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The Daily Dish Below Deck Mediterranean

Captain Sandy Defends Her "Don't Wake the Chef" Rule After Waking Tom Checketts in Season 5

Captain Sandy Yawn explains how the Season 9 drama between Elena Dubaich and Johnathan Shillingford differed from the time she memorably woke Tom to cut cucumbers. 

By Abby Feiner

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Captain Sandy Yawn wants to clear something up about her "never wake the chef" policy. 

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On Below Deck Mediterranean Season 9, Episode 2, Sandy told the Mustique crew just that as she was addressing an incident that occurred the night before, when Elena "Ellie" Dubaich attempted to wake chef Johnathan "Jono" Shillingford to make the guests late-night snacks.

However, some fans were quick to call Sandy out for the rule, noting she woke chef Tom Checketts to cut cucumbers for guests on Below Deck Med Season 5, Episode 16. 

Sandy responded to the comparison during her appearance on the June 10 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. 

"It was during the day. It wasn't at night," she said of her reasoning for waking Tom. "It wasn't at the end of dinner service. It was the after-breakfast service."

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Split of chef Johnathan Shillingford, Captain Sandy Yawn, and chef Tom Checketts

Aesha Scott reacts to Elena Dubaich waking chef Johnathan Shillingford after Season 5 drama with Tom Checketts

While Sandy was involved in both instances of a chef being woken up, so was Aesha Scott. During the aforementioned Season 5 episode, Aesha was in the galley after Sandy woke Tom to cut the cucumbers.

"You don't have the ability to slice up a cucumber?" Tom asked Aesha, to which she responded, "It wasn't my fault. I'm sorry." The conversation between them escalated, ending with Aesha in tears. 

On Season 9, Episode 2, when Jono approached Aesha about Ellie waking him up, she seemed to understand why the second stew did so, explaining to the chef, "To be fair, they said on their [preference sheet] they wanted late-night snacks." 

Aesha Scott wearing her yachting uniform on a boat marina.

However, Sandy took the chef's side in the matter, telling her crew, "Never wake the chef. What you're [Jono] going to do is prepare food for the panini makers, and whoever's on nights make the panini. Don't wake the guy...Don't wake the chef."

Sandy shared more of her thoughts on the matter during her WWHL appearance on June 10. "I think [Jono] handled it well," she said. "I've had chefs throw things when you wake them up. You shouldn't wake them up."

Press play on the video above to watch more of Sandy on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

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