A SERIES BY BECOME A YACHT CHEF
90 DAYS TO BECOME A YACHT CHEF
One restaurant chef. Flown to Antibes. Ninety days to land a job on a superyacht. Every step filmed. Every cost on screen.
TOTAL PRIZE VALUE $15,000 TO $20,000
Entries open 20 September 2026 and close 31 January 2027.
Entry is through the Become A Yacht Chef course. Full rules below.
What this is
I take one working restaurant chef who has never set foot on a yacht, fly them to the south of France at the start of the Mediterranean season, put them through every certificate a green chef needs, and give them 90 days to get hired on a superyacht.
Everything gets filmed. The flight, the crew house, the STCW week, the ENG1, the CV, the dockwalking, the agency interviews, the rejections, the daywork, and the moment it either happens or it doesn't. A new YouTube episode every Sunday, daily posts on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
Nobody knows if they will make it. Not me, not them, not you. That is the whole point.
What the winner gets
Roughly $15,000 to $20,000 of flights, accommodation, training, kit and support, covered by the series sponsors. Here is what is included.
01
Flights.
Return marine fare from your home country to Nice, with flexible dates.
02
Visa.
Schengen visa handled for you if you are South African or from any other country that needs one.
03
A place to live.
A bed in an Antibes crew house for the full 90 days.
04
ENG1 medical.
Done in the first week with a yacht doctor in Antibes.
05
STCW Basic Safety.
The five day course every crew member needs, done straight after the ENG1.
06
Ship's Cook Certificate.
The assessment filmed during the trip, with sea time logged once you are on a boat.
07
Food Safety Level 3.
Delivered online before you fly.
08
Your CV and food portfolio.
Built with me, the way captains and agencies actually want to see them.
09
Chef whites and crew kit.
Fitted in Antibes.
10
Crew agencies.
Registered and introduced, with your CV in front of the people who place chefs.
11
Insurance.
Medical and travel cover for the 90 days.
12
Phone and data.
A French SIM with calls and data for the full 90 days, so agencies and captains can always reach you.
13
Me.
Coaching every week for the whole 90 days, on camera and off.
If you land a job before day 90, the accommodation stops when you move on board. That is the good ending.
How the 90 days run
Week 1
ENG1 medical and STCW Basic Safety
Week 2
Ship's Cook Certificate, CV and food portfolio, crew agency registrations, and the first dockwalks
Week 3
Dockwalking, every morning
Week 4
Cooking challenges start
Week 5 onwards
More challenges, daywork, interviews, and the job hunt
Day 90
Hired or not. Filmed either way.
Who this is for
You are a working chef. You have never worked on a yacht. You are 18 or over. You can be in the south of France from mid April to mid July 2027 and you are happy to be filmed for all of it. You are not already a Become A Yacht Chef student.
Any nationality can enter. If you need a Schengen visa we handle it. You will need a valid passport with at least a year left on it.
How to enter
1
Join the Become A Yacht Chef course. $997 once, 3 payments of $332, or $97 a month. Any of the three counts.
2
Watch the whole course. All 40 videos. The course is the preparation. The winner is going to use every bit of it in Antibes, so if you have not finished it you cannot be picked.
3
Fill in the entry form inside the course. Your details, your availability, and a 60 second video of you telling me why it should be you. The form unlocks when you have completed the last lesson.
4
Do it before entries close on 31 January 2027.
The dates
Approximate dates and schedule. Some of these may shift a little as the sponsors and courses get locked in.
22 September 2026
Entries open.
4 October 2026
Episode one goes out on YouTube.
31 January 2027
Entries close.
8 to 19 February 2027
Interviews. I talk to the shortlist on camera.
21 February 2027
The winner is announced in the Sunday episode.
March 2027
Visa, flights, kit, the goodbye.
19 April 2027
Arrival in Antibes. The clock starts.
18 July 2027
Day 90.
How I pick
This is not a random draw. I read every entry and watch every video, then I interview a shortlist of ten to twenty people on camera. Those interviews become the shortlist episode. I am looking for the chef who wants this the most, who will give it everything, and who can handle a camera in their face for 90 days. My decision is final.
