Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Gary King, Bravo, and NBC are facing a lawsuit filed by former crew members over sexual battery, assault, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and emotional distress.

The complaint was filed by Samantha Suarez, a former hair and makeup artist on the reality show, and her boyfriend, Grey Duddleston, who worked as a camera operator. In addition to King, Bravo, and NBC, the lawsuit also lists 51 Minds, the production company behind Below Deck.

In the filing, obtained by People, Suarez alleges King held her hostage in his hotel room while under the influence of alcohol on July 3, 2022, during the filming of Below Deck Sailing Yacht‘s fourth season. She claims that production instructed her to bring a pack of bottled water and snacks to King’s room. He refused to accept them and insisted she come inside.

Suarez states she walked past King to place the items on a nearby counter. It’s then, she alleges, that he “grabbed her, held her, restrained by her upper body and arms and pressed his entire body against her.”

The lawsuit alleges Suarez attempted to “fight her way out”, and when she finally got free and pulled the door open, King slammed the door shut with “his entire body weight.”

In the complaint, Suarez claimed she was “sure she was about to be raped” and “braced herself” before she got a call on her cellphone, after which King let go of the door. He allegedly followed her into the hallway in his underwear, rubbed her back, and asked, “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Suarez opened up about the alleged incident in an interview with Rolling Stone in August 2023, telling the outlet that after she got out of King’s room, “I’m freaking out, and he goes, ‘What’s wrong? What’s going on?’ And I’m like, ‘Just leave me alone.’ He tried to come up behind me and put his arm around me. He’s in the hallway in his underwear and it’s all weird and f****d up, and so I’m just like, ‘Just go back in your room and don’t come out.’”

Shortly after the alleged incident, Suarez claimed she reported it to co-executive producer, Ryan Veercamp, as well as Duddleston. According to the complaint, the next day, Suarez was told by the leadership team that King had admitted to “everything” after a conversation with showrunner Courtland Cox.

In a follow-up email, Cox allegedly confirmed that King had shown remorse and apologized. Cox also stated that King would be terminated if any further issues arose.

However, the lawsuit claims that Duddleston personally witnessed further acts of “disturbing, sexually aggressive behavior” from King just two weeks later. Duddleston claims he saw King “grope” two female crew members, pull a swimsuit top off a cast member, make lewd remarks to an audio technician and grab the genitals of two camera operators while he was under the influence.

Duddleston allegedly told production about King’s alleged actions, including Brenda Lacy Davis, the head of human resources for 51 Minds’ parent company, Banijay America. After a conversation about the actions he witnessed, Duddleston claimed it became clear Davis had “cast these additional accusations against King as ‘baseless.’”

The complaint adds that Suarez and Duddleston learned that they would not be invited back after the season had wrapped and had allegedly been placed on a “do not hire” list.

Suarez and Duddleston are asking for monetary damages to compensate them for their injuries and losses. In addition, they requested that the defendants be ordered to pay civil penalties, punitive damages, attorneys’ and expert fees, and interest.

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