One can always tell when there is a show reunion approaching because the cast start to speak frankly about how they really about each other. It’s as if watching the show and reliving their past traumas ignites a new fury. Especially since they will be able to confront each other finally. Maybe some relaxed NDA rules contribute to the situation as well.
So, it’s time for Us Weekly to start fishing for reunion teasers and sound-bites from the Below Deck Mediterranean cast. And who better to ask than embattled chef Mathew Shea. Mathew struggled with his own insecurities since literally day one when he feigned a knee injury to avoid work. His cooking was brilliant, though Captain Sandy Yawn managed to badger him about the lack of variety in the hues of her fish meat.
Amazing cooking from an unreliable chef had Sandy on edge all season, but covid restrictions made firings difficult. At least that’s what the captain said. And during a preview clip for the reunion, Sandy explained her reasons for saying that she wouldn’t work with Mathew again.
Sandy said, “I like reliability and dependability. Mathew’s a great guy but after watching the show, people who poke the bear … it’s a little hard. I don’t see everything. So, when I watched the show, I was actually mortified.”
Mathew had a response for Sandy that he shared with Us Weekly prior to the reunion airing. He claimed Sandy was unfairly “judging” him based on a brief time frame in his life. Two days is hardly statistically relevant in the span of a lifetime.
“I did everything I did,” Mathew said, “I regret the bad moments I have, but I think I am a good employee and I think Captain Sandy is one of the worst captains I’ve ever worked with in my 15 years on boats.”
RELATED: Mathew Shea Says He Blacked Out During Fight With Lexi Wilson On Below Deck Mediterranean
Mathew is certainly not the first crew member under Sandy to bemoan her management skills. But what happened in Croatia exactly? On Sunday, October 17th, the chef posted an explanation before quickly deleting the tweet. It read, “it had a lot to do with @CaptSandyYawn calling me a pussy and telling me to go f–k myself. #leadership.”
“She did, in front of other crew,” Mathew added, “totally uncalled for in any work place. Especially as the Boss.” Sandy’s pithy response was a side-eye emoji toward a follower that questioned why she’s had spoiled another professional relationship with a yacht chef.
Sandy previously told Us Weekly how hard it really was to replace crew during covid. She said, “would I have let Mathew go. Yes. Could I have? I had no choice. We were quarantine. We had a bubble to get a chef to go through tests. Testing is, like, two weeks then eight-day quarantine. It’s impossible.”
At the end of the day, Sandy took a gamble that Mathew’s stellar cooking would outweigh his emotional outbursts. “I’d rather say hang with the devil, you know, than the devil you don’t know,” she explained, “Mathew did a great job. Setting aside personalities again, I was not at their dinners out. I heard he poked the bear a lot and I watched it, but he did a great job in the galley. No guests ever complained. When the guests complain, that’s when you see me in the galley. If the guests don’t complain, I’m, like, ‘Great job. Keep it up.'”
RELATED: Ben Robinson Would Have Fired Mathew Shea From Below Deck Mediterranean
Sandy managed to fire Lexi Wilson, though the whole crew was in agreement that she needed to leave. Arguably, she should have listened to her employees sooner. Yet Sandy still maintains that she didn’t know what was going on off the yacht. And if the guests weren’t complaining, why fire him?
Sandy explained, “I stay out of the galley. Who complained? Have you seen one guest complain about his food? So why would I fire Matthew? Because someone goes, ‘It’s bad.’ And a lot of them don’t remember because they’re so drunk.”
Perhaps Sandy should have dug deeper for the details she claimed she needed, because the crew meeting after Lexi’s first tirade didn’t seem conducive to a frank discussion. “No one was giving me facts,” she said of the incident, “You know, like, I didn’t have any facts. I just heard it’s bad. It’s real bad. That’s not [enough for me]. Write it out. Write a report, send it to me. They learn the minute they step on this boat, we go through all the legalities. But I never got that information, if they would’ve told me the facts, of course, I would’ve let her go sooner, but I never got them.”
Mathew and Sandy certainly won’t resolve their differences on social media, perhaps not even at the reunion. But us fans can watch them try.
RELATED: Below Deck Chef Mathew Shea Weighs In On Jean-Luc Cerza-Lanaux Paternity Drama
TELL US- SHOULD SANDY HAVE FIRED MATHEW? SHOULD SHE HAVE INTERACTED DIFFERENTLY WITH HIM? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SANDY CALLING MATHEW A P*SSY?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
