Below Deck Power Rankings, Week 7.6: It's So Uncomfortable

The only thing better than a new episode of Below Deck on Monday nights is Sarah D Bunting's Tuesday morning power rankings. Click here for previous Below Deck power rankings.

Below Deck S07, E06: "Come Sail Away"

Abbi is still crying when the action resumes this week; it seems like she might think better of her decision to leave the yacht at some point, but that never happens, possibly because the rest of the crew isn't all that upset to learn she's departing. Abbi is, predictably, an Eeyore about not knowing where to go next, and apparently expected a teary farewell party with a cake and balloons. What she gets is hurried hugs from the crew, and a curt "here's your passport and tip; good luck" from Captain Lee. At least one of those is probably more than she deserves.

While Abbi's drama-queening about her future in boat service, Tanner is vomiting, repeatedly. Bravo's production team doesn't miss a single opportunity to share the sound of every belch and chunk, so my fellow emetophobes may want to keep their thumbs over the mute button. What Tanner isn't doing is acting entitled, and tries to turn down his tip share since he spent so much of the charter in his bunk or the head, but Captain Lee won't hear of it.

Captain Lee's also on the phone to Abbi's replacement -- who, per the next-ons, we already know -- and while he's up, he might consider ordering Ashton some game, because another night out leads to another cringey performance from the sodden bosun. Despite Brian's best efforts to redirect Ashton's inevitable Courtney cockblocking onto Kate, Ashton is slurry and desperate, mashing his face onto Kate's, then trying to flirt (incomprehensibly) with Courtney over a late-night snack.

Who's hot sauce and who's just a hot mess? Your Episode 6 power rankings...

1. Courtney. Asked by Brian what she'd be doing if she weren't in yachting, she gestures grandly that she'd be "a lady of the house." What does that mean? Who cares. I can't entirely get on board with her assertion that nobody likes ironing, but Lord knows she's right that Ashton's trying way too hard, and that "it's gross." [Last week: 1]

2. Kate. A guest asking me for a round of Fireball shots would have gotten an inadvertent grimace; Kate, a pro, just gets them lined up, with time left over to note that "somebody needs to bang Brian" because he's hot...and to shut Abbi's "whither me and my giant rat's nest" whinging by shrugging that Abbi should probably go to the airport. Her description of Ashton kissing her -- "like it was my cousin, and I was scared" -- is a classic. [Last week: 2]

3. Captain Lee. When he finds out Tanner's ill, gets a doctor pronto, and gets rid of Abbi pronto as well. When Kevin nails dinner on the last night, Lee compliments him without hesitation, and saves the "let's see if he can maintain at this level" snarking for talking-head interviews. [Last week: 5]

4. Simone. Sweetly checks in with Tanner, because she has a crush on him. That's a left-field-er, but I guess she wasn't getting the sound effects viewers were. [Last week: 4]

5. Brian. He's arguably the only reason that Ashton knows Abbi is having a meltdown, or that Tanner is as sick as he is. Pity he's repaid with Kate gossiping about his "penis ravine," and his boss hitting on Courtney. [Last week: 7]

6. The guests. Big drinkers, but better at it than the previous lot, and good sports about Kevin serving them beef tongue. (Shades of Leon's beef cheeks, no?) [Last week: 8]

7. Tanner. It's not his choice to include the gnarly noises of his illness, and he does try to pitch in on deck despite not having eaten in three days. A shot from the doctor should change his luck (and ours), but let's hope a return to full strength won't also mean a return to corny cougar comments. [Last week: 6]

8. Kevin. Pitches in with lines when Tanner's too sick to work, and raises his game food-wise; gambles with the beef tongue and manages to win. High-strung about the dinner, but doesn't lash out at the interior. (This time.) [Last week: 9]

9. Ashton. He covers for Tanner without question, and doesn't bother guilting Abbi about her decision, saying merely that if the job isn't for her, it isn't. He also takes another one for the team by going shirtless with glow-in-the-dark body paint for the guests' dumb rave. But that's sober Ashton. Drunk Ashton is a known problem to be managed, not entirely successfully, but his subordinates, and his mushmouthy attempt to undermine Brian with Courtney doesn't go the way he thinks. (Not that he'll remember.) [Last week: 3]

10. Abbi. Good riddance. [Last week: 10]

People are talking about this week's episode in our forums. Join the conversation.

Sarah D. Bunting co-founded Television Without Pity, and her work has appeared in Glamour and New York, and on MSNBC, NPR's Monkey See blog, MLB.com, and Yahoo!. Find her at her true-crime newsletter, Best Evidence, and on TV podcasts Extra Hot Great and Again With This.