Chef Ryan McKeown Addresses His Social Media Drama with Hannah Ferrier

Whether you’ve watched all of Season 1 of Below Deck Down Under on Peacock or are catching it during its encore run on Bravo Tuesdays at 9/8c, you know there’s some major tension between chief stew Aesha Scott and chef Ryan McKeown aboard the Thalassa. But last spring, none other than Below Deck Mediterranean alum Hannah Ferrier found herself in the middle of all the drama.

Ryan and Hannah had a little bit of a back-and-forth on social media after the chef claimed that Aesha’s “whole life is Bravo” in an interview with the Pop-Off! With James podcast in April. Hannah came to Aesha’s defense in the comments of an Instagram post featuring a clip of Ryan’s interview: “‘Her whole life is [Bravo]’ - yeah - apart from the part where she spends 10 months a year traveling the world adventure exploring with her hubby to be. Apart from that - her whole life is [Bravo].”

When Ryan appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on July 25, he addressed his drama with Hannah. “First off, I didn’t even know who Hannah was, for starters,” Ryan says in the above clip. “I actually had to google it before I did any of my online, you know.”

Of course, Hannah is very familiar to Below Deck fans, having served as chief stew on Below Deck Med from Seasons 1 through 5. She also has fans among others in the Below Deck Down Under crew, including Captain Jason Chambers, who previously spoke about his connection to Hannah during an interview with Bravo Insider in March. “I know Hannah through a mutual friend. She’s a Sydney girl, so I did reach out to her prior to the show starting to ask her opinion about me going on the show. And I must admit, if it wasn’t for her positive attitude towards it and her advice,” he said. “And she just said, ‘Just go on there and be yourself and do what you do and just remember you’re there to enjoy that.’ And that’s kind of me to a T. So it was an easy fit.”

After working with Hannah in Seasons 4 and 5 of Below Deck Med, Aesha said that the two “talk on the phone all the time” these days. Aesha also said that Hannah was “very proud of me and very supportive” of her promotion to chief stew in Below Deck Down Under. “So I did quarantine in Sydney before we came — we all had to quarantine — and honestly, every couple of days, I was calling Hannah when something would come into my mind. I’m like, ‘What about this? But what about this? And what about this?’ And she’d just, like, explain to me how she did everything and how everything works. And she honestly, like, she sent me a bunch of files that she used to have, like stew duties and all that kind of thing,” Aesha told Bravo Insider in March. “And she, honestly, was just such a godsend, and she was really there for me. And she said, ‘Anytime in the season when you need help, just message me,’ and she really has been so amazing through this whole thing.”

As for his comments about Aesha in that aforementioned podcast interview, Ryan said on WWHL that he has no regrets. He also reflected on what it was like working with Aesha during an interview with The Daily Dish in April. “I don’t think she was a team leader. I don’t think she was a team player. Is she good at her job? Maybe as a second stew, where she has some direction. Was I the best? Absolutely not. I had my downs. I totally did. There’s plenty of meals I wasn’t happy with. Things that I did that I wasn’t happy with, and I’ll be the first person to tell you, but there’s a difference,” Ryan said. “Working with her was not easy, and she did not try to do anything to make it easy.”

Ryan looked back on more of his actions in Season 1 of Below Deck Down Under during his visit to the Bravo Clubhouse on Monday night. Check it out below.

Does Chef Ryan McKeown Want to Apologize to Aesha Scott?

Watch Below Deck Down Under on Bravo Tuesdays at 9/8c and next day on Peacock. Catch up on the Bravo app.

Watch Below Deck Med on Bravo Mondays at 8/7c and on the Bravo app. Catch new episodes one week early on Peacock.