Do you like Below Deck? If so, does every week suddenly feel like Christmas? Currently, there are two weekly spin-offs of the luxury-yacht franchise about rich vacation goons and the snarky accented models who hate serving them. While Peacock subscribers (anyone?) bask in Below Deck Down Under, Bravo has Below Deck Sailing Yacht on Mondays. In its third season, Sailing Yacht is the crown jewel. This is not entirely because of Gary, but it is significantly because of Gary.

First mate Gary King joined the show in season 2. He was South African. He wore his brown hair long. Think Prince Charming, if Prince Charming turned into a lion every full moon.

Important to note that this was the first Below Deck season to start filming mid-pandemic (after the mothership's eighth season wrapped early due to the global COVID outbreak). Coincidentally or not, the Sailing Yacht crew arrived onboard ready for action. Between charters, Below Deckers typically hit whatever coastal town they're docked in. They go to bars, dance in clubs, drown in shots, and make bad decisions in public. But now, health protocols forced Gary and the rest of the crew to mostly party onboard the Parsifal II. They raided the boat's liquor cabinet. They inevitably found their way to the hot tub. It was like spring break, if spring breakers never left the hotel, and the hotel rooms were coffin-sized.

Young people locked up together with nothing to do but each other: Does reality TV exist for any other reason? Gary immediately hooked up with Sydney, one of his own deckhands, and then gradually started some kind of actual relationship with Alli, the third stewardess. This triangle would have been THE story line in a normal season. But Below Deck Sailing Yacht season 2 was not normal; it was wonderful. Alli also hooked up with Dani, the second stewardess, who wound up having a disputed (but ultimately affirmed) love child with another deckhand, Jean-Luc.

All those people are gone, but Gary remains. The sixth episode of season 3 just aired Monday. Gary has already kissed three members of the crew — all three stewardesses! Anecdotally, viewers I know seem split on his appeal. Some consider his whole nonstop-flirty thing a bit creepy. I kinda like him? Let me explain! He has the best power a person can have on Below Deck: He is Good at His Job.

Nobody really cared when half the Jersey Shore cast gave up on selling T-shirts. Who even remembers any Real World jobs past the mid-'90s? But Below Deck is the rare goofy-sexy-drunky reality show where being a good employee actually matters on the level of pure entertainment. The show portrays the 24-hour necessities of keeping an ultra-ship afloat. The crew labors round-the-clock to make their guests think everything is absolutely perfect all the time. It's actually a bit grating when the show purposefully casts rookie deckhands who don't know their knots, or stews who can't mix drinks, or chefs with zero experience.

The Platonic Ideal of Below Deckness is Sailing Yacht's current chef, Marcos, who cracked a chip off his skull mid-charter and still finished dinner on time. It is a pleasure to watch him work. Likewise, Gary is a great first mate. During a charter, he's all business, perpetually on the move. Heck, after squabbling with chief stew Daisy last season, he has come around to letting deckhands help in the galley. People, he can learn. He can make himself a better man! And he seems to know when he makes mistakes. It helps, surely, that in both his Below Deck seasons he's had engineer Colin as his wingman. Colin is a very sarcastic saint. I trust his judgment in people.

Now, I'm going to throw things to my learned colleague and reputable Below Deck expert Rebecca Detken for a counter-argument. Previously, she had expressed some Gary skepticism. In fact, her thoughts are much more complicated, because Gary is a unique and complex snowflake who defies any easy conclusions. Take it away, Rebecca!

To be clear, I don't dislike Gary and was happy to see Captain Glenn bring him back for another season! Gary's fun and genuinely appears to be good at his job as first mate, even if he occasionally makes really bad choices — like sleeping with season 2 deckhand Sydney on the very first night — which result in some seriously good reality TV.

What I haven't been able to wrap my head around is why so many women on the boat want to GET with Gary. This season, it's been truly embarrassing to watch third stew Ashley literally throw herself at him. Is it his South African accent? His beach bum vibes? (Is Ashley looking for more screen time?) What is his appeal? I mean, if they were all crushing on Colin, then I'd understand.

Aside from some smooches, I'm impressed Gary has managed to keep Ashley at bay, but was utterly baffled when he found himself in another steamy situation during last week's episode where he and chief stew Daisy (arguably the best chief stew in Below Deck history) hooked up in the hot tub. How did Daisy — the one woman who appeared to have Gary's number — fall under his spell? Perhaps it was the awful charter guests they had just dealt with, or the fact that they were both sloshed. Or might there actually be something more between them? 

Because I can never get enough of Below Deck, I watched Andy Cohen interview them together on Watch What Happens Live after the makeout episode aired and, dare I say, found Gary to be rather charming. Daisy noted Gary's always had a crush on her, and Gary confirmed it: "From day one, basically." They genuinely seem to be friends and respect one another, so… maybe there is more to this Gary guy than I've been giving him credit for.

And that was before second stew Gabriela hopped in bed with Gary for an allegedly PG-13 overnight on Monday! Is everyone coming around to Gary? What does Below Deck superfan Steven Soderbergh think? And is Daisy the best chief stew in Below Deck history? Let's sail on it.