When the Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5 trailer dropped, I spotted four familiar faces within the given frames. Several of these personalities shocked me zero, as this series has used the same captain for all five seasons thus far. Likewise, when Season 2 launched, we met a new chief stew and her sidekick first mate, and as expected, both are back to star in Season 5. As for the fourth familiar face, it sadly is not our loveable chief engineer, who decided to take a break from filming this year, but it is someone that many of us have already seen on our screens before. While Chef Cloyce Martin is brand new to Bravo, BDSY Season 5 will not be his first reality television rodeo.
BDSY has featured many great chefs. Based on his resume alone, Cloyce will be yet another. Cooking is in this man’s DNA. Unless his personality is a total buzz kill, we can likely expect a solid showing from this new hire.
Chef Cloyce Martin first appeared on Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown Seasons 1 and 2
Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown only aired on the FYI network for two seasons. Even though this series arrived with a short shelf-life, it was still fun to watch. As for the premise, this series was a culinary competition show that pit professional chefs against emerging prodigies. It was in Season 1 that we first met Chef Cloyce, but he was crazy talented and made for great television, so the network brought him back for Season 2.
More often than not, the children, aged 9-16, beat the pros. Was this a staged series? Maybe. But even still, these children knew how to work every machine in their stations, and for the most part, what they produced was far better than anything I could ever hope to plate as a fully grown human.
As for the then-14-year-old Cloyce, his bio stated that he hoped to excel in the culinary industry as an adult. Therefore, he often forced “the authority figures in his life to be tough on him.” Back then, “His signature dishes include[d] chicken piccata and a pan-seared citrus salmon,” which blows my mind, as I have a son this exact age, and he could never. Cereal for dinner, anyone?
Cloyce’s skills were still developing when he first starred in this series. But even still, his talent was apparent. Ten years have passed since Cloyce’s first run-in with reality television. Due to this, I am eager to see how far he has advanced once he steps into the ever-swaying galley of BDSY Season 5.
Cook Your Way to Culinary School, a Rachel Ray special, featured Chef Cloyce Martin next
After Cloyce finished filming with the FYI network, he returned to his studies and self-taught practices in Newport Beach, CA. Then, Cloyce appeared on our screens yet again. This time, he was starring in Cook Your Way to Culinary School, a Rachael Ray special. The premise for this special is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, as the winner receives a $25,000 scholarship for culinary school.
This series featured four young culinary finalists. Each contestant had to show off their chef-like talents by creating a meal in under 40 minutes. Because reality television series typically use stressful narratives to help move their various messy storylines along, these aspiring chefs could only spend $40 at the grocery store on their ingredients. These days, that amount will buy you nothing, but luckily for them, life was somewhat more affordable in 2018.
Sadly for Cloyce, he failed to win the $25,000 scholarship. However, he did take home a lesser scholarship, which clocked into his bank accounts at a cool $5,000. Cloyce also received various items from Rachael Ray’s merchandise line. Likewise, he gained even more exposure via this one-time series, earning him a second (third if you count both seasons on his first series) showing on a reality television series.
Cloyce Martin is now joining the cast of Below Deck Sailing Yacht Season 5
This October, Cloyce is joining the BDSY family. This next step makes sense, as after his youthful first showings, Cloyce slipped behind the camera’s lenses and began quietly working onboard private yachts. He also started taking on private chef gigs in people’s homes. And by people, I mean the rich ones, as in-house chefs are never cheap.
Cloyce is young, but he is already a well-diversified businessman. In addition to his culinary gigs onboard yachts and within private residences, Cloyve also has a third income stream. As Cloyce states on Instagram, “You can also schedule an online or in-person cooking class!” With listed ingredients like “citrus granita, lavender + pea flower syrup, and mint,” sign me up.
As skilled as Cloyce is, he will still encounter some struggles this season, as the BDSY Season 5 trailer proves. When Cloyce first appears, we can see him expertly plating one of his many dishes. But then, a female voice sounds, saying, “This guy’s young.” Daisy Kelliher then chimes in, stating, “I think the chef’s going to be an issue.”
Immediately after Daisy says this, the cameras pan to a dish that Cloyce is plating. On his dish, it’s hard to say what he is serving. It could be tiny apple pies, or maybe it’s a meat pile, or perhaps he has even created a casserole that’s gone sideways. But whatever it is, it’s a mess.
Cue Daisy, saying, “We can’t serve that.” A male voice answers, saying, “That’s a weak attitude.” Is this Cloyce’s voice clocking in like a seasoned reality television star? Only time will tell.
TELL US – HAVE YOU WATCHED CHEF CLOYCE MARTIN ON ANY OF THESE OTHER REALITY TELEVISION SERIES? WILL YOU BE TUNING IN TO SEE WHAT CHEF CLOYCE BRINGS TO BDSY SEASON 5?