Meet Rachel Hargrove, the New Chef on 'Below Deck'
Below Deck returns for an eighth season on Bravo this November.
The season 8 cast features a mix of new and old faces.
Here's what to know about Rachel Hargrove, the newest chef to join the franchise.
Season 8 of Bravo’s Below Deck is shaking up its kitchen staff after the departure of Kate Chastain at the end of last season. (Chastain will be replaced by a new chief stewardess, Francesca Rubi.) Joining the team as the new chef is Rachel Hargrove, with whom Chastain once worked. In an Instagram Live chat, Chastain praised Hargrove saying, “she is so intelligent. You guys are gonna love her. She’s hilarious, extremely talented.”
The new season will return to the Caribbean for the first time since season 5. Most notably, however, will be the timing of the events in the season, which occur just before the coronavirus outbreak. Half a world away at about the time of filming, another ship, the Diamond Princess, was quarantined in Japan after several passengers tested positive for the virus. Filming for Below Deck was truncated in March.
With all that in the background, enter cabin left: all the flirty drama we’ve come to expect, but will now just seem like a relic of another seafaring time. Rachel Hargrove may be the last chef of an era—before the kitchen starts looking very different.
Anyway, here are a couple things to know about Hargrove:
A post shared by Rachel Hargrove (@chefrachelhargrove) on Sep 21, 2020 at 11:52am PDT
She apprenticed in Italy
Hargrove attended the Culinary Institute of America, though, according to her page on Bravotv.com, Hargrove considers herself primarily self-taught. After CIA, Hargrave went to work at Quatro Passsi in Nerano, Italy, a Michelin-starred restaurant.
We all wanted photos of each other! I'm going to miss India! Until next time.....
A post shared by Rachel Hargrove (@chefrachelhargrove) on Apr 21, 2019 at 1:37am PDT
She’s an Ayurvedic practitioner
Hargrove is also a message therapist and yoga instructor who practices Ayurvedic, one of the oldest forms of holistic medicine. She writes on her practice’s chef page that she began practicing Ayurvedic cooking after encountering digestive issues. She writes that she studied the practice in India while researching diets for clients.
It’s likely Hargrove’s relationship with guests will extend beyond nutrition this season. Maybe a cause for drama? We'll just have to wait and see.
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