The Below Deck Mediterranean Season 11 crew is no stranger to difficult charter guests, but the newest group to board M/Y Akira One challenged both chef Joy Lefaucheur and acting chief stew Kayley Smith in unexpected ways with their difficult food demands during Episode 11.
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“There’s a bunch of people with different preferences, and they all think they are the principal,” Joy confessed to producers during Below Deck Med’s Aug. 17 episode. “I’m doing four-course menus, and the list is going on and on and on and on. I’m realizing I’m digging myself into a deep hole.”
After Joy had a meeting with the guests ahead of the first dinner service to get a better grip on their gluten-free, vegan and “picky” food demands, she was shocked by their reactions to the first meal, which included sea bass ceviche and watermelon avocado ponzu with crispy rice.
“I gave it a try. I’m sorry, I just don’t like it,” guest Jequoya declared, and added, “We’re just not big fans of it. Any fish I eat is fried.” Meanwhile primary guest Bunny shared her critique: “I just want my crispy rice to be less crispy.”
“I’m in the middle of preparing the second course and they make me look like a fool, like I don’t know my job,” Joy complained to producers. “I could explode soon.”
Kayley tried to get to the bottom of their requests during the disastrous dinner, which included new plates with “more watermelon and less avocado” as well as a request for “more shrimp.”
“This feels like this is starting to go off the rails,” Kayley admitted in her confessional interview. Joy added, “I don’t know between her and me who’s going to cry first.”
Chef Joy Lefaucheur reacts to “picky” charter guests during Below Deck Med Season 11
Joy first got a sense that the charter guests would be difficult to please after they requested dinner be served at 9:30 p.m., but then made middle-of-the-day food requests, including cheeseburgers, fries and shrimp.
“If I have to make a whole meal for these guests now, it’s going to affect my prep for dinner tonight…it’s not a food marathon here,” Joy explained of the impossible situation, although she did end up serving fried shrimp as a snack.
When vegan tempeh tacos were served on night 1, they didn’t land well with the guests. “We don’t like this. I’m just going to be so for real,” guest Jordan shared. “It’s just that simple.” Bunny then requested meat and fish be served, as well as less guacamole and avocado.
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Joy shared her frustrations with producers. “I want to please the primary first. And I thought everybody wants to eat vegan,” she explained. “But when they asked me for a burger and shrimp, I should have seen, ‘Oh, that’s a red flag.’”
She observed, “I should just go to bed because it’s a disaster.”
Joy cried in the galley by the time dinner service ended around 12:40 a.m. “I feel very embarrassed. My self-esteem is literally in the toilet,” she confessed to producers. “I feel like I’m the worst chef in the world and I just want to change careers.”
She joked, “Maybe be a dog sitter.”
Despite the hard dinner, Joy was determined to turn the ship around the following day, and asked the guests what they’d like to eat for dinner. The requests included: pesto pasta, lobster pasta, lentil soup, chicken Alfredo and spicy vodka sauce pasta with lobster.
“This charter has been garbage, so I[‘ll] do whatever they ask tonight,” Joy conceded. “Four different kinds of pasta. I’m taking it very personally.”
How Kayley Smith was tested as chief stew by challenging guests on Below Deck Med Season 11
Kayley was serving her second charter as acting chief stew in the wake of bosun Nathan Gallagher’s injury and chief stew Aesha Scott’s subsequent move to the deck team, and the guests put her through her paces during the Aug. 16 episode.
“I know Aesha has big shoes to fill and I’m doing the best that I can, but I feel like I’m letting everybody down,” Kayley reflected of the unhappy guests at dinner. “I feel like I failed.”
She explained how difficult it was to continue after a bad night 1. “I feel like I can’t even face the guests at this point. It is like mortifying. It is too embarrassing,” she added.
Despite the challenges, Aesha shared she was still proud of Kayley. “Kayley has been doing a great job as acting chief stew up until this point.”
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Aesha added that Kayley was just getting much needed-on-the-job training by being pushed right into the fire. “Managing needy guests, that’s a skill she’s going to have to hone if she wants to reach the chief stew level,” Aesha pointed out.
Check out what has former Below Deck Med chief stew Hannah Ferrier back in the confessional chair during the mid-season trailer.
