After a difficult charter where the primary guest demanded Sichuan chicken from Josh Bingham immediately after he served an eight-course meal, the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 10 chef was hoping for a bit of a culinary reprieve. But he got the exact opposite in Episode 5, when the next primary to come on board informed chief stew Aesha Scott: “We’re picky and diverse.” Josh was then tasked with cooking up five-star meals for two vegan guests, one of whom wasn’t happy by the end of the first night.
“For me, personally, I look at my plate, it’s all starches,” one of the guests, Carlos, complained in the Oct. 27 episode. “It’s really nothing healthy for me. Like, I like greens—there’s no mineral content really here. It’s good. It’s filling. But my body’s not really getting what it needs.”
Aesha decided to report back to the galley, informing Josh, “Just so you know, the vegan guy is going on and on about how there’s not enough minerals on the table. And he needs greens—but not salad.”
But, after a series of difficulties with the guests all day, Josh wasn’t happy to hear the criticism. As he put his shoes on, he muttered to himself, “You’re expecting too much for one person. F—k you all.” He added in his confessional interview: “I’m going to lose my s—t.”
Aesha became alarmed when she realized Josh was leaving the yacht, and he called back to her, “It’s bulls—t. I can’t right now.” The episode ended in a dramatic fashion with Josh walking down the dock back to shore and Aesha calling after him, “Where are you going? What the f—k is going on?”
Chef Josh Bingham gets off to a rocky start with Below Deck Med charter guests
After days of dealing with demanding returning charter guest Jack Freeman, Aesha decided to check in with the chef ahead of the next charter.
“Just remember, you don’t have to do everything they say,” she reminded him in the Oct. 27 episode. He agreed that he was putting too much pressure on himself, replying, “Like, people send things back…like I don’t want that s—t to happen. So I think I just try to put a bit too much, maybe I need to pull back.” Aesha warned him, “You’re going to burn yourself out otherwise.”
Captain Sandy Yawn also reassured Josh that “this charter will be easier.” But Josh remained unconvinced. He confessed, “These guest preferences, there’s so many different things going on. I feel like I’m about to s—t myself, you know?”
Josh worked to create a variety of dishes for his first impression at lunch, including lobster salad, vegan salad, tuna, zucchini, oysters and caviar. But immediately things started to go wrong when the guests complained to Aesha.
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“I need some real food. I’m hungry as hell. I guess they’re trying to give us the greenery first,” guest Terrance observed. Another guest, Chandra, asked, “Is this everything for lunch? Or is there more coming?” When Aesha confirmed that was all, the guests requested more options, and Aesha told Josh the guests “want something a bit heartier.” Although he offered to make prawns, the requests kept coming, and included fried oysters instead of raw, a vegan wrap, barbecued lobster, and French fries.
“Oh, Josh. He seems so calm, but his eyes are like, ‘F—k, f—k, f—k,’” Aesha observed in her confessional interview.
Josh admitted that he was having difficulty with the requests. “This is the first charter that the guests don’t like my food. This is a f—king nightmare,” he lamented in his confessional. To Aesha, he pointed out, “These guests are going to be trouble.”
“I’ll just do my normal 19, 20 hour f—king days again,” he added to himself in the galley. “This is mental.”
Chef Josh Bingham gets an unhappy galley visit from a Below Deck Med guest
Josh’s day only worsened when guest Carlos wanted to “have a conversation with the chef” in the galley following lunch.
“So, since we’re going to be here for a couple of days, and since I’m vegan, you know, we tend to put a little more thought into our food,” Carlos told Josh in the Oct. 27 episode. “If we were to have like peppers, onions, cucumber, salt and pepper…”
Josh tried to reassure Carlos and replied, “Tonight, I’ve got a big spread, so, you should all be good.”
But secretly, Josh complained about the demands. “These guests have bad taste, all my talents are going to waste,” he sang while playing guitar in his confessional interview. “F—k them.”
Still, Josh went directly to the guests to find out what they wanted for dinner. The suggestions included mashed potatoes, fries, pasta, fish, fried chicken wings, vegan options, risotto and snapper.
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“I really want to rebound off this lunch, but now they’re giving me every single food group in the planet, like how am I going to put this all into one menu?” he complained. “The menu at the Cheesecake Factory is shorter than what these women are asking for.”
Josh also ran his dinner menu by Aesha. “I’ll tell you what we got. Steak, corn, fish, vegan mashed potatoes, vegan pasta, a tomato/beet salad with cucumber and pomegranate, and chicken here,” he told her.
“Josh’s response to the criticism is just to push himself harder,” Aesha worried in her confessional. “And while that is admirable, I’m not quite sure it’s sustainable. But, you know, godspeed my chef.”
Josh’s efforts appeared to have gone unnoticed, and after Carlos continued to complain about his meal, it was the final straw for Josh, who stormed off the yacht.
Don’t miss Aesha sharing why she’s “starting to feel a little bit guilty” on Below Deck Med Season 10.