‘Below Deck Med’: Chef Dave Fires Back at Adrienne Gang’s Claim He Ditched Charity Work [Exclusive]
Below Deck chefs Dave White and Adrienne Gang both rushed to a hurricane-torn location in Florida to provide meals and aid after Hurricane Ian ripped through coastal towns.
But Gang, a yacht chef who was the first chief stew on Below Deck, recently questioned White’s work at World Central Kitchen, which immediately deployed a popup kitchen only hours after the winds and rain subsided. She and other chefs worked 12-hour daily shifts for 30 days, preparing thousands of meals for hurricane-weary residents.
Gang recently recalled briefly seeing White, who was the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 7 chef, during her 30 days on the job. She never worked directly with him or saw him again, questioning if he worked or showed up briefly and then left. But White confirmed with Showbiz Cheat Sheet he was there to work, but revealed why he could only stay for a few days.
Adrienne Gang never worked with Chef Dave from ‘Below Deck Med’
“I saw him one time for two minutes,” Gang recalled about her interaction with White on Anchor Chat. “I was there for 30 days. So he hopped over for about an hour and a half to my knowledge, and took a couple of pictures and left. I was there for 30 days, so I don’t know where he was. But I had a bunch of other people ask me too like, ‘What was it like working with Chef Dave?’ And I was like, ‘Great question. Don’t know. Never worked with him.'”
White posted a video on Instagram wearing a World Central Kitchen t-shirt while stirring a giant pot. “Every little helps just remember that!” he captioned the video. “Cooking up a delicious beef and broccoli pasta stroganoff for the people of South West Florida!”
Below Deck’s Chef Dave was cooking (and not taking photos) he says
White fired back at Gang’s remarks that he took photos and then left. “I actually quit my job in Monaco,” he recalled to Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “I flew in to meet Noah Sims and Karla [Hoyos] because they were running the operation in Ukraine and Poland. They changed the location to Fort Myers, and I got there as soon as they set the kitchen up.”
“Noah was coming down from Tampa, so I never went to Tampa,” he continued. “I just went to Fort Myers and I got there before Noah and I asked the chef at the time looking for Noah. She was offended because she was the head chef, but Noah wasn’t. So there’s some politics there.”
“Anyway, I was in the kitchen there for two days, cooking and not just taking pictures, cooking,” he said. “And then Noah turned up. And I didn’t have anywhere to stay because everyone was working at that time. They were all getting paid and they were on contracts. So legally I wasn’t allowed to stay in the accommodation.”
Chef Dave from ‘Below Deck Med’ explains why he and Adrienne didn’t work together
Determined to make the situation work, White tried to sleep in his car. “But the National Guard asked me to move, so I had no way to stay,” he explained. “So then I drove back to West Palm three and a half hours every morning and I got there as early as I could.”
“And then after the third day, there were too many chefs in the kitchen and it was too much politics. So I didn’t cook,” he said. “I was in the other room making sandwiches with all the actual volunteers. I was making these cheese and ham sandwiches. And I did see [Gang]. She turned up on my second day and I was there before her. So that’s obviously why she didn’t see me. And then I literally had nowhere to stay. So I just actually took another job.”
He expressed disappointment that he was unable to stay longer. “I would have liked to stay there longer, honestly. I just had nowhere to stay,” he said. “But I did feel in the kitchen it was a bit of stress. They had just opened up this new place. There’s was a lot going on, so I appreciate that.”
“And I appreciate that Adrienne was obviously helping out,” he added. “She was there a lot longer than me, but it’s unnecessary what she said. But that’s fine. People can believe what they want to believe.”
