The new season of Below Deck Mediterranean has been anything but smooth sailing for chef Mila Kolomeitseva. She kicked off the series with stomach issues, and then served up some questionable meals to guests, but it’s her strange behavior in the kitchen that has viewers buzzing.
Video footage circulating online appeared to show the Siberian-born chef licking a piece of raw meat before cooking and serving it. Social media users were especially appalled that Kolomeitseva would put her saliva on the steak after having been vomiting hours prior.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“This chick licked the steak!!!!!” one user tweeted.
OMG! Don’t order steak on #belowdeckmed this season. It has to go through a Lick test before the chef releases it to the guest! 🤢🤮🤢🤮 pic.twitter.com/sREsNHPFZd
— BelowDeckMedFanClub (@BelowDeckMedFan) June 4, 2019
“Oh my god!!! That chef licked her fingers after she touched the steak, then touched it again!!!!! She was just throwing up!!!!!!!” another wrote.
I will admit… I cannot stop watching the first episode of Below Deck Med and the train wreck that is #ChefMila 🤣🤣🤣
It was equivalent to when @PadmaLakshmi was served food on #TopChef by a chef that licked his spoon and put back in the pot 🙈#BelowDeckMed #BravoTV
— HRH Duchess Rose of Nothingham (@Duchess_Nothing) June 5, 2019
The steak-related controversy didn’t stop their, either. After licking her fingers, and the steak, Kolomeitseva was filmed warming the meat back up in the microwave after cooking it. This appalled her co-workers and Below Deck Mediterranean viewers.
This chef on Below Deck really put steak in the microwave pic.twitter.com/FvnjCavq6G
— Dan Pitts (@DanPitts8) June 5, 2019
“DID THE CHEF JUST PUT THE STEAK IN THE MICROWAVE?!!! Nooooooooooooooooo,” another Twitter user wrote.
Only one ep in on Below Deck Med but not sure about this season. Usually Chef does something impressive but…tacos, burgers, unappealing nachos, so much packaged food & steaks in the microwave? I’m really missing Chef Ben about now.
— CC (@LeighMelone) June 5, 2019
It wasn’t just her steak-handling that gave viewers — and fellow yachties — pause. During the episode Kolomeitseva served up a severely unrefined take on tacos and nachos that left all who saw it questioning her credentials. Chief stewardess Hannah Ferrier even went as far as to refuse to serve the nacho dish to guests.
“Fun fact: this was my first time in yachting history that I have refused to serve a meal…And rightly so,” she tweeted.
Microwave steaks? WTF
— Phyllis (@Phyllis10810063) June 4, 2019
I wish I had pics of my homemade tacos. If I did, I may be asked to be the chef on next season’s Below Deck Med. 😂😂😂 🌮🌮🌮
— The Case Place L.A. (@thecaseplaceLA) June 4, 2019
Below Deck Med should have aired on Taco 🌮 Tuesday. Instead it is microwave steak 🥩 Monday #BelowDeckMed
— Jennifer Dunham (@ClemsonDunham) June 4, 2019
Her skills have been called into question. Captain Sandy Yawn said during the Below Deck Mediterranean Season 4 premiere that Kolomeitseva was trained at the fame Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris.
“Seeing the tacos is very disturbing, but I need to give Mila the benefit of the doubt because she was sick,” Sandy said during the episode. “I’m just thinking about her resume and I’m hoping for the best.”
Fans already had qualms about Kolomeitseva joining the show. A preview for the upcoming season showed her revealing that she wouldn’t want her young son to see gay men kissing. Yawn addressed the comments in an interview with TooFab.
“I heard it through chatter. Like, the crew doesn’t run to me and say, ‘Did you hear what happened?!’ They’re not like that. They basically keep it [to themselves], but someone mentioned it and I just thought, wow,” she revealed.
“Listen, people grow up in different countries and are programmed a certain way to think. We are fortunate because we get to think how we want to think. We’re not in that type of country, so I think it’s very hard for someone to adjust to a different culture. And that’s why I think this show’s great for everyone because you get to see different countries, different cultures, how people think,” she continued.