What the winner gives back
One hundred percent. You dockwalk five mornings a week. You go into every agency. You do the courses properly. You get interviewed, filmed, and followed around for three months, and you say yes to the camera on the bad days as well as the good ones. I do all the filming, editing and posting, so you do not have to touch social media unless you want to.
What is not covered
Meals and drinks, local transport, trains and buses, and day to day spending. Budget at least 5,000 euros to cover yourself for the 90 days, and the more the better. Bring it with you.
There is no guaranteed job. Nobody in yachting gets one. What you get is every certificate, every introduction, and every bit of preparation a green chef could ask for, and 90 days in the busiest hiring window of the year to use it.
Why I am doing this
Every season thousands of chefs land in Antibes having spent 10,000 euros or more on certificates, flights and rent before finding out whether the job suits them. Some walk on board unprepared and fail in the first week. Some never get on a boat and go home broke.
The course exists so you can find out if this life is for you before you spend that money. Watch it, and either you decide it is not for you and you have saved yourself thousands, or you turn up prepared and ready to walk on board. This series shows the whole thing, in order, with the real costs and the real people.
Whoever wins, and whoever enters, the course is the bit that stays with you.
Let's make someone's dream come true.
Join the course, finish it, enter. Entries close 31 January 2027.
Already a student? You cannot enter this time, but share it with a chef who should.
Terms and conditions
- Open to working chefs aged 18 or over with no previous yacht crew experience, of any nationality. Previous yacht crew experience means any paid position on a private or charter yacht, including daywork. Time spent on commercial vessels, cruise ships or dive boats does not count.
- Entry requires purchase of the Become A Yacht Chef course between 22 September 2026 and 31 January 2027 (any payment option) and completion of every lesson before entries close. Payment plans must be up to date on 31 January 2027 and remain so.
- People who purchased the course before 22 September 2026 are not eligible to enter this edition.
- One entry per person. Entries close at 23:59 Central European Time on Sunday 31 January 2027.
- Employees and contractors of the promoter, and their immediate families, are not eligible.
- Entries are judged by Dean Harrison on the entry form, the video and a filmed interview. This is a skill based competition, not a prize draw. The decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- By entering you agree that your entry video and your filmed interview may be shown in the series and in promotion of it, whether or not you are selected.
- The winner must be available in Antibes, France from 19 April to 18 July 2027 and agree to be filmed throughout for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, including the interview stage. A release form must be signed before travel.
- The winner will be contacted by email and telephone using the details on their entry form, and must confirm they accept within 7 days. If they cannot be reached or do not confirm in that time, the place will be offered to the runner up.
- All dates and schedules on this page are approximate and may change. Entrants will be told of any change by email.
- The prize is as listed on this page, with an approximate value of $15,000 to $20,000 US dollars. It is provided in kind by the series sponsors and guaranteed by the promoter, so the prize stands whether or not any individual sponsor takes part. Individual items may be substituted for an item of equal or greater value. The prize is not transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash. Accommodation ends when the winner takes a live on board position.
- Meals, drinks, local transport and personal spending are not included. The winner is expected to bring at least 5,000 euros for personal expenses, as these are spent locally in France.
- Any tax arising on the prize is the responsibility of the winner.
- No job is guaranteed. Placement depends on the winner, the market and the boats hiring at the time.
- Visa handling is provided but visa approval is at the discretion of the issuing authority. If a visa is refused the runner up will be offered the place.
- The prize includes an ENG1 seafarer medical. If the winner does not pass it they cannot take up the placement and the runner up will be offered the place.
- If the winner withdraws, stops taking part in filming, or is removed for conduct that makes the placement unworkable, the remainder of the prize is forfeited with no compensation and accommodation ends. Return travel in that situation is the winner's own responsibility.
- The winner takes part at their own risk and is responsible for their own conduct and safety. Travel insurance is provided as part of the prize. The promoter's liability is limited to the value of the prize and nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law.
- Entrant details are used only to run this competition and to contact entrants about it. They are not sold or passed to third parties.
- The promoter may postpone or cancel the competition if circumstances outside its control make it impossible to run. If that happens, entrants will be told by email and the course purchased remains theirs on the terms it was bought.
- Course purchases are not refundable on the basis of not being selected.
- The promoter is Orca Production FZ-LLC, trading as Become A Yacht Chef and The Yacht Chef Media.