The beloved Bravo show is in full swing this April with a whole new rabble of demanding guests to cater for. This year’s charter is likely a breeze compared to some that have gone by, however, if Below Deck fans of the show cast their minds back to Ashton Pienaar’s “near fatal” accident.
In 2018, Below Deck season 6 began airing and no one could have prepared the show’s cast or viewers for what was to happen. Ashton had a brush with death that left My Seanna’s Captain Lee Rosbach having to “take a minute” away from cameras as he began to cry.
Ashton’s Below Deck accident
Below Deck season 6 episode 11 began like any other of the Bravo show’s episodes.
But, it made for Below Deck history when Ashton was involved in a terrifying incident.
While working on the boat, he accidentally got a tow line wrapped around his leg and was dragged into the water.
The My Seanna yacht was moving along the water when Ashton was dragged out to sea, his co-star Rylee Gerber, radio-ed on the walkie-talkie: “Man overboard.”
The ship descends into panic as Captain Lee replies: “What?” and more crew members dash to find a life ring.
Below Deck star ‘thought he was going to die’
Speaking to Bravo, Captian Lee said he believes Ashton thought he was “going to die within two minutes” during his incident.
Ashton broke down the events himself, explaining: “As they let the tender out the two line got wrapped around the fender, I went down the stairs onto the swim pad – first mistake – and unwrapped the line from the fender. As I got the line loose… I held onto the line and I even still remember saying to Rylee ‘watch out for the line’, and almost as the words had just left my mouth I felt a tug on my ankle.”
While being dragged into the water, the crew member said all that was on his mind was to “keep his head above water” because he was being dragged by the yacht.
He said: “I can’t get breath, I’m paddling up to get air.”
With the pressure of being dragged, he was unable to untangle his foot and said he mentally prepared for his “foot to be ripped off.”
Cameraman saved his life
At the point of thinking his foot was going to be severed from his body, Ashton said he “locked eyes” with a Below Deck cameraman named Brent Freeburg.
Ashton thought it was “too late” for anyone to help him and said: “…that was when I screamed.”
Then he explained the “tension disappeared,” which gave him goosebumps during his confessional, as Brent had released the line.
Kate Chastain reflected on some “tiny miracles” that kept Ashton alive: “The yacht had been extended from 150ft to 180ft, so the props underneath the boat were more recessed. If that hadn’t been the case, he would’ve been sucked into the turbines and chopped up.”
Captain Lee added how there were “three things” that were vital to saving Ashton: “Taking the boat out of gear, Rylee saying man overboard, and Brent dropping his camera, stopping filming, and undoing the line.
Following the accident, Ashton explained on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen how the “small things don’t matter so much.”
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