A new yachtie has officially joined Below Deck Mediterranean Season 10: stew Cathy Skinner.
Now that Victoria SanJuan has officially made the jump to the deck crew in the wake of a double firing, Captain Sandy Yawn hired Cathy to fill the vacancy in chief stew Aesha Scott’s interior team during Episode 7.
“I’m the epitome of a yacht stew because I am bossy, organized, I’m a clean freak, but I’m also super glamorous,” Cathy shared in her first Below Deck Med confessional. “With me, it’s extra or nothing at all.”
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And she comes with plenty of experience: Though Cathy signed on for Bravado‘s third stew role, she’s already spent the past two years working as a chief stew on another yacht.
“I’m on my off time now,” she explained to fellow stew Kizzi Kitchener. “I just get bored.”
As the newbie gets her sea legs, here’s everything else to know about Cathy.
Who is Cathy Skinner? Details on the Below Deck Med Season 10 stew
Hometown: Sandown, England
Birth Date: Apr. 11
Zodiac Sign: Aries
Years in the Yachting Industry: 5
Off-Time on the Boat: Playing pickleball, tennis, or padel, and finishing the day at the spa!
First Impression of the Bravado: The crew mess was a state — I’m used to pristine organization!
Favorite Charter Destination: Antarctica — truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Most Surprising Thing About Yacht Life: The hardest part isn’t the guests. It’s living with a crew of all ages and personalities in tight quarters.
Sum up This Season in Three Words: Truly life-changing
How Cathy Skinner’s spinal injury scare led to her yachting career
Cathy began her career as a surgical dental nurse, as she explained to chef Josh Bingham on Below Deck Med‘s Nov. 10 episode. In a confessional, she described how undergoing spinal surgery ultimately led to her changing course.
“I went to go to football practice and I stepped on the football pitch, and something just went ping,” Cathy explained to a producer, adding that she immediately went to the hospital for an MRI. “The nurse said, ‘Two of your discs are touching and severing your spinal cord right now.'”
Medical professionals, then, informed Cathy that she needed “emergency surgery” and warned her that she had only a “20 percent chance of walking again.”
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“I woke up about eight hours later,” she continued. “I was focusing so hard, and I wiggled my toes. And I’m so lucky to be given a second chance, really.”
As Cathy elaborated to Josh, her nursing career sometimes required her to sit for five-hour surgeries, and after undergoing her own operation, she “just couldn’t do it anymore.”Â
“I had a lot of friends in yachting already because I grew up on the Isle of Wight,” Cathy added. “I came in really strong-minded. Like, I’m really career-driven and money-driven, and I came in with like, ‘I’m gonna be a chief stew in two years.’ And I’ve done it.”
Inside new stew Cathy Skinner’s relationships with her Below Deck Med castmates
From the moment she arrived dockside, Cathy had already made a splash, instantly catching the eyes of deckhands Joe Bradley and Max Salvador, who described the new stew as “absolutely stunning” and “gorgeous,” respectively.
“She reminds me of, like, a little, young Mary Poppins,” Joe quipped to a producer. “She needs, like, a spoonful of sugar.”
Though Aesha was thrilled to have someone so experienced rounding out her team, Kizzi, meanwhile, recognized that Cathy was going to be “competition” for her.
Cathy, for her part, appeared to catch onto the latter point after realizing Kizzi purposely didn’t tell her there was a noticeable tear down the back of her uniform’s skirt.
“I’m watching her,” Cathy declared of Kizzi in a confessional. “Maybe this is her game plan.”
As you wait to see how Cathy’s friendships and potential boatmances pan out, don’t miss the shocking tip her Below Deck Med castmates received just prior to her arrival.
