‘Below Deck Med’: Chef Kiko Explains the Meaning Behind the Term ‘Isssaaa’

Chef Hindrigo “Kiko” Lorran from Below Deck Mediterranean recently shared why he often uses the term “isssaaa” in his posts and greetings.

The surfer chef shared that the term is one of endearment in the Brazilian surfer community and it means excitement. He said that he gets a lot of direct messages from fans asking about the origin too.

“It means like you’re excited,” he explained in his Instagram story. “In Portuguese the surfers or my friends, we just say ‘isssaaa’ when we are excited for a wave or if something very nice happens. It doesn’t mean anything actually. We just made [it]up! So, isssaaa means we are excited. So, good positive vibes for you guys!” He also partners the term with the “hang-10” hand gesture popular with surfers.

Chef Kiko is all about maintaining good energy

One of Lorran’s first Instagram posts about the new season included the term “isssaaa.” He’s standing with some of the deck team looking happy. “The boys! One week to go, isssaaaaa,” he wrote.

He later told Decider he almost deleted his Instagram because he was concerned about bad energy after his departure from the show. “It was very scary in the beginning,” he admitted. “When the show started, I was like, man. I’m not going to finish the show. I was thinking even about deleting my social media because I don’t like to see bad energy. When I feel bad energy, I just get out. I don’t like it.”

Lorran kept the good vibes going and maintained friendships after he left the boat. He also wishes Captain Sandy Yawn no ill will. “Jess is a very good friend of mine, Hannah is a good friend of mine,” he said. “Alex, we met in Hawaii for drinks. We got drunk together. Rob, we text sometimes on Instagram. Pete, I didn’t see him anymore. We don’t talk too much. Malia, we speak sometimes on Instagram. Captain Sandy, we don’t speak anymore. I don’t have anything against her as a person. I just think it was a work moment. And that’s it. What is bad, we left behind. Everything’s going so well for me. I don’t regret anything. The show was amazing.”

He wasn’t happy toward the end of the show

Lorran is happily working on another boat as a chef. He’s also working alongside his girlfriend too. He also exited gracefully from the show, thanking fans and Bravo for giving him the opportunity. Adding, “And for my Fans, dont blame the other crew members for me leaving the show,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “A chef is responsible to make his own decision, I was so tired and I did a couple of right and a couple of wrong things, the pressure and the cameras made me [lose] my mind. In normal circumstances that probably would not happen but it did.”

“I wasn’t happy anymore,” he told Decider about the moment he left. “I would even do more mistakes because I was already sad. People were questioning my food. It’s not like this on the yachts that I work. It’s always people love what I do, they love my food. I cooked for very important people before and I never got people complaining about my food.”

“So everything bad was happening for the first time in the show, with cameras,” he continued. “That was like, man — that’s too much. The day that I left, the last day, [it felt like] I took a rock off my back and I could breathe. That day, I was so happy. I was leaving the boat, but I was so happy. I was like, “Woah! I’m going to hit the surf and eat good food, man. Not going to cook for a month right now.”