Reality AF: Below Deck Mediterranean Has a Chief Stew Problem + What to Watch This Week
Photo Courtesy of Bravo
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our new column, Reality AF. Every Monday, Terry Terrones will check in and talk about the state of reality TV, plus provide a Top 5 list of what’s coming up this week that you should not miss.
During Below Deck Mediterranean’s seven season run, it’s had four chief stews.
Hannah Ferrier was enjoyable, albeit polarizing, during her five seasons. The opinionated interior leader was good at her job, but tended to pit stews against each other, had a boatmance with a bosun that flamed out (it always does), possibly had sex with a guest, and got fired for having undeclared anxiety medication onboard. Hannah has done well since. She’s gotten married, had a baby, and will soon be one of the stars of The Real Love Boat, a CBS dating series hosted by Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romijn.
After Hannah was fired midway through Season 5, Bugsy Drake took her place (great at tablescapes but otherwise uninteresting), and then Katie Flood (yawn) was in for Season 6. Katie was solid and liked by her crewmates but wasn’t brought back for Season 7, which brings us to current chief stew, Natasha Webb.
Peppy, friendly, and eager, in the initial episodes of Season 7 it looked like Below Deck Mediterranean had finally found a long term replacement for Hannah. That might not sound like a big deal considering all the drama that surrounded Ferrier, but this franchise has always been driven by three lead roles: the captain, the bosun, and the chief stew.
If those three positions are solid, you can count on an excellent Below Deck season no matter who makes up the rest of the crew. Hannah’s departure left a hole in that triumvirate, one that Captain Sandy and Bosun Malia couldn’t fill. A solid chief stew, one that was a leader and brought just enough drama that wouldn’t get them in trouble, would help Med regain some of the interest lost after Daisy (a chief stew) and Gary (a Bosun) from Below Deck Sailing Yacht starting making that series the franchise’s most interesting show.
Below Deck Mediterranean needed a win at the chief stew position, but halfway through Season 7, Natasha seems to be an anchor and not a sail. The red flags were visible early on in the season.
Natasha, who as chief stew makes the crew cabin assignments, assigned herself and chef Dave White to share a cabin. A male and female sharing a cabin is almost unheard of in the Below Deck universe, but since they’re both department heads, they were allowed to do it even though everyone in the crew was already whispering. After all, they were “friends” who just served together on their last boat. Could there be more to their relationship? Well, yes, duh.
Eventually Dave, clearly smitten with Natasha, spills the beans on their secret affair during a night out with the crew. In fact, she was cheating with him for a month while she still had a boyfriend. The wheels start to fall off from here.
Natasha doesn’t like that their scandalous behavior is exposed, Dave starts to melt down like a snowman who mistakenly booked a tropical vacation, and Captain Sandy even has to intervene to make sure the two can still work together or decide if she needs a new chef, chief stew, or both. At this point, both parties are equally to blame, but it’s what happens next that makes Natasha problematic for the Below Deck franchise.