Captain Sandy Explains Below Deck Med Season 5’s First Major Twist

It was clear from the moment stewardess Lara Flumiani stepped aboard the Wellington for season 5 of Bravo's Below Deck Mediterranean that the experienced Italian yachtie was going to clash with chief stewardess Hannah Ferrier. But it only took one charter for their tension to bubble over, resulting in Lara stepping down from her position (and leaving the interior crew down one person heading into their second charter of the season).

While Captain Sandy Yawn initially hoped the women could iron out their conflict, it's not the first time she wasn't fully briefed on a personnel issue among her crew, she tells Refinery29.

"A lot of times I don't get all the information," she says. "When Hannah goes, 'I need you with Lara,' I didn't how Lara was being. I didn't know the backstory. I just figured maybe she was being resistant to not doing third stew when she was told she was going to be second stew."

Ultimately, Yawn convinced Ferrier and Flumiani to try to push forward as a team. But after the post-charter night out with the rest of the crew, Flumiani disappeared — and the next morning, told Captain Sandy that she was leaving for good.

Now, watching exactly how Lara behaved during the first charter, "it was like, 'Okay, this girl needs to go.' If I would have known that I would have gotten rid of her right away," Yawn says. "But Hannah never shared that with me."

Yawn has her own rocky history with Ferrier, with the two butting heads toward the end of last season. But there was no trouble between the two of them as season 5 began because they respect each other as professional colleagues.

"It's not personal to me," Yawn says. "Personally, Hannah and I are not in each other's lives. I'm older. I have an established life and family. I'm busy, man. I can barely keep up with my own family members. So basically, it's about doing the job. That's all I care about. Of course, I care about human beings, but my agenda is what I'm hired for."

Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.