‘Below Deck’: Chef Kevin Throws Shade Back at Chef Charter Guest
There is certainly no love lost between chef Kevin Dobson from Below Deck and charter guest Justine Vastano. Vastano recently took to Instagram to blast Dobson’s food and behavior during her charter.
The two definitely seem to be on the same page with how they feel about each other. In a Below Deck After Show Dobson didn’t hold back shading Vastano, doubling down on calling her an “Instagram” chef too. He says the relationship got off to a bad start the minute she came on board when she told him she a chef and would be watching him.
Dobson’s observations and comments likely didn’t stem from Vastano’s Instagram blast, but it is clear the two won’t be collaborating any time soon.
Dobson says the guest started the rift
Dobson started by (again) calling Vastano an “Instagram” chef. Adding, “The first thing she said to me was like, ‘I’m a chef, I’ve got my eye on you.’ I’m like, ‘Where the f**k do you come off?'” He adds that she gave him a hard time about the matzo ball soup. Dobson admits he had never made matzo ball soup beforehand and took great pains to create homemade chicken stock for the soup. “I made this beautiful chicken stock, like roasted the bones and made this really lovely chicken stock and made these balls,” he recounts. “Got the chicken fat from f**king Thailand.”
“I remember when I was putting this matzo ball soup down in front of Zac’s wife, her eyes started welling up, like nearly crying,” he recalled. He added that on her preference sheet she commented that if Dobson could make the soup, he’d be their hero. “So that’s why I put so much effort into it!” he exclaimed.
“And then Justine comes into the galley, like what the f**k,” Dobson says. He added that he showed her he was looking after the primaries, who requested the soup. “But straight away I just know you’re not a professional chef because that’s like nothing you’d ever say,” he added.
She said Chef Kevin lowered the crew’s tip
Vastano asserted that Dobson’s food was the reason why the Valor crew didn’t make more cash. She slammed him in her Instagram story. “I thought when I was entering the kitchen that I was going to be speaking to a professional. Not some high school girl,” she said.
Although Dobson explained the care and time he put into the matzo ball soup, Vastano blasted the dish. “Everybody on the boat was calling his food cracker ball soup not matzo ball soup,” she continues. “Because it tasted like saltines thrown into soup. Worst pizza they’d ever tasted. Didn’t know why we were eating diner food on this luxury vacation that we all paid the same amount for and we were all expecting a similar experience for.”
“But uh … yeah … good job Kevin,” she concluded giving the camera a thumbs up. “On taking thousands off of everybody’s tip because we really wanted to leave more. But we couldn’t. Because of you.” The guests left the crew a $17,700 tip.
