Chef Jono from Below Deck Med is ‘0 for 2’ with disappointing meals, putting him squarely on Captain Sandy’s radar

Chef Jono from Below Deck Med is ‘0 for 2’ with disappointing meals, putting him squarely on Captain Sandy’s radar

Could he be walking the plank soon?

Chef Johnathan Shillingford seemingly sailed through the first Below Deck Mediterranean charter, but the seas are getting rocky in the galley when he turns out a less than stellar performance for Captain Sandy Yawn and primary guest Gigi Fernandez on tonight’s episode.

In an exclusive clip shared with Entertainment Weekly above, former tennis star Fernandez seems disappointed with yet another meal on Mustique, which is starting to worry Captain Sandy. The main course sounds delicious enough: fresh pasta with cacio e pepe and delicious jumbo tiger prawns and seared scallops.

But as Captain Sandy and her guests dig in, silence falls over the table. Fernandez notes that Chef Jono added “spice again” to the dish. “What is that spice?” she asks.

“The one you don’t like,” replies Captain Sandy. Another guest says the spice doesn’t “agree with her palette.”

As the guests struggle through their meal, Chef Jono pulls the dessert from the oven and realizes the cakes he prepared are overdone. “I can see they are overdone and I’m just like, ‘F— me,'” he says in a confessional.

In her own confessional, an exasperated Captain Sandy explains, “This is a superyacht. The food shouldn’t just be okay. It should be excellent. Jono is 0 for two now.”

The chef plays one of the most important roles on a superyacht, which means having the proper training and focus is key in delivering that magical five-star experience charter guests expect. As a seasoned yacht captain, Captain Sandy knows what it takes to be successful in the galley.

“Sometimes I think people have to stay focused on their job because maybe they don’t have the experience they say they do,” Captain Sandy tells EW. “I think a lot will be revealed throughout the season. But I like [Chef Jono] personally. He’s a great guy.”

But one issue for Captain Sandy is that Chef Jono didn’t have formal culinary training. While she doesn’t discount a self-trained chef, Captain Sandy knows not having that training can make the job a little harder.

“I don’t think it’s fair to chefs when you have someone who is self taught, because you don’t have the education like Dave, right?” she asks, comparing Jono to Below Deck Med season 7 chef Dave White. Chef Dave, who is a classically trained chef, also catered Captain Sandy’s recent wedding aboard a superyacht.

“So Dave and Jonathan, [they’re] night and day, and you see things and you think, ‘Okay, well, so far so good,'” she says. “And if the guests aren’t complaining, I just try to encourage without discouraging in a way where I’m not saying they’re not at the level that I’m expecting. How do you do that? That is always the question for me. I just ponder and think what’s the best way to approach this? And the person’s under stress. You don’t want to create more stress. You’re a human being. And I always think about that human element.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to chefs when you have someone who is self taught, because you don’t have the education like Dave, right?” she asks, comparing Jono to Below Deck Med season 7 chef Dave White. Chef Dave, who is a classically trained chef, also catered Captain Sandy’s recent wedding aboard a superyacht.

“So Dave and Jonathan, [they’re] night and day, and you see things and you think, ‘Okay, well, so far so good,'” she says. “And if the guests aren’t complaining, I just try to encourage without discouraging in a way where I’m not saying they’re not at the level that I’m expecting. How do you do that? That is always the question for me. I just ponder and think what’s the best way to approach this? And the person’s under stress. You don’t want to create more stress. You’re a human being. And I always think about that human element.”