydney took things to another level. What happened? Did they hook up?

When the yachties on Below Deck Sailing Yacht had their first night off, they had to stay on the yacht due to COVID-19 safety protocol. Fan watched Gary first get all flirty with Alli at the beginning of the night. However, by the end of the evening, Gary and Sydney ended up in a guest cabin with one another, despite friend-zoning her. The next day after Gary and Sydney did the walk of shame back to their own bunks, the awkwardness set in.

Gary tried to play it off that he and Sydney only kissed to chief engineer Colin MacRae, which viewers knew was hardly the case. When the reality star appeared on an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, he wasted no time speaking about his cabin tryst that was just a one night stand. He said, “Well, to be honest, I did say to her that it was just gonna be a one night stand, and that’s how I kind of felt about it. So, I didn’t want to give her any more reason to feel involved.”

When Andy asked Gary about why he was so cold to Sydney the day after they hooked up, he went on to say, “I didn’t want to lead her on. It shouldn’t have happened. I think we both know that."

When a virtual member of WWHL's audience asked the Sailing Yacht cast member about why he went from Alli to Sydney he simply noted, “To be honest, I wanted to hook up with Alli, but she didn’t want to hook up with me. Then what happened, happened, I guess."

So when it comes to Gary and Alli's relationship, it was pretty much short-lived. They shared a few kisses on the yacht, but once Alli found out about Gary hooking up with Sydney, she actually kept him in the friend zone. Alli has made it very clear that their boatmance went nowhere, and on Instagram, Pita Party shared that she and Gary did break up. She said, "I reference it as the break-up, but we weren’t actually together.”

She added, “But that’s what production kept referencing it as. So it kind of rolls of the tongue now. When we ended our situation like we really liked each other. That was something that was not easy for me. I couldn’t continue to act on something that I didn’t feel was right.” Adding, “I didn’t want to be hurting another person."

Gary was pretty upset with Alli about ending their potential romance, and in Episode 15, he flirted with Sydney and has made it clear he regretted doing so.

Even though he still had feelings for Alli, Gary ended up in a hot tub with a topless Sydney. He addressed the entire situation on an episode of WWHL and explained that it was wrong of him to flirt with Sydney in front of the stew. He disclosed, “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."

He added, “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.”

You can watch Below Deck Sailing Yacht on Mondays at 9 p.m. EST on Bravo.