Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Captain Sandy Yawn changed her mind about firing Chef Johnathan Shillingford at the literal last second.
During the newest episode, which aired on Monday, August 26, Captain Sandy was at her wits’ end with the chef. The trouble started when Johnathan served one of the new guests tuna carpaccio without looking at her preference sheet.
“It looks beautiful. I would eat it if I could. I can’t eat raw seafood because it could kill me. In my preference sheet, I said about 15 times that I can’t have it,” the guest told chief stew Aesha Scott and Sandy. “I have an iron overload. It might kill me if I eat it.”
Sandy was furious with Johnathan for the oversight, saying, “What the f—k? This is unacceptable.”
The captain went directly to Johnathan to have him explain what led to the mistake. “Raw seafood could kill her and it’s in front of her plate. That’s a big screw up,” she continued. “I need you to know how serious this is.”
Johnathan tried to argue that some people say putting “a lot of lime” on uncooked fish actually “cooks” it with citric acid but admitted he was in the wrong.
“I feel terrible, I don’t know how I let that slide. I think I just have too many things on my mind,” he explained. “I still have the rest of the dinner to get through so I can’t let it throw me off too badly. But I can’t help feeling s—tty.”
That wasn’t enough for Sandy, who considered this the last straw, telling the cameras, “I’m really f—king pissed. Never in my 35 years at sea have I had a chef feed a guest something that could actually kill them. This is a fireable offense, so now I just have to look for a replacement chef.”
Sandy was subsequently seen requesting a new chef — in addition to a fourth stew. The charter wasn’t over though, and the next night Johnathan got bad feedback after he served a cookie with ice cream for dessert.
Word got back to Sandy that the guests were disappointed again, which cemented her decision to fire the chef. She called him over the radio, presumably so they could have a talk about his departure from the Mustique.
“I have to let Jono go. The fact that a cookie was served for a 25th anniversary dessert on top of the fact that he served raw fish to the person who could die from raw fish,” she said in a confessional. “I should just fire him for that.”
As Johnathan was walking up to Sandy, she received a message, which read, “Sandy, so sorry. I can’t find a chef available right now.” Sandy was forced to change her plans as Johnathan sat down with her for their conversation.
“Serving the guests raw fish is a fireable offense. I’m not going to do that, but that can’t happen,” Sandy revealed. “Now the dessert last night, she was really upset. I am not sure why a cookie would be served. Why not do a creme brûlée or something on their preference sheet? In the end, you want to bring it more than you did from now until the end of the season.”
Sandy confirmed that she was planning to let Johnathan go — until she couldn’t.
“I can’t let him go, there is no replacement chef. I can’t be stuck with no chef,” she noted while referring to season 6 of Below Deck Med when Chef Mathew Shea walked off the boat. “With Mathew, we had no chef and the crew was cooking and it was the worst meal the clients ever had. For now, my best bet is to keep Jono.”
Johnathan was well aware that he was lucky to still be around, saying, “I feel devastated. I was prepared to be fired. All the hard work I put into this season, I feel like I ruined it. I am so disappointed in myself.”
Earlier this month, Johnathan revealed he had no idea that Sandy was looking for someone to replace him.
“How would anyone feel if someone was seemingly trying to get rid of you?” Johnathan exclusively told Us Weekly about learning new information while watching season 9. “I didn’t feel that during the show. I didn’t know that that was her position. I didn’t know that there was a backup chef.”
Johnathan didn’t let the new information affect how he walked away from the experience, adding, “I maintain that working with Captain Sandy was an honor. Because being a feminist — I grew up in a family of strong women who were trailblazers in their careers — I never worked with a female captain before. So regardless of what’s been said, I maintain that it was an honor working with her.”
According to Johnathan, he isn’t sure how different things would have been if he knew his job was in danger.
“I gave it my all regardless of if she had a standby chef or not. If I knew that information, I was working hard anyway. I don’t know if I would’ve pulled deeper. I think I was already pulling deep,” Johnathan shared. “That’s what I do. I want my guests to be happy. That’s how I feel happy in my job. Not only for the guests but for my captain as well.”
He continued: “We got to make her proud. For the entire season, I was focused on making sure that she had confidence in me. So I don’t know if I would’ve done things differently if I knew.”
Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
