Below Deck Mediterranean charter guest Justin Thornton is defending the tip that he gave The Wellington crew.
Justin and his friends were quite the handful on the latest two episodes of the Bravo show. Justin was at least respectful, appreciative, and grateful to the crew. He wasn’t as bad as others in the group, like Leon Glore
Despite leaving the luxury yacht with a smile on his face and expressing his gratitude to the crew, Justin’s tip has come under fire. The crew and fans were a little upset over Justin leaving $17,000. Each crew member ended up with a tip of around $1,300.
Justin insists he left a good tip
It was pretty clear watching the episode that the crew was not happy with the tip amount. There were plenty of displeased looks and heads shaking in despair.
Captain Sandy Yawn praised the crew’s work ethic during the challenging charter and reminded her team that it was more important what she thought of them than the client.
Justin watched the moment play out and took to social media to bash Bravo for making it appear that he left a lousy tip.
“Thank you, Bravo. Sure did a good job making it LOOK like I gave a bad tip! That’s reality TV for ya. They told me average was 15k, so I said let’s do 17k that’s 23.4% if prorated out so get off me,” he shared on his Instagram Story.
Yep, he blames editing because the producers flashed that the average tip is $20,000 on-screen during the tip meeting.
Was the tip bad?
The amount was certainly lower than expected based on the demanding charter guests.
First, Leon argued over oysters. Second, the group brought random people back to The Wellington and partied all night long.
Finally, the guests invited extra people to the six-course meal. Chef Kiko had to make 72 plates that were perfectly timed. It was all hands on deck for dinner, and it went off flawlessly. The meal alone was worth more of a tip.
What fans must remember is the yacht never left the dock. The weather and a guest leaving the boat put a wrinkle in the luxury boats’ ability to make it out into the high seas. It wasn’t the crew’s fault, but it certainly wasn’t the trip that the primary booked.
Below Deck former chief stew Kate has said a good tip on the show is around $2,000 per person. The reason is that the charters are shorter, and the crew works exceptionally long hours.
What did you think of Justin Thornton’s tip?
Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.
I have watched the show and probably never missed one. I don’t recall tips averaging $20,000. Many were much less, one I can think of is when the guy took back 5k. Tips were usually in the high teens….
Thought he behaved like a new money classless ahole. Cringe.
I don’t think they should be allowed to invite guests on board. He paid for a charter of 8! I hope he was charged extra for the extra guests at the dinner party and the after hours party they threw! Expecting to be waited on 24/7 is just arrogant! If rented a 5* hotel room he would not have private bartenders and hostesses making them snacks whenever they felt like a piece of cheese!
Never left dock yuck. Pretty expensive for not even leaving dock. I thought the charter seemed like no fun. They are lucky they got that tip.