Welcome to the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 9, Episode 11 recap! In this week’s episode, called “The Perfect Storm,” the interior crew struggles to keep pleasant attitudes while serving some very demanding guests. Sandy tells the guests a thinly disguised story about some awful charter guests who treated her crew poorly and how she straightened them out. The captain also suffers a loss at home, and Joe accepts an invitation from Ellie but immediately regrets it. Here are some of the highlights from Below Deck Med Season 9, Episode 11.
A short charter begins on Below Deck Mediterranean
Sandy says it’s going to be very windy today, so they’re taking the boat off the dock early. The charter guests, as well as provisions, will be retrieved with the tender.
When the guests arrive, Gael and Joe take the tender and pick them up at the dock. Then they have to make another trip to pick up the luggage.
The ladies want to know where the best place on the ship to take a photo is. Aesha suggests the sun deck, or if they prefer the shade, there’s a lower deck with couches.
“Those couches are an eyesore,” says one of the guests. “It would be great if they could be gone.” Cool your jets, lady. You’re only here for one night. You don’t have time to redecorate.
Later, the guests are at the bar in the lounge and one of the ladies asks the chief stew, “Can you get my drink for me? It’s just over there,” pointing over her shoulder. Literally, ten feet away. Jeeze Louise, lady. Entitled much?
“I am more than happy to go and grab your very, very close drink for you,” Aesha interviews. “Just ask me politely.” I would never treat a server that way. Show some respect for the person just doing her job!
“She seems like she’s gonna be hard work,” Aesha whispers to Ellie when the women go outside.
Ellie does a lot of running back and forth for the next bit. I’d be afraid to let those ladies go in the water, the way they’re putting away the alcohol.
“What just happened?” Ellie wonders when the women take their drinks to their cabins to prepare for dinner. “That was a lot.”
Don’t shoot Bambi!
When she goes to change into her evening uniform, Ellie can’t find her black dress. She radios Bri, who begins frantically looking for it. Sadly, she finds it in the laundry bag.
“It’s not been washed. Shocker!” Ellie interviews. “We’ve been treating Bri like a baby deer. If I bring this dress up and get Bri fired because of it, it would be like I had shot Bambi. It doesn’t work in my favor whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, Aesha asks Chef Jono to come up from the galley and explain to the guests about the caviar. Even though beluga is supposed to be “top tier,” one of the guests complains, “It tastes a little bit like a washcloth.” Ick.
“Oh, that’s no bueno,” Jono responds. “To be honest, this is what’s available. It’s kind of hard to source things here.”
In a confessional, Jono adds, “I can’t do anything about the fact that your caviar ‘tastes like a washcloth.’ I didn’t sh*t out those eggs. Some fish did. It is what it is. I’m busy making your dinner. Can I go work, or do you want to talk more?”
Aesha bites back on Below Deck Mediterranean
At the dinner table, one of the guests complains that she doesn’t have a knife. “Why do I have a butter knife?” she asks her friends.
When Aesha returns to the table, the guest says, “I was looking for a knife, but this is a butter knife.”
“It’s not, that’s a fish knife,” Aesha calmly responds.
“Oh, she’s gonna school me,” the woman tells her companion. I literally gasped aloud. So rude!
“I’ve worked in service a very long time,” Aesha sweetly continues. “That’s a fish knife … Fish is not supposed to be tough. It’s supposed to be smooth, so it just cuts through.”
“Well, your caviar service sucked. I’m just saying,” the woman replies. Okay, this lady’s drunk. Aesha just smiles and walks away.
“These are people who like to claim that they’re from the upper class,” Aesha says in a confessional. “Where is the ‘class’ part? I’m … good enough at my job that I actually don’t care that biting back at these guests will get me in trouble. I’ve got to stand up for myself at some point.”
Captain Sandy stops by and asks, “How was your dinner, by the way?”
Everyone says it was really good. I expected someone to complain about Aesha’s “attitude,” but thank God she’s moved on and only wants to talk about Sandy’s sparkly silver shoes.
Joe sweet-talks the ladies
When the party moves upstairs to the sun deck, the ladies clamor for more drinks. These ladies can really put it away! I’m done after two. Fish Knife Lady is complaining again. “Where is service?” she asks. “They need to figure out their sh*t.”
Ellie is finished in the pantry, so Aesha tells her to “stay on the bar.” When she finally goes up to see what the ladies want to drink, the primary says they should probably get “triples” since they’ll be up there a while. Ellie tells them she’ll be checking on them every 15 minutes and runs back downstairs to make their drinks.
Joe wanders through the salon while Aesha and Ellie are making drinks. “You need to go charm these ladies,” Aesha says. “They’re just kind of bitches.”
Sandy asks, “How’s it going out there?”
“They’re mean girls,” Ellie says.
“One of the ladies had a fish knife,” Aesha adds. “She said, ‘I really wanted a knife with my fish, but you’ve given me a butter knife.’ I said, ‘That’s a fish knife.’”
Sandy says the next time someone does that, show them the difference: apparently, a fish knife is pointed, while a butter knife is rounded. Who knew?
