The Bravado deck team got off to a rocky start during the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 10 premiere — and Captain Sandy Yawn was the first to remind them she runs a tight ship.
“I do want you to listen to your department heads,” she announced during the first all-crew meeting. “If it makes it to the bridge, you will have the wrath of Sandy.”
She also broke the “bad news” that the deck crew was already “missing” two members: bosun Nathan Gallagher and deckhand Tessa Budd, who’d both come down with food poisoning, just one day before the season’s first charter. With just hours left until the guests arrived, however, Nathan and Tessa both made it aboard Bravado.
“As a first-time bosun, obviously, I thought I was gonna have 24 hours on the boat to figure out where things are,” Nathan explained in a confessional. “But then 24 hours have been cut down to two. I barely even know who my team is. Jesus Christ, this is gonna be a fun season.”
Once they got acquainted, Nathan quickly realized that his new crew, which also included deckhands Max Salvador and Christian Trimino, weren’t passing muster, as mistakes were made before they even departed from Barcelona, Spain.
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“I’m too focused on getting off the dock and doing my job safely,” Nathan continued. “I can’t hold their hands. I can see already, this team’s not capable of giving 100 percent.” On the vessel, his mic also picked up audio of him declaring their departure was already a “f–king nightmare.”
Indeed, there were plenty more hiccups along the way, including the primary guest, “serial entrepreneur” Carl, and his friends having to wait an hour and a half, as the deck crew struggled to get the “water toys” ready to launch.
While Nathan and his deckhands gave their best effort to launch the wave runners, chief stew Aesha Scott watched them with a charter guest who described the entire scene as “intense.”
As Nathan put it, “It’s an absolute disgrace. It’s embarrassing.”
How Captain Sandy Yawn handled the Below Deck Med crew’s errors
Nathan, of course, wasn’t the only one frustrated by the delay: Captain Sandy told him, as the deck crew’s leader, “We’ve got to be faster.”
The newly promoted bosun apologized and promised his team would “get it organized,” and Sandy ultimately took it easy on him since he was still “learning” the ropes of his new position.
“This is Nathan’s first time leading a team, so I’m not gonna apply pressure,” she explained to a producer. “But I need them to know they need to get everything out quicker. By charter three, it should be precision.”
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The deck team’s inexperience continued to show, however, as Christian, for one, admitted he was unfamiliar with certain equipment that Nathan was referencing, since he’d “never used” it before. Even in the midst of fuming about that particular lack of skill, Nathan noticed “the f–king Jet-Ski’s floating away” into the sea.
Max swiftly dove into the water and swam after it, in full view of the charter guests, as one remarked, “I don’t know what they’re doing, to be honest. One guy’s swimming…”
Christian accepted “fault” for the mishap to Captain Sandy, admitting that he didn’t “properly” tie the knot to secure the wave runner. So, the captain pulled aside Nathan — who dubbed the latest debacle an “absolute s–t show” — for a one-on-one, and he, again, assured her, “I’ll get them on the same wavelength.”Â
“Fast,” Captain Sandy responded.
What Nathan Gallagher told a Below Deck Med producer about his team’s struggles
In a confessional, Nathan opened up, “As a deckhand, I was in charge of doing one job and moving on to the next. Don’t get me wrong, I was good at them jobs. But now, as a bosun, I’m in charge of all the jobs. … This is overwhelming the f–kin’ s–t out of me.”
Nathan’s first-charter problems still weren’t over yet, as, later, Captain Sandy had to step in to assist him in hoisting a wave runner back onto the yacht. While operating the mechanical lift, he slammed the Jet-Ski into (and appeared to destroy) two light fixtures attached to Bravado — with some charter guests watching.
As Captain Sandy told him at the end of Below Deck Med‘s Sept. 29 episode, “We gotta talk about this.”
What’s ahead for Nathan Gallagher and his Below Deck Med crew
Unfortunately for Nathan, this was only the begging of more rough waters ahead for him and his crew on Below Deck Med Season 10.
The premiere kicked off with a time jump to nine months ahead, as he reflected in voiceover, “This past charter season has been one of the toughest times in my entire life.”
That’s when snippets of moments to come previewed even more crew errors, as Nathan declared, “That is an absolute f–kin’ s–t show. We’re lookin’ like f–kin’ amateurs.”
As he narrated, “I thought that I was gonna come on as a first-time bosun and kill it. Boy, was I wrong.”
The Season 10 trailer also gave viewers a sneak peek Captain Sandy scolding Nathan. “Get your f–king s–t together on this deck,” she demanded. “You understand?”
Work life, aside, Nathan also experiences a “messy start” in his personal life, while rekindling his romance with Below Deck Med alum Gael Cameron. Their relationship “grows into something much more than they imagined,” according to the official Season 10 announcement. (That, of course, likely refers to the fact they became parents to a son named Kayden Cameron-Gallagher in June 2025.)
As their relationship journey plays out on Below Deck Med Season 10, take an inside look at Nathan and Gael’s life as new parents today.
