‘Below Deck Med’ Star Captain Sandy Yawn on Why She Had to Fire Tessa Budd: ‘She Just Stood Around’

Tessa Budd wasn’t pulling her weight. 

On Monday’s episode of Below Deck Mediterranean, Captain Sandy Yawn made the not-too-difficult decision to fired Tessa and her fellow deckhand Christian Trimino. Neither was measuring up to Sandy’s high standards, with both making mistakes that put charter guests at risk.

“From what I’ve observed and speaking with Nathan, it’s completely chaotic on deck. It’s not safe,” Sandy said. 

“We need some people who can understand direction and then take action,” she told bosun Nathan Gallagher. “That’s not happening with [Tessa] and Christian.”

Tessa Budd reacts to ‘Below Deck Med’ firing: ‘It’s their loss’

Sandy was blunt when she broke the news to Tessa that she was getting booted off the boat.

“I have to make a change. I’m really sorry, but I gotta let you go,” she explained. “I know you come from a big boat, which is a different type of experience, but if I may, get on small boats, because [on] small boats, you learn everything.”

Tessa seemed to take Sandy’s feedback well in the moment. But in her post-firing confessional interview, she let her true feelings show, blaming her unexpected exit on Nathan.

“Honestly, like, f*ck her; I don’t need her help,” Tessa said. “I feel like Nathan’s leadership style is pretty sh*t. I feel like I also didn’t get the opportunity to, like, show my skills. Good luck. It’s their loss.”

“I maybe could have had more confidence on deck, but I was just so weary of, like, where I stood on the deck team,” she added. “I hope on my next boat that my bosun believes in me and has half a brain cell.”

Captain Sandy defends decision to fire Tessa

Tessa might have felt that she didn’t get a chance to shine on Below Deck Med Season 10. But Sandy has no regrets about letting her go. 

“It was interesting for me to watch the show and hear Tess talk about how she knew how boats run, but yet, she didn’t, she just stood around,” Sandy told The Hollywood Reporter. “There was no, ‘Let’s do this.’ Yachting is all about working it out and keeping moving. You just don’t stand still.” 

“We’re there to serve, your eyes are all on the guests, and that wasn’t happening,” Sandy continued, adding that she felt Nathan did the best he could with a couple of lazy workers. 

“I felt bad for Nathan,” she said. “I think Nathan did give direction. He wrote a list to show them how to shammy or rinse a boat. His task list wasn’t complicated. I don’t have a problem with Nathan.”

Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.   

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