Captain Sandy Yawn and Aesha Scott didn’t hesitate to call out an unruly charter guest who challenged Nathan Gallagher on Below Deck Mediterranean Season 11.
Even before boarding M/Y Akira One in Episode 3 (streaming on Peacock beginning June 23), the guest named Josef was already in the midst of drama with his girlfriend, Adis, who eventually decided to leave the vessel shortly after departure. In the interim, Josef clashed with Nathan, who’d exercised his authority as bosun, multiple times, but the others eventually intervened amid a disagreement over a safety issue involving the water toys.
Referring to Nathan putting a stop to him taking out a Jet Ski after consuming several cocktails, Josef made a scene, declaring that he was “done with this f–kin’ guy.” In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Aesha assured the charter guest that Nathan was “just looking out for [his] safety,” but Josef still continued to shout. So, Aesha responded by saying, “Hey, please don’t be disrespectful to our bosun.”
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Regardless, Josef fired back, “That’s the third time he’s, like, put me in my spot,” prompting the chief stew to reiterate to him, “He’s doing his job. He’s really good at his job.” He continued to question why Nathan was “focusing on” him, and Aesha answered, “Because you’ve been the problem for him, I guess. … Just please be respectful.”
In a confessional, she added, “I have made a career out of placating rich and arrogant people, and I have never seen someone like this. And I don’t know if I trust Nathan to not just punch this guy in the face.”
What Captain Sandy Yawn told the Below Deck Med charter guest who clashed with Nathan Gallagher
From there, Aesha radioed Captain Sandy to make sure she was aware that Josef had “been disrespectful” to Nathan. Shortly afterward, she approached the guest with a gentle request. “Just take it easy on my crew,” Sandy implored Josef.
In his reply, Josef echoed his claim that Nathan had it out for him but promised to “keep it in check.” Captain Sandy responded, “No, he doesn’t. They’re looking out for your safety. That’s it.” After he expressed his “respect” for the captain, she announced, “I think he’s gonna be good for the rest of the charter.”
In the meantime, Captain Sandy advised Nathan on better strategies for dealing with guests like Josef and instructed the bosun to “control his emotions.” She elaborated to a producer, “In this industry, dealing with people like Joe, you have to have thick skin. If we kick everybody off that’s rude, we’re not gonna have a business.”
RELATED: Sandy Reveals She’s “Concerned” About Nathan’s Return As Bosun: “Want Me To Get Mad at You?”
When she joined the guests at dinner later, Sandy admitted that she was having some difficulty following her own advice, however, especially when Josef made more unkind remarks to her staff members, namely Chef Joy Lefaucheur. “What is wrong with this guy?” she asked rhetorically in a confessional, adding that she was really trying to “hold [her] tongue.”
Regardless, Sandy called out Josef again at the dinner, telling him, “Please do not disrespect my chef.” When she eventually excused herself from the meal, she muttered to herself, “Oh my God, I can’t be around that guy. He drives me f–king crazy.”
Details on Josef and his fellow charter guests from Below Deck Med Season 11
Josef is a “close friend” of Charter No. 2’s co-primary Johnny Damon, a retired MLB outfielder who played for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, among other teams, throughout his professional baseball career. Though Josef never specified exactly what his job is, he made no secret that he had a lucrative career. Amid his apparent breakup with Adis, Josef described himself by saying, “I’m worth $500 million. I have jets. I’m a pretty good-looking guy.”
During the pre-charter preference sheet meeting, Captain Sandy and Aesha revealed that Johnny and his wife Michelle, whom they’d already welcomed aboard on two previous charters, would also be joined by their friend Janessa and her “globe-trotting boyfriend,” Mark, as well as Michelle’s best friend Shayla and her entrepreneur son, Hunter. During the aforementioned dinner, Shayla explained to Sandy that they knew each other through her ex-husband, Kyle Farnsworth, who was one of Johnny’s former Yankees teammates.
In an exclusive June interview with Bravo Insider, Aesha gushed about how welcoming Johnny and Michelle aboard again “felt like seeing old friends.” She added, “But they brought someone with them who was such a handful and so difficult and all of the crew really struggled with him,” referring to Josef.
Despite the eventful start to their charter, Aesha insisted that there were no “weird requests” from Johnny’s group. “The only thing that Johnny always says is the food has to be hot, hot, hot,” the chief stew revealed. “So, Sandy would actually be like down in the galley keeping a really close eye on everything, making sure that the second it went out of the pan and everything was done, it got raced straight up there. Other than that, he’s pretty simple.”
As you await their charter’s continuation, get more details on what happened between Nathan and Josef on Below Deck Med Season 11.
—Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
