Why Tom Pearson Got Fired On Below Deck Sailing Yacht

Season 3 of "Below Deck Sailing Yacht" proved to be a shocking one full of twists and turns. The most surprising event, however, occurred during Episode 7 when Captain Glenn Shephard sent deckhand and cast member Tom Pearson packing, leaving the crew temporarily short-staffed. Still, Shephard was adamant he made the right call. "Yeah, that's a tough one," Shephard admitted about the difficult decision during a "Watch What Happens Live" appearance. "It had to be done," he declared. "It was such a grievous thing that he dropped the ball there, he had to go, and we had to just be man down and live with it, you know? So, obviously, you don't want to do that, but yeah, it had to happen," he maintained.

But what exactly did Pearson do that was so "grievous" that it warranted a pink slip from Shephard? Here's everything we know about Pearson's infamous "Below Deck" firing...

The story goes that during a night of anchor watch, deckhand Tom Pearson allowed the famous sailing yacht, Parsifal III, to drag. And in case you're wondering, that's extremely dangerous and a big no-no in the boating world! "It's as serious as it gets. I mean, there are boats, similar boats, who have been in the same situation where they didn't recover," Captain Glenn Shephard explained to E! News.

Still, Pearson claimed the mistake happened innocently enough. According to Pearson, he had come to the end of his shift when he decided to go downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee or tea, and that's when the alarm went off. "So I was like, 'What is going on?' So I ran upstairs, went outside, and that's when I realized everything was blowing everywhere. I was trying to stop stuff from falling off the boat," he recalled during an interview with Sportskeeda. "Fifteen minutes before that, there was barely any wind," he added.

Alas, Shephard has an entirely different version of events...

Captain Glenn Shephard isn't buying Tom Pearson's "fifteen-minute" story. "I've had a little bit of time to think about this and it's quite clear that it took us quite a long time to drag," Shephard said on camera about the incident. "I have no understanding of how you couldn't notice it if you're on anchor watch."

And it appears Pearson was equally aware of the gravity of his mistake. "Of course, I absolutely understand now, you know, it was my fault. There's no getting around that," he later divulged at the Season 3 reunion. "I think at the time, you know, I went straight into self-defense mode. But, you know, you have time to look over these things, you have time to look back. And everyone knows — I've spoken to everyone individually — I take full responsibility for what happened that night. And I think that's important that everyone knows that. I blame no one else."

But if you think Pearson's yachting days are over, think again. In March 2022, he appeared on Daisy Kelliher's podcast "Pita Party" and revealed that he was presently working on a yacht in Miami, hosting a famous Australian DJ. "Still on a yacht. Still working out. Absolutely living the dream, you know?" he gushed about his current working situation. Perhaps everything really does work out in the end, after all!