Last week's episode of Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 ended with an unhappy guest, Gigi, complaining about Chef Jono's food not meeting her expectations, and she had taken her complaints to Captain Sandy Yawn. The issue was addressed in Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 episode 4, called "Greeking Havoc."
A talk with the chef
Captain Sandy called Jono up to the bridge, where she explained Gigi's concerns. Addressing the cold eggs at breakfast, Jono said the guests were scheduled to eat at 8:30 am, so he had the eggs ready at that time, but the guests were delayed. However, Captain Sandy said eggs are made-to-order, meaning they shouldn't be cooked until the guest is ready.
"For a chef to say to me that he cooked the eggs when breakfast was supposed to start instead of cooking to order is a huge red flag," Captain Sandy said in a confessional. "But at the same time, he did well last charter. We're mid-charter now. I have to give the chef the opportunity to show me that he can do this, finish this one strong and then I will assess the next charter."
Lackluster beach picnic
The charter guests requested a beach picnic, so Jono made lunch for the stews to serve while the deck team was tasked with games. After talking with Captain Sandy, Bosun Iain was under the impression that Gigi, the primary charter guest, would tell them what she wanted for activities. Still, Chief Stew Aesha suggested having a couple of games ready to go. Deckhand Gael, who was going to be at the beach with the guests, asked Iain about what they needed, but he brushed it off. "Um… the primary will tell us," he said. "OK, I just didn't want to be underprepared," Gael replied.
Gael and Lead Deckhand Joe made their way to the beach but had to walk quite a bit with all the supplies to reach the designated spot. Both of them were frustrated with the lack of leadership from Iain, noting he could've helped carry the stuff over while Deckhand Nathan waited onboard. Meanwhile, the guests were eager to get to the beach setup.
To make matters worse, Iain brought the guests over to the beach without communicating with Gael and Joe — who weren't ready with the setup yet. They also had to set up the games, but there were minimal supplies. The games ended up being volleyball, ring toss and long jump. "Iain f***ed here, ey?" Joe said to Gael, to which she agreed.
On the plus side, Gigi and the rest of the guests loved the beach picnic food that Jono prepared.
Jono cooks for the captain
Still, there was even more pressure on Jono to cook an amazing dinner because Captain Sandy was joining the guests, as they're friends off the boat. The meal started with gazpacho and when asked about the recipe, Jono said it was his first time making it and it was "someone's grandma's recipe or something." Not the greatest way to present his food.
When the entrée came out, Gigi tasted a spice in her seafood pasta that she didn't care for, the same one she noticed used in the lunch on the first day, so she wasn't thrilled. For dessert, Jono quickly realized the personal-sized lava cakes he prepared were overbaked. Coupled with the fact the accompanying coffee ice cream was melted on the plates, the guests didn't seem to love it.
"This is a superyacht. The food shouldn't just be OK; it should be excellent. Jono is 0 for 2 now," Captain Sandy said in a confessional.
The next morning, the guests packed their things to leave the boat. Gigi presented her tip and noted, "The food was OK. It was hit or miss. Some things were good, some things missed the mark. So this [the tip] represents a little bit of that."
After the tip meeting, Captain Sandy called Jono to the bridge again, where she talked about his cooking choices during the charter. She went over what he could have done better so he could take it with him on the next charter. However, she wanted to prepare should this trend of subpar food continue. Captain Sandy texted the yacht crew placement company to ask if any chefs were on standby.
Two stews, one deckhand
Joe is a hot commodity on the yacht, as both Second Stew Ellie and Third Stew Bri have their eyes on him. At the crew dinner, they both got flirty with him — and he reciprocated with both of them.
"I'm not jealous of Bri flirting with Joe. But she knows I'm attracted to him; I've said it to her multiple times," Ellie said in a confessional. "We're roommates, and as a general rule working on a boat, you never want to go for the guy your supervisor is interested in."
Bri wasn't pleased with Ellie's flirting either. "I'm just annoyed because I want him," Bri said to Jono at dinner.
After dinner, the crew went out for more drinks and dancing. Ellie and Joe danced very closely. "I'm going for Joe. It's gonna be Joe and I. We're getting it on. Not tonight, but pretty soon," Ellie said in a confessional.
Bri and Gael went to the bathroom, where Bri said she would like to hook up with Joe. They headed back to the group, and Bri sat with Joe. He asked her who she was gravitating toward, and she said she was still feeling it out. In a more crude way, Joe asked Bri if she would hook up with Nathan, to which she said she would do so with Joe.
We'll see how this love triangle plays out next week.
New episodes of Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 premiere Monday on Bravo and then are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