When Joe tells the women good night, one of them says, “They brought him up to just sweet talk us!” Damn straight they did.
Just be kind
The primary’s husband says that sometimes his wife gets hungry at night.
“The chef’s prepared some sandwiches,” Aesha starts to say, but she’s interrupted by the primary who says, “I don’t eat sandwiches.”
Aesha explains that the chef’s in bed, so it is what it is.
The next morning, Gael, Joe, and Nathan are just doing their jobs without any guidance from the bosun. “Since Iain’s not the best communicator,” Gael says, “whenever something needs to be done, we’re just getting it done. Maybe Iain’s some kind of management genius, and he’s structured this all in a way that the team is just self-sufficient, and he doesn’t have to do that much work.”
Captain Sandy’s behind the bar, chatting with the guests. Retired NBA Player Mike compliments her on her staff being “top notch.”
“I always say this,” Sandy responds. “If you beat character down, you’re gonna kill their spirit. But if you’re gracious and you’re thankful, you’re gonna build them up and they’re gonna want to do more for you. I had a client spend a million Euros on a charter. They were so rude to my crew. I pulled the primary in, and I said, ‘I’ll cancel your charter tomorrow if you treat my staff like that again.’ They turned it around like that. I called the [boat] owner, and he said, ‘I don’t need the money. I’m good.’”
“How you treat others is really important,” Sandy adds in a confessional. “From what Aesha and the other crew are saying to me, these clients are difficult. Did I get my point across?”
Sandy gets bad news from home
Sandy gets a phone call from Leah, her girlfriend. Aesha walks by and asks if she’s okay.
“Bailey died last night,” she says. Bailey was her and Leah’s dog. Immediately, Aesha says, “Awwwww” and pulls her in for a hug. And I tear up. Dogs are like your children. It’s so sad when they pass. I understand the heartbreak.
“It’s sad,” Sandy interviews. “My heart hurts for Leah. The beautiful part is I got five years with Bailey, but Leah had her eleven years. She was just all love.” She shows pictures to Aesha from her phone, and Aesha hugs her again.
“This is the hardest part of yachting, having to miss all these things,” Aesha says.
“Being a captain, you’re at sea when a lot of death happens,” Sandy interviews. “Losing Bailey, it brings up all your losses.” Poor Sandy. I want to hug her, too.
Joe makes a mistake
While they were at the shore excursion, Joe foolishly posed for a picture with Ellie, at the request of the guests. In the photo, she was kissing him on the cheek. Now he’s having second thoughts.
“F*ck’s sake! What did I do?” he asks Gael and Nathan, after showing them the picture. “I don’t even want either of them! But when I have alcohol, I turn into a demon.”
Time for the guests to go! “Thank God!” Aesha sighs. At least it was a short charter.
When she’s saying goodbye, the primary graciously thanks everyone for everything, but then she drops a bomb. “To my lovebirds,” she says, “I can’t wait to see what happens later. You know who you are.” Ellie smiles, while Joe squirms.
The primary finishes with, “I don’t think we had any issues, did we?”
“Were we on the same charter?” Aesha says in a confessional. “I’ll take it, for sure. But this is so confusing.”
Meanwhile, Joe’s stressing. “What the f*ck just went on there? Why did I just get called out?”
Encouraged by the guests calling her and Joe “the lovebirds,” Ellie decides to ask Joe on a date. She goes up on deck where he’s working and says, “Joe, I have a question for you. I wanted to invite you on a little date tonight. How do you feel about that?”
“Oh, shit,” Joe reacts. “Just me and you?” But then he caves and says, “Let’s do it.”
Joe backs out
But almost immediately, he regrets it.
“This is a bad idea,” Gael says.
“I really like Ellie,” Joe tells Nathan. “She’s obviously very attractive … I’ve already said yes, but I don’t want to go … I’m not going, mate. End of story. Done.”
“This is gonna go so bad!” Gael interviews. “I feel like Ellie’s the kind of girl, if you screw her [over], she’ll burn the whole boat down. And I’m on this boat, too, man.”
Time for the tip meeting. First to arrive are Joe and Gael. “Sit next to me,” Joe begs.
“So no one else can?” Gael says.
Sandy opens with, “So, first question of the day. Who are the lovebirds?”
One person jokes, “Iain and Nathan,” while Nathan says, “It’s me and Joe.”
“I’m just curious,” Sandy says, before thanking them all for keeping a smile on their faces under difficult circumstances. “I’m very proud of you.”
As he’s returning to his cabin, Joe walks past Ellie’s cabin, where she’s getting ready for their date. “Are you excited?” she asks.
But he’s not, and everybody knows it except for Ellie. He sits her down and tries to bring out the words. “To be honest, I feel a lot of pressure,” he finally says. “I don’t want a date.”
You’d better lock your door tonight, Joe.
Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF BELOW DECK MEDITERRANEAN SEASON 9, EPISODE 11? DO YOU THINK ELLIE WILL TAKE OUT HER ANGER ON THE WHOLE BOAT OR JUST JOE?