Bravo continues to clean house when it comes to reality stars with histories of racist behavior. Just one week after Vanderpump Rules fired no fewer than four stars due to racist comments, Below Deck Mediterranean sent a member of the cast packing. Peter Hunziker will no longer be part of the show, which is currently airing its fifth season on Bravo as part of the Below Deck franchise.
Peter Hunziker is a recent addition to Below Deck Med. He joined the show as a deckhand in the beginning of the current Season 5, which premiered on June 1. According to Bravo, Hunziker was "terminated for his racist post" on social media as soon as the post was descovered, and Bravo and production company 51 Minds are editing the fifth season to "minimize his appearance for subsequent episodes."
Although the racist post has been taken down, Variety reports that Peter Hunziker posted a meme of a naked black woman on Instagram, with a source claiming that Hunziker was fired immediately after Bravo learned about the meme on Friday, June 12. Known as "Party Pete" on Below Deck Med, he was already facing accusations of sexism in the Season 5 episodes that aired before he was fired, including repeatedly referring to his female superior as "sweetie" or "sweetheart."
According to Peter Hunziker's official cast bio, he was known as "Party Pete" and safe to assume that he would be at the beach or a pool party in the Miami heat, and he "turns to dance to burn off the stress of back-to-back charters." A licensed U.S. Coast Guard who learned about boating from a retired Navy Seal, he didn't last long enough on Below Deck Med that many fans will likely be devastated that he won't be part of the show in light of racist behavior.
That said, Bravo has shown a willingness to fire long-running reality stars when racist behavior resurfaces, even before Peter Hunziker and Below Deck Med. Huge cast members were axed from Vanderpump Rules earlier in June. Stassi Schrorader and Kristen Doute, who had been part of Vanderpump Rules from the very first season, were among the four fired from that show, although their racist actions weren't secret or recent.
Max Boyers and Brett Caprioni, who were also fired, lost their jobs over racist tweets after only one season. Some Vanderpump Rules fans began to call for another cast member to get the boot, but nothing has come of that as of the time of writing. The Below Deck Med firing of Peter Hunziker proves that Bravo is still willing to fire stars who participate in racist behavior. That said, controversial statements about current events don't automatically mean firing at the network, as proven by one Real Housewives star's recent comments.
Bravo also isn't the only cable network taking a hard stance on racist commentary. MTV fired a Teen Mom star for racist messages, then followed by axing the star of Siesta Key.
A big question now is what Below Deck Med will look like after the edits regarding Peter Hunziker's role in Season 5. Bravo's statement specifically said "minimize his appearance," which suggests that Below Deck Med won't be able to cut him out entirely. Find out how much of Peter Hunziker that Bravo was able to cut from Below Deck Mediterranean with new episodes of Season 5, airing Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
