‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’s Chef Ileisha Dell Will Neither “Confirm Or Deny” She Was Responsible for Gary King’s Wasabi Nipples

Hailing from small beach town on the east coast of Australia, Chef Ileisha Dell came on Below Deck Sailing Yacht to cook great food and have a memorable adventure. Needless to say, she accomplished both! With only two episodes left in the Bravo show’s stellar fourth season, Chef Dell has managed to (mostly) stay out of the drama, work (mostly) harmoniously with Captain Glenn Shephard, and focus on making her (always) delicious food. “I am in that galley 20 hours a day” so “unless the gossip comes into the galley, I somehow miss it,” recalled Chef Dell. So much of what’s unfolded between Chief Stew Daisy Kelliher, First Officer Gary King and Chief Engineer Colin MacRae was unbeknownst to Chef Dell! “I was watching a lot of it, for the first time, with you guys,” Chef Dell confirmed.

That the galley was a drama-free zone is evidenced by the fact that Chef Dell had no idea that deckhand Chase Lemacks was harboring feelings for her during the season, especially she since had a boyfriend. “I always just thought his attention had this cute little brother vibe,” shrugged Chef Dell. Luckily, there are no hard feelings on Lemacks’ part, and the two are “friends to this day.” Navigating the grueling charters, the wild nights out and the crew dynamics, Chef Dell managed to have an over-all positive experience for her first time working on a sailing yacht. Now she can’t wait for the “gory goss” to come out during the show’s can’t miss reunion.

Decider spoke with Chef Dell over Zoom to talk about the challenges she faced in the galley, her brief mini-feud with MacRae, and her serving sushi on top of the Parsifal III’s beloved lothario.

DECIDER: I know you’ve been in the industry forever, but do you have a preference between motor yachts and sailing yachts?

CHEF ILEISHA DELL: That’s a really good question. I had never worked on a sailing yacht before Below Deck, so I guess motor yachts [laughs]. I had been on the very small sailing yacht Columbia when I traveled to Panama as a guest, but that’s it. It was really wild having to learn to cook sideways during the season, I can tell you that!

How much of a learning curve did you have while trying to make and hang fresh pasta in the galley?

[laughs] It was challenging, very challenging, but I can’t lie and say it wasn’t fun. Trying to make pasta sideways and having it hang on hangers was actually an adventure. The worst was they often would go sailing in between lunch and dinner, so I couldn’t relax and prep like I normally would. I had to stay on my toes and improvise. That was pretty interesting.

Captain Glenn is one of the most beloved Captains across the franchise. How would you describe your experience working with him?

He’s such a nice guy and genuinely good person. In the beginning, I was like, “Does he hate me?” because I kept getting the timing wrong on different courses, but after I adjusted, it was all good. We formed a true friendship by the end of the season.

Was making pasta sideways the biggest challenge you faced this season? Or was it the 10-course meal maybe?

There was so many challenges [laughs]. Obviously, the 10-course meal stressed me. I also felt a lot of pressure when preparing the Caribbean feast as well because it had such meaning for the guests. I have eaten food in South and Central America, but I have not actually cooked too much of it. That was an interesting day in the galley!

Charter guests (and fans) went wild for your mosaic sushi!

I should have done more mosaic sushi. I’m getting some great responses on that. To be honest, I was just like, oh my God, sushi again. How am I going to make this different? What am I going to do? With the mosaic sushi itself, there are many different structures to it, but it’s not super complicated for a chef. Maybe it is a bit daunting for the home chef or average person, but it was really fun to make.

Let’s talk about serving sushi on Gary. Did you think about putting something between his body and the sushi itself?

Look, they wanted to eat sushi off Gary’s body. They got what they wanted. That’s all I’m going to say.

And whose idea was the wasabi nipples?

It may or may not have come from me. I cannot confirm or deny. It was an amazing idea. I also knew that his nipples would be burning, and then it would be really funny.

Gary is such a maker of mischief on board so it was nice to see him get a little taste of his own medicine.

Right. We had to get back at him.

You managed (so far) to mostly stay out of the drama. What were the vibes onboard with the Colin/Daisy/Gary and Gary/ Stew Mads Herrera/Deckhand Alex Propson love triangles going on?

I am in that galley 20 hours a day. I’m cooking constantly. Unless the gossip comes into the galley, I somehow miss it. I’m so busy. I was watching a lot of it, for the first time, with you guys. I was like, what? What is happening? I had no idea that was going on. I was out of the loop to be honest.

At this point in the season, did you know Chase had a crush on you? If not, were you surprised to learn he did?

I always just thought his attention had this cute little brother vibe. Some of the other crew members were telling me, “Oh, he got such a big crush on you.” And I was just like: “Whatever. I don’t think so. We’re just good friends.” However, I don’t really remember hugging him in the kitchen in that last batch of episodes. I was really saying, “Thank you for being my friend!”

You’re right. You never put out that more-than-friends energy he was potentially looking for. Have you spoken to him as the show is airing and you’re seeing his confessionals?

Oh my God, look, we’re friends to this day. All of us have this incredible bond with each other after going through this experience together. So yeah, I’ve spoken to him. It’s pretty funny to look back on, but nothing serious.

It seems like you and Colin were quickly able to get over that little bump in your friendship where he couldn’t stop praising Chef Marcos from last season.

Obviously, I was upset on the day when that whole thing went down, but Colin and I were good friends during the season, for sure. Looking back and watching the show now, I really didn’t know what Colin was going through. I was so oblivious. Finally, I realized, “Oh, he’s talking about me, and all… It’s all about me.” It was the tiniest part of the charter season for me. Colin was dealing with Gary’s flirting with Daisy while he was trying to make it work with Daisy the whole time. I had no idea about all that. I’m giving him a bit of grace. Plus, Marcos is his best friend, so there are no grudges held.

Daisy says Colin is going to have the most to answer for at the upcoming reunion. Do you agree or disagree?

Like I keep saying, I really just wasn’t a part of it [laughs]. I’m sure he might have things to answer to Daisy for. They’ve got their own things going on , but there’s not much for Colin to answer for to me personally. We had the conversation about our thing onboard.

Is there any issue that you personally hope gets addressed in the reunion?

For me, no. I won’t be in too much of the drama, but I am excited to watch everything unfold [laughs]. I can’t wait for all the gory goss to come out.

If I can ask you to gossip a bit… who do you think would have been a better match for Mads, Alex or Gary? And I know Alex now has a girlfriend…

I absolutely love Alex. I adore him. He comes across as being very quiet during the season, but he’s got such a big personality. Also, I just adore Gary. I don’t know who I would choose. I can’t decide. I honestly love them both. They’re very different. They’re like opposites.

What can you tease about the final two episodes?

Fans are going to be on the edge of their seats. Also, I’ve seen doubters online, but those love triangles are very, very real. There are also going to be a lot of exciting menus coming up from me. That’s all I can tell you [laughs], but I promise it’s going to be awesome.

The final two episodes of Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 4 air Monday, July 10 at 8 PM on Bravo.