After serving as the chief stew on Below Deck Down Under for two seasons alongside Captain Jason Chambers, Aesha Scott is back on Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 with Captain Sandy Yawn.
With a mostly new cast, the stews, deckhands and chef must learn to work together. Arrivals in Greece went smoothly enough, but it wasn't long before challenges arose with provisions, laundry and crew dynamics.
Here's our recap of the most important moments from Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 episode 1, "My Big Fat Greek Yacht Emergency."
Missing provisions
Kicking off the charter season was already stressful, as the crew has to get into the groove of working with each other. Plus, there were only about 24 hours to flip the boat and get it in tip-top shape for the guests. To pile onto the long list of things to do, Aesha and Chef Johnathan "Jono" Shillingford weren't getting their provisions, aka the food and drinks, in time. With just an hour left before the first guests would arrive, many of the provisions, including alcohol, were still missing. Aesha found just one bottle of champagne on board, which is typically the beverage served to guests as they board the yacht. So she used that one bottle to fill about eight flutes and prepared for the charter to begin with the boat full of influencers.
Before giving them a tour of the yacht, Aesha told the guests about the provisions issue, which meant certain drinks, including rosé and red wines, weren't available just yet. Eventually, some champagne arrived on the boat to hold them over until the larger provisions order would come, however, the guests were asking specifically for rosé, and it was running dry.
Laundry room blunder
Third stew, Sabrina "Bri" Muller, was put in charge of laundry, including taking care of the guests' clothing as requested. A seemingly simple task turned into another strike for the Below Deck Mediterranean crew.
A few of the guests asked that their outfits be steamed for that night's dinner. The clock ticked away and suddenly, six hours had passed without the to-do item being completed. Bri wasn't confident doing the laundry and said she wanted to take her time. Aesha had to jump in and quickly perfect the pieces so the guests, who were waiting in their robes, could get dressed.
"This laundry might seem like a molehill, but from my perspective, it's like a mountain," Bri said during a confessional.
Provisions arrive (sort of)
To make the provisions issue worse, the delivery, which was to include the rosé and was supposed to arrive at 7:30 pm, was brought to the wrong place and was slated to be an extra hour and a half late. The big problem with that was that the guests specifically requested surf and turf for dinner, and there wasn't any lobster without that order coming through. Jono did have Alaskan king crab legs, however, so he pivoted his plan to make crab cakes.
Right as the first course was being served, the boat carrying the provisions pulled up. Aesha was eager to get a bottle of red wine open and decanted to go along with the next course. But wouldn't you know it — the boat pulled away and it wasn't until after that the crew discovered that they hadn’t delivered any red or rosé wines. All Aesha could do was continue to apologize to the guests. Luckily, they loved Jono's creations.
Late-night munchies
Around 12:30 am, the guests asked for some snacks as they continued to sip on cocktails and get in the hot tub. Second stew, Elena "Ellie" Dubaich, had the undesirable task of waking up Jono to make grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese and nachos, as per requested. (Stews can typically handle simple snacks, but these guests were asking for a lot of food that required cooking.) Jono wasn't up for it, though, and Ellie had to figure it out in the galley.
As Ellie was attempting to put together some grilled cheeses, she was getting a call over the radio that the guests wanted more drinks. It was becoming overwhelming, so Ellie went back down to the cabins to try to get Jono awake to cook again. "Jono's selfish behavior is making me look bad. What about me?" Ellie said during a confessional.
Ellie explained the situation to Jono, but he wasn't having it. "I'm not doing anything. I haven't slept enough," he told her. "It's turning into a big problem," she replied. "They can have grilled cheese sandwiches. You said you could do that," he said. "I just wanted to give you a chance to reconsider because I don't want this whole experience, for you, to become negative because of this," she said. “B***h, are you stupid? This is not going to be good for you," Jono said during a confessional.
Jono gave her a blatant no, and Ellie went back upstairs. Not the easiest start to the latest season. Let's see how the crew adjusts moving forward.
New episodes of Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 premiere Monday on Bravo and then are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
