Poor Chef Cloyce Martin is floundering in the galley but if he was taking fewer breaks and spending more time prepping and plating food, the guests would be happier.
Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher is trying not to get him fired but giving him tips but his side part is giving her more attention than he is. “Yeah, I’m definitely working on it,” he says.
The crew is getting ready to dock the boat and Gary King thinks he and Davide Morosi can handle it without Emma Crouch, who is taking a nap. It goes without a hitch, which shows just how much Emma isn’t needed on deck.
After the guests depart, Emma whines to Daisy about how she wasn’t called to help dock. “They probably can do it without you, so they’re like, ‘Let’s let her sleep in,'” Daisy tells her, which doesn’t help.
It also doesn’t help that Emma is constantly sitting around while the other deckies are working their butts off.
During the tip meeting, Captain Glenn Shephard notes how Cloyce’s food service can do better. He reminds him that the guests are expecting five-star service, not a Holiday Inn breakfast. Despite the family-style service, they all get rewarded a $22,000 tip, which is pretty decent.
The next guests to come aboard are Sherry and Phillip and their daughters Eva and Alana, along with a couple of teen friends. Sherry has her gay stylist Brandon coming along. It’s Alana’s sweet sixteen so it has to be extra special with white glove service.
Danni Warren gets rejected
Danni Warren has been trying to get into Keith Allen’s Parsifal III shorts since the first day but the dude wants to take it nice and slow. Too bad she ended up making out with Gary and Keith wants nothing to do with her anymore.
During the crew night out, Danni is up to her normal flirtatious banter but Keith is like a 40-year-old suburban dad and has no idea how to flirt.
Meanwhile, Cloyce is taking his criticism seriously and has brought his notebook to dinner to plan out his upcoming meals. He looks like Harriet the Spy and they all tell him to go take his notes elsewhere.
Back at the boat, everyone’s tired and goes to bed except for Cloyce, Keith, and Danni. Cloyce spends the time prepping food for the next charter while the failed lovebirds have a chat on deck.
“You’ve had your chance,” Keith says. Danni asks what he means and he tells her that he knows she kissed Gary.
“I don’t want to get involved in anything weird,” Keith states. Danni tries to tell him that there’s nothing romantic going on with her and Gary and that it was just a kiss. He then goes off to bed.
“I f*cking hate rejection. I wouldn’t have kissed Gary if it didn’t you this f*cking long for you to kiss me,” Danni says in a confessional. She then throws a mini tantrum and calls Keith a “child” and “emotionally dependent.” Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black.
Emma Crouch sucks at her job
As the bosun, Gary is trying to teach his crew basic things like driving a tender but Emma moans and groans because she just hates her job. Her last lesson was a bust so she’s not eager to repeat it again.
Emma’s at the wheel and Gary is coaching her not to over-steer. “The more you do this, the more you’re going to have to counteract it to get straight,” he advises her.
She’s struggling and the tender is not going where she wants it to. Gary quickly steps in before she crashes it into the docked boats.
“I normally perform well under pressure. I don’t think I’m performing well under pressure in this instance,” Emma tells the cameras.
Back at the boat, Gary tells Glenn that he thinks Emma is slacking. “She has to understand that her lack of experience is impacting the team,” the cap says.
“Emma is an excuse-maker when it comes to work. There’s always a reason behind it not being done,” Gary says in a confessional. Flashback to Emma falling asleep on the job and defending her lackadaisical work ethic.
Glenn wants to give her until the end of this charter to prove herself and if she doesn’t improve, it’s bye-bye for Emma.
Emma Crouch gets defensive
The next charter guests come aboard and they’re standard vanilla Midwestern folks who happen to have a lot of money and a gay BFF.
While Glenn hoists the sails and asks Emma for help, he notices that she has no idea what to do, despite being halfway through the charter season. “I know for a fact Gary’s gone over this same situation with her,” he says. “When you’re putting the effort into training somebody, you’ve got to see results.”
After the guests frolic in the water and Emma stands there while they look for towels, Gary takes a moment to talk to her. He asks, “Are you happy to be here, eh, Em?” He continues, “To be honest with you, I see a lot of a lack of urgency around everywhere. A lot of waiting around and watching us work.”
Gary points out that when Keith was putting gear away, she just stood there without helping and then watched while the current guests were looking for the shower.
Emma makes excuses and defends her behavior. “I don’t know if you want to carry on working on yachts after this but I mean, it seems like you don’t really want to be here,” Gary tells her gently.
“I think it’s unfair that you’re putting all this on me,” she says. “You’ve had no feedback to give me and then all of a sudden you’ve got all this feedback that dates back and it’s a bit sh*tty.” Gary just wants her to improve but Emma doesn’t want to hear it.
Cloyce Martin finally gives a five-star dinner
Some criticism has lit a fire under Cloyce’s young butt and he’s ready to deliver for Alana’s 16th birthday dinner. For an appetizer, he makes some tomato jam that looks better than it sounds. Cloyce has made some sort of beet broth that turns it into a fuchsia color. Ooh!
The next course is an ahi tuna mix served with a toasted rice cracker followed by squid ink ravioli. The guests are happy.
The grown-ups leave the teens to go out to party in Ibiza. As Gary waits for their return, he notices another boat getting dangerously close to theirs.
“Can you go get Glenn?” he yells at Danni, who’s sitting on deck. He asks her to wake Emma as well. Gary races around to prevent a big crash and frantically signals to the boat to stop their course. We’ll see what happens in the next episode of “Below Deck Sailing Yacht” Season 5.
