Portions sizes. That’s the latest topic of contention between Daisy Kelliher and Natasha De Bourg on Below Deck Sailing Yacht. At the end of last week’s episode, the chief stew and the chef went head to head over rather large serving sizes. See, the guests all said the food was great. There was just one problem: they literally couldn’t finish their meal. Of course, when Daisy pointed this out as the boat’s intermediary between the guests and the galley, Natasha threw a fit and stormed off.
But in reality, the fight wasn’t about how much food is on each plate during service. Even though Daisy was technically correct on that point. It’s about Natasha‘s startling inability to take any kind of feedback. Constructive or otherwise. In Natasha’s world, she’s perfect. And she isn’t interested in hearing anything otherwise, thank you very much. Not even when she has yet to successfully cook an egg for breakfast this entire season.
So yes, Natasha is irrationally cranky going into dinner service for the evening. Dinner being a black tie affair involving lobster in butter sauce and mushroom risotto in truffle oil. By the second course, the guests remark that they’re already getting full. Because the portions are so large. But all Daisy can do is file that comment way as an internal “I told you so.” Telling Natasha again certainly won’t do any good, especially when she’s already angry.
Meanwhile, Alli Dore is getting distracted by Gary King in the laundry room. The third stew openly admits she knows how her flirtations with the shaggy first officer are affecting Sydney Zaruba. But if Gary hadn’t hooked up with his deckhand after the first charter, Alli also admits she would’ve made a move much sooner. But now she can’t on account of her bunkmate being in love with her crush. This love triangle just isn’t ever going to end, is it? What will end, though, is this little laundry room hang. Because as Daisy reminds them, Alli needs to be focused on turndowns and Gary needs to get on deck and, you know, do his job instead of flirting with her stewardess.
Following dinner, the guests have requested a blackjack party, with Gary and Colin Macrae donning suspenders (and one unfortunate bowler hat) to deal the cards. With Jean-Luc Cerza Lanaux on nights, that means three quarters of the deck team is up past midnight. It’s going to be a late night. Dani Soares is also on lates, which Jean-Luc doesn’t mind as the two continue wading deeper into their boatmance. In fact, he’s spending his anchor watch talking to his mom about how hard he’s falling for the second stew. Instead of working. This doesn’t go over well with an exhausted Colin, who’s worked an 18-hour day and just wants to go to bed. Annoyed, he taps out of blackjack at 1:45 a.m. and forces Jean-Luc to take his place. Well, before a silly argument between two of the guests thankfully ends the night for everyone.
The next morning is drop-off day. Unfortunately for Sydney, she wakes up to find that Jean-Luc once again didn’t do any work overnight. The boat’s not detailed. Towels are left unfolded in the dryer. This is not how it’s supposed to go. She goes straight to Gary with the issue and he promises to sort out the mess. His best idea is to ask Daisy if Alli can work nights instead of Dani, thinking she’s distracting Jean-Luc from his job. But Daisy balks at the suggestion, pointing out she can’t even let Alli do breakfast service on her own. Naturally, Gary bristles at being shut down. From where he’s sitting, it seems Daisy is “all take and no give” when it comes to departmental compromise.
Meanwhile, the problem among the deck team is nowhere to be found. On drop-off day, wake up time is noon instead of 2 p.m. But despite repeated reminders from Gary, Jean-Luc seems to have forgotten this detail. Because he’s still asleep in his cabin at 12:45. While Sydney wakes him up, Daisy talks to Dani about distracting the deckhand on the job. However, Dani insists the two didn’t even hook up the night before. So she’s not the problem, and points the finger at Gary for messing with her job instead of dealing with his own department. Via confessional, Gary admits he’s caught in a vicious cycle with Jean-Luc over the night shift drama and isn’t sure how to fix get out of it.
