Below Deck Med’s Chef Jono Reacts to Public Apology From Rude Guests

Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Chef Johnathan Shillingford reacted to the rude guests who insulted the crew — then issued a public apology.

“I think their apology was great for sure [where they were] taking responsibility for some of their snarky comments,” Johnathan exclusively told Us Weekly. “While that’s not OK, some people may have a bad day. The fact that they took responsibility for it was a great move on their part.”

The chef didn’t think the show gave the group a bad edit, adding, “In any show, there are things that are cut [or] things that maybe were dramatized because the camera does that anyways. Regardless of all of that, they did say things that were offensive.”

On the August 12 episode of Below Deck Mediterranean, Neysla Paltsev and several friends called Johnathan down to question his choice of caviar before making a dig about chief stew Aesha Scott‘s dinner service. Captain Sandy Yawn ultimately intervened and subtly defended her staff to the guests during the charter.

“We all kind of learned from it. As a crew, it was great that Captain Sandy had our backs,” Johnathan told Us. “I think it’s great that in retrospect — or in seeing themselves — these guests maybe took responsibility for how rude or snarky they were.”

Neysla specifically took to social media after receiving backlash to issue an apology.

“The dinner was definitely not my best moment and I should not have handled it the way I did,” Neysla said via her Instagram Story one day after the episode aired. “I was emotional and I couldn’t reel it back in. It wasn’t nice at all and for that I am really sorry about that.”

After watching the episode, Neysla walked some of those comments back, saying, “The confusion with the knives was silly. But the way I handled it was not OK. For that, I am truly sorry. Although getting knives confused is not a crime, neither is being rude. But I should not have been [that rude].”

Johnathan didn’t only have to deal with difficult guests but criticism about his food from the crew, too. While speaking with Us, Johnathan reflected on some of the most challenging charters — including the first one when he was questioned for not waking up late at night to make snacks.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret. Not only was it unusually challenging circumstances for Below Deck, but [it was] for yachting in general. I’ve never joined a boat and had to pick up guests so quickly with an all new crew,” he explained. “In this situation, I definitely don’t regret it. I think I made a decision in the moment — and I actually thought I was going to be fired the next day. So I was in bed thinking, ‘F—k, I have to stand by my decision and this might get me fired and I’ll be the shortest-lived chef ever on Below Deck.”

The chef stood by his decision because it was necessary.

“I was prepared to face those circumstances and watching it over, I realized how challenging it was for Ellie [Dubaich] and maybe she was just asking for help. It didn’t come across that way. I didn’t feel that way at the moment,” he mentioned. “I thought that if I woke up to make grilled cheese sandwiches, would I then be able to wake up three hours later to then make a full meal of food with the limited provisions we had? I definitely think that we all handled it well. I’m happy that we came out on top. The guests seemed to be pretty happy at the end.”

Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.