Why Below Deck Season 11’s Dylan Pierre De Villiers Is Not a Villain

Summary

• Dylan Pierre De Villiers is not the villain that viewers think he is, despite some wrong moves.
• Dylan’s tough past shaped his positivity, sharing reassurances and striving for the best.
• Ben, with more experience, seems more of a self-centered villain, unlike Dylan intended.

Below decks season 11 Dylan Pierre De Villiers is not the villain many think he is, although he has rubbed some of the show’s viewers the wrong way. Dylan joined in Below decks season 11 in the middle of the charter season, will be replaced after the entire outside team was reorganized. The start of the season looked like it would be a positive one for the St. David’s crew with new Bosun Jared Woodin leading the outside team of Lead Deckhand Ben Willoughby and Deckhands Marie “Sunny” Marquis & Kyle Stillie. When things started to get tough for Jared, the team started to struggle.

Jared, who made a few over-the-top mistakes early in the charter season, became too much of a liability for captain Kerry Titheradge to stay aboard St. David’s. The Captain needed to move things around to make the outside team work effectively, so he promoted Ben to Bosun, which pushed Sunny to Lead Deckhand and left an open spot for another Deckhand to come aboard St. David. The captain asked crew services to bring in another outside crew member, brings Dylan aboard St. David’s at a crucial momentbut his behavior has rubbed viewers the wrong way.

Dylan has a sweet backstory

While Dylan has caused viewers to question his ability on a superyacht, his backstory has pushed some Below decks viewers will see more of him. Dylan previously explained that he was very overweight. In his childhood in South Africa Dylan did not maintain a healthy weight and was unable to control his eating habits due to various mental factors. Dylan, who was bullied, said he struggled with his mental health for years before he got things under control, both mentally and physically. Even though Dylan was overweight, he relied on his family to get him through the tough times.

Dylan wants to be positive all the time

Due to his difficult past, Dylan works hard to be positive as much as possible. While this seemed like it might simply be an exaggeration from the new Deckhand when he started his job at St. David’s, he’s proven on more than one occasion to be genuine when he says he tries to be as positive as possible. Dylan isn’t just trying to preach positivity to the members of the St. David’s crew, but he is often seen sharing his own claims. Deckhand is even featured Below decks season 11 listening to recorded positive affirmations overnight.

Dylan’s positivity is a sweet trait that Deckhand has cultivated throughout his young life. Dealing with negativity in youth instead of turning to violence or something worrying, Dylan decided to fight the negativity in his life by creating his own positivity. While there was likely some dissonance between the negativity Dylan dealt with and his decision to create his own positivity, the fact that he was able to create a space for himself allowed him to have a good outlook for the future. Dylan’s ability to be his own light was an exemplary, incredible achievement.

Dylan is not a villain like Ben is

all the time Below decks season 11, Dylan has shown, even though some of his decisions are a bit misguided, he is not the villain that viewers have made him out to be. Some had trouble understanding Dylan’s motivations for some of his actions, such as when he drunkenly punched Sunny after learning that she and Ben were not exclusive, but his actions are not inherently evil. Dylan, unlike Ben, has no experience a Below decks on a superyacht and didn’t know what to expect from the experience, which made some of his actions seem more negative than otherwise.

Unlike Dylan, Ben has been involved Below decks over a season, giving him a sense of what it means to be in the series. Working on a superyacht requires certain skills, working a Below decks superyacht is a completely different skill for boats. Ben, who has experience in the past, has crashed all the time Below decks season 11 as a more self-centered villain than ever before, has convinced some viewers that he’s more of a victim than a villain. Overall, Ben’s bad behavior has shown him to be more of a villain than Deckhand Dylan.

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airs Mondays at 9:00 PM EDT on Bravo, then airs the following day on Peacock.