As the Below Deck Mediterranean charter season comes to a close, chef Josh Bingham is still feeling the heat. In Season 10, Episode 17, a guest tracked him down after dinner service on the final charter with complaints about the menu.
When Annalise requested crab legs for the following day, Josh admitted that he used all of his king crab for Night 1 dinner’s ravioli pasta. Annalise responded, “You need to import crabs. You gave me no truffle, no king crab.”
“I put three things on my preference sheet,” she continued. “Big cheese girl. Big truffle. And king crab legs. You gave me zero truffle, and you gave me one crab leg [that] you divided between eight people. That really upsets me.”
When another guest tried to reason that Annalise was “just tired,” she replied, “I’m not tired, I need crab legs!” After she heatedly returned to her room aboard M/Y Bravado, Josh vented to producers.
“Annalise, I can’t just whip a king crab out of my ass,” he said in his confessional. “Like I’m a chef with a magic ass. I don’t have the magic ass—I’m sorry.”
He admitted he was under pressure for the final charter. “I want this to end on a high, and it doesn’t now feel like the high I was envisioning,” he confessed.
Josh Bingham struggles with Below Deck Med charter guest complaints
Earlier in the Jan. 19 episode, Josh acknowledged that he had, at times, struggled to deliver during the charter season. “These last few charters, I’ve been a bit funky in my head. Things that I’ve f—ked up on, they stick hard. More than the positives,” he admitted. “It’s like poison that gets chucked into your brain, and it like seeps through you—stops you from believing in yourself.”
Things only worsened during the final charter, when Annalise was vocal during dinner service. “I don’t like extra-large oysters with caviar on it,” she said of Josh’s preparation. “I like it in the shell with lemon, and I can just put it down.”
RELATED: The Below Deck Med Crew Is Stunned By a Charter Guest’s Request: “I’m Sorry, What?”
Though she was excited for the pasta couse, that quickly turned to disappointment when she learned that truffles weren’t part of the dish. “Unfortunately, truffles are out of season. I tried to get some. I know you’re a big truffle girl,” Josh told her.
Taking a cue from Annalise’s preference sheet, Josh used king crab in the ravioli, though she told the other guests as she tasted it, “I don’t like the crab in it.”
Even Josh’s tart wasn’t well-received by Annalise, who asked, “Why does it taste so burnt?” The primary guest, Jen, also chimed in, “I don’t like what he braised it with.”
Captain Sandy takes issue with Josh Bingham’s service on Below Deck Med
Unfortunately for Josh, it wasn’t just the guests who were unhappy with his final meals in the Jan. 19 episode. During lunch on the first day of the final charter, stewardess Cathy Skinner complained to chief stew Aesha Scott that the lunch was served “family-style again.”
Captain Sandy Yawn also told producers she was unhappy with his service. “I’m not sure why Josh is still doing family-style,” she said. “We’re a super yacht. That’s a standard in the Mediterranean that you plate.”
It was a criticism Josh had heard before, and Sandy confronted him about it in the galley. “It just takes it down a notch every time,” she told him. “It’s our last charter.”
Josh privately expressed his anger over the issue to producers. As he played the guitar, he sang, “If one more person mentions plated meals, I think I’m gonna blow!”
RELATED: Demanding Below Deck Charter Guest Causes Chef Josh To Storm Off the Yacht: “Gonna Lose My S—t”
When Josh decided not to attend the beach picnic lunch on Day 2, it was the final straw for Cathy. “Now I’ve got to plate all the food, and dress it. Surely Josh should be here?” she complained.
“In my experience as a chief stew, when we do these amazing beach set-ups, the chefs are over an hour before the guests preparing the food to make sure it is still five-star,” Cathy later explained in her confessional. “Instead, they get a stew unpacking it out of a bag like a packed lunch…I feel like Josh has just given up already.”
Back on board, Cathy let Josh know that the lunch was “a little bit hectic,” and it only made Josh even more upset. “You’re f—king kidding me!” he vented to producers, before giving two middle fingers to the cameras.
ICYMI, the charter guests also confronted Captain Sandy over being stuck at the dock in the first moments of the Jan. 19 episode.
