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This Below Deck Sailing Yacht Preference Sheet Might Be the Biggest “Nightmare” of Season 4
Chef Ileisha Dell called this Below Deck Sailing Yacht primary guest’s needs “brutal.”
Over the past few seasons of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, we’ve seen several interesting demands made from primary guests — both via their preference sheets and made last-minute on board.
Earlier in Season 4, for example, the crew felt particularly pressed by charter guest John Cerasani and his family, who sent the interior back and forth to the kitchen for grilled cheese sandwiches, espresso martinis, Oreo milkshakes, and more.
On Episodes 14 and 15 of Season 4, we watched as the crew, led by Captain Glenn Shephard, chief stew Daisy Kelliher, first officer Gary King, and chef Ileisha Dell took in a slew of demands from primary guest Bryan and his pals, who filled out a multiple-page preference sheet with some interesting requests.
The BDSY crew preps for the charter guests
To review the details for an upcoming charter, Glenn sat down with Daisy, Gary, and Ileisha to prepare.
During the sit-down, the crew was surprised to find that the primary guest, North Carolina real estate pro Bryan Guarnieri, had three pages worth of preferences for the vacation with his friends — much to Daisy’s eye-rolling.
While some of these requests felt a bit, should we say, overboard (needing the toilet paper to be folded into “roses one day and sailboats the next”), nothing compared to the 10-course meal that was asked of Ileisha, who later called the request “brutal” (more on that later).
“This is literally a nightmare,” Ileisha says during a confessional.
The Primary Guest’s 10-Course Meal
Outside of some specialty snacks and aesthetic desires, the most demanding of Guarnieri’s requests was definitely the 10-course meal fit for a gourmand of the highest taste.
Are you ready?
To start off the evening, Ileisha prepared an almond and grape gazpacho amuse-bouche (French for “it amuses the mouth,” a small, appetizer-like plate served before the main courses). The special touch? Rose petals on top.
Following the amuse-bouche, Ileisha prepared some delicious-looking beef and pork-stuffed olives that made the guests say, “Wow.”
Next up: a beautiful squash blossom stuffed with lemon ricotta and served with beetroot ketchup that practically made the guests squeal with delight.
The picturesque dish was followed by a sweet potato and Asiago soufflé that looked almost too delicate to eat.
Course No. 5 was squid, and at that point, Ileisha was really feeling the heat in the kitchen.
“Doing 10 courses on Parsifal is brutal,” she shared. “There’s no space, it’s insane to prep, it takes forever to serve, and it means a late night for everyone.”
Still, the chef trudged on, serving local baby squid with lime aioli. “That is beyond tender,” Guarnieri gushed about the dish.
Ileisha followed that course with another piece of seafood, this time preparing a beautiful-looking local sea bream with celeriac puree and fennel slaw.
More meat made its way to the table, as the crew brought out beef carpaccio with Parmesan and micro greens followed by a “surf ’n’ turf” dish made up of a beef fillet and grilled prawns.
“F-ck me, I’m tired!” Ileisha exclaimed at that point — but there were two courses left.
After midnight, finishing off the 10 courses was a sweet lemon sorbet and then a limoncello ricotta cheesecake with raspberry compote, perfect for the Italian locale.
All in all, the guests were exceptionally pleased with the scrumptious dishes and the service, leaving the crew a $30,000 tip — something Daisy said was “the biggest” they had ever received.
In addition to their generous tip, the guests were also kind and grateful throughout. The preference sheet may have put the crew on their toes, but everything ultimately concluded with a triumphant splash!