It’s finally time to dock and depart. But not before Natasha has one last trick up the sleeve of her chef’s coat. As the guests get ready to leave, she presents an edible art arrangement of fruit, caramel and chocolate sauce as a final dessert. And no, Daisy, no constructive criticism is welcome this time. The guests are impressed and surprised. And the dessert really is nice to look at. But does it really mean anything when Natasha can’t cook an egg? However, the guests give the chef a special shout-out as they hand Captain Glenn Shephard the tip. So now Daisy knows she can’t say zip about any problems she’s having in the galley.
Well, not exactly. During the tip meeting, Captain Glenn points out that he’s noticed rising tensions between the department heads. And asks Daisy point blank about all the issues with breakfast service. Of course, Natasha gets needlessly defensive over what constitutes an 0ver-easy egg. But Captain Glenn chalks it all up to fissures in communication. The better news is that the guests had a great charter and left an even greater tip of $23,000. That’s a little over $2,500 per crew member. And to celebrate, Glenn’s organized for the crew to go to dinner at a completely isolated restaurant on shore. That’s right folks, we’re finally leaving the boat!
The crew arrives at Konobo Basjo in Jesenice for their big night out. To accommodate COVID restrictions while filming, they have the restaurant all to themselves. But drama starts breaking out before the main course is even served. It all starts when Daisy and Alli decide to take a mid-meal smoke break. They’re soon joined by Gary and Colin. Twenty minutes later, Dani is still waiting for them to come back to the table and she’s fuming. She storms off to the bathroom with Natasha in tow once everyone sits back down. And Sydney‘s left to explain that everyone left at the table felt excluded and disrespected by the smokers making them wait.
Alli starts getting a little belligerent in her attempt to apologize (over and over again). And now Sydney‘s the one feeling attacked and storming off. It’s like an angry game of musical chairs. Daisy follows her out to lend a listening ear, but faster than you can say “love triangle,” Sydney makes the conversation about Gary. She knows she’s the better catch, OK? She’s prettier than Alli. She checks every box better than Alli. Yet Alli’s still the one Gary’s sneaking off to take yet another smoke break with. (He even suggests a kiss, but Alli immediately turns him down.) Daisy points out in her confessional that Sydney’s just obsessed that Gary picked someone else over her. But Sydney has yet to figure that little piece of self-awareness out yet.
With everyone getting up and leaving in shifts, half the crew is missing when dessert is finally served. In the form of a giant, layered chocolate sailboat. Complete with three sails. It’s Parsifal! Whether she’s annoyed that everyone’s not there or that it looks better than her edible art from earlier, the first thing Natasha does is destroy the cake. Because if they weren’t there when it was served, the rest of the crew doesn’t deserve to see the sweet masterpiece. OK, everyone’s officially drunk, grumpy or both. It’s time to go back to the boat. So much for a fun night out on the town, huh?
Back on Parsifal, Daisy goes straight to bed while Jean-Luc and Dani are busy making out. She coyly suggests they spend the night testing out their height difference in one of the guest cabins, and that’s all Jean-Luc needs to hear. Meanwhile, Colin‘s left playing fourth wheel to the terrible throuple that is Gary, Alli and Sydney. The latter is especially drunk, and her mean girl side rears its ugly head as she finds every opportunity to lash out at Alli. First she gets competitive over the prospect of working out together in the morning. Then she’s giving jab after jab over how the interior never helps out and sleeps all the time.
When Alli calls it a night, Sydney can’t help from issuing one last biting zinger, which leaves Alli feeling even weirder. Sydney insists to a confused Colin that she’s just joking. But with the underlying jealousy, it seems like more than that. What’s the saying? Something about truth in jest? All Colin knows is that drunk Sydney is mean, vindictive and generally unpleasant to be around. And, yes, this love triangle isn’t going to end well for anyone…
TELL US – DID NATASHA’S ARTISTIC DESSERT MAKE UP FOR HER BREAKFAST BLUNDERS? IS DANI DISTRACTING JEAN-LUC FROM DOING HIS JOB? COULD ANYTHING HAVE SALVAGED THE CREW’S DINNER? IS SYDNEY LASHING OUT UNNECESSARILY AT ALLI?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]