Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Johnathan Shillingford found out that Captain Sandy Yawn planned to fire him — and had a backup chef on standby — at the same time as viewers did.
“How would anyone feel if someone was seemingly trying to get rid of you?” Johnathan exclusively told Us Weekly about learning new information while watching season 9. “I didn’t feel that during the show. I didn’t know that that was her position. I didn’t know that there was a backup chef.”
Johnathan didn’t let what he saw on screen after the fact affect how he remembered being on the show.
“I maintain that working with Captain Sandy was an honor. Because being a feminist — I grew up in a family of strong women who were trailblazers in their careers — I never worked with a female captain before,” he noted. “So regardless of what’s been said, I maintain that it was an honor working with her.”
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Viewers have had a front row seat to Johnathan’s memorable time on the Mustique. During the first charter of the season, Johnathan refused to get up late at night to make snacks for the guests, which didn’t sit well with stew Ellie Dubaich. Sandy, however, came to Johnathan’s defense while pointing out he needed his rest to feed the guests the next day.
Johnathan later received some negative feedback from guests on another charter. This made Sandy decide to request a chef on standby in case Johnathan didn’t work out. Off screen, Sandy made an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen earlier this month where she made a dig about how Johnathan should improve on his cooking.
“The comments she said on WWHL — which I only saw bits of — that’s like asking a pilot to fly better. For me it’s like, ‘OK, sure. Everyone can improve.’ I improve every day,” he told Us. “It kind of sounded like she was throwing shade. But maybe she could be more specific. I don’t know if she meant it to be helpful criticism. I don’t think she necessarily meant to be rude or anything.”
Despite Sandy’s plans to potentially bring someone else in, Johnathan isn’t sure whether having that information ahead of time would have changed the sequence of events.
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“I gave it my all regardless of if she had a standby chef or not. If I knew that information, I was working hard anyway. I don’t know if I would’ve pulled deeper. I think I was already pulling deep,” Johnathan shared. “That’s what I do. I want my guests to be happy. That’s how I feel happy in my job. Not only for the guests but for my captain as well.”
He continued: “We got to make her proud. For the entire season, I was focused on making sure that she had confidence in me. So I don’t know if I would’ve done things differently if I knew.”
The chef is also not sweating the criticism he heard coming from costars like chief stew Aesha Scott. While speaking to Us on another boat, Johnathan stood by the hard work he put into each meal regardless of whether it was always everyone’s favorite dish.
“People say how they feel. I can never judge people’s reaction and say it’s too much. If that’s how you felt, then that’s how you feel. I can’t challenge someone’s feelings. It was tough watching that second charter, which was the bumpy charter,” he admitted. “That was probably the hardest charter I’ve ever done. As a chef and even as an architect, I’m used to feedback. I present my ideas and I get criticism in return. So I’m kind of programmed that way to be able to grow from any kind of criticism.”
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Johnathan called the second charter “particularly challenging” for him, adding, “My mission in any charter is to make sure the guests are the happiest they can be. Because they weren’t, I regret that I wasn’t able to deliver for them, but it’s hard to kind of judge from a distance.”
The Below Deck newcomer is taking the experience as a lesson for the future.
“It was still a challenge with time and with getting everything out and getting crew food out. There were lots of challenges in the moment. I felt like I was doing the best I could. Watching it over, I realized that some of the meals definitely fell short,” he continued. “That’s the thing with the shorter charters, you have no time to make a mistake with the meal. But the entire crew learned from that. And I feel very proud of myself for having dealt with that criticism in a positive way and definitely grown from it.”
Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
