Chef Ryan From ‘Below Deck Down Under’ Was ‘the Worst Chef’ Aesha Scott Worked With … Ever [Exclusive]

Even after chef Tom Checketts brought her to tears on Below Deck Mediterranean, Aesha Scott said, without a doubt, that chef Ryan McKeown was “the worst” experience she had working with a chef – ever.

Scott and McKeown clashed almost immediately during the first season of Below Deck Down Under. McKeown told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that his attitude toward Scott soured when she asked if he was going to have any “cheffy tantrums.”

But Scott rolled her eyes about his reaction during an interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “He claims that because when I went on and I was like, ‘Are you really cheffy?’ And he’s like, ‘That set the tone for the whole season.’ Which is just ridiculous,” Scott said.

But their inital exchange isn’t why Scott said McKeown was the worst chef she’s worked with. And she explained why.

Aesha explained why she thinks Chef Ryan was definitely ‘the worst’

“Ryan is the worst that I’ve worked with because I’ve worked with chefs before who can be mean and can have their little tantrums, but they’re still rational and very talented,” she said.

“So then, they’ll kind of diffuse themselves and be like, ‘Sorry about that. I know that I got a bit … you know.’ And because they’re really good at cooking, you can deal with that because [they are] coming through and giving amazing food to the guests,” she said about the other chefs she’s worked with. “But with Ryan, he’s so deluded, I guess. He’s not rational at all. The way he thinks, it’s not rational and it’s impossible to kind of have any sort of mature discussion with him.”

“That’s why I think that he was the worst chef that I’d worked with because you can’t even have a discussion,” Scott added. “And he’s got no self-reflection or self-awareness. He just thinks that he’s this amazing, mighty higher person. And you’re like, ‘What are you thinking?’ He was just so irrational. And that’s why a lot of the time, people are like, man, you handle him so well. I would have exploded. But I just had so much other stuff going on. And he was so irrational that it actually just required too much emotional energy to even deal with him. So I would just shut down around him and just try and get through it.”

Aesha says her ‘cheffy’ comment to Chef Ryan on ‘Below Deck Down Under’ was not a big deal

Scott asked her stew friends if she was being too aggressive when she asked McKeown if he was really cheffy. But “every stew friend that I talked to agreed” it was not a big deal.

“That’s such a normal question to ask because chefs in the industry are known as being a**holes,” she remarked. “So for me, it was supposed to just be a fun icebreaker. It wasn’t anything serious. It was just like playing around like, ‘Oh, are you cheffy?'”

Scott wouldn’t have been upset if McKeown arrived on Below Deck Down Under and asked if she was a b****y chief stew. “Because if someone came on board and he said to me, like, ‘Oh, are you like a real b**** like most chief stews?’ I would never take that seriously. I’d be like, ‘Oh, no, no, I’m fine.'”

“But he’s using that now as a thing to say that I set the tone for the season, which I’m like, chill out, bro,” she said. “I think he’s just that arrogant all the time.”

Chef Ben had ‘cheffy’ tantrums when he worked with Aesha on ‘Below Deck Med’

Chef Ben Robinson, who worked with Scott on Below Deck Mediterranean said a chef tantrum is somewhat of a badge of honor. “I think every serious or good chef does have that moment because the food can’t be compromised,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “And if we see it being compromised by the staff or whatever, then that’s a problem.”

“Food is all about timing and if it’s not going out, it’s getting cold or it’s getting soggy, or whatever it is,” he continued. “[So] I do think good chefs should throw their toys occasionally. I think if you’re a pushover as a chef, then your food is going to be compromised.” Robinson added, “I believe that.”

While Robinson enjoyed Scott’s enthusiasm, he actually had to bounce her from the kitchen at one point. “Aesha’s got, excuse my French, but she has verbal diarrhea and it’s kind of tough in the kitchen,” he said. “I mean, it’s funny, but when you’re trying to concentrate, you’ve got Aesha talking about poo. And d*** sizes. Stuff like that, it’s just like, wow, just please take a step back. I mean, it’s hilarious. [But] I think I actually had to ban her from the kitchen.”

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