Captain Jason Chambers opened up about why he thought chief stew Daisy Kelliher was a better fit against Ben Robinson — instead of alum Aesha Scott — during season 4 of Below Deck Down Under.
“[Daisy and Ben] are at it all the time. They are non stop,” Jason exclusively told Us Weekly. “That’s why I think people like Kate Chastain was so strong. Hannah Ferrier was so strong at the start — especially with Ben. I don’t know if Aesha [Scott] would have handled it [the same way].”
Jason noted that the Below Deck Mediterranean star is at a different “point in her life,” adding, “She was like, ‘I don’t need this.’ Whereas Daisy came in and had so much to prove to herself that she’s a great student. She’s got the strength that she had to stand up and really show her dig her heels in.”
He continued: “To watch those two, I hope they show it all. Because they’ll be at each other for a good two to three minutes and I’m just sitting back. Then it would end with some form of sarcastic joke and there’d be laughter as it walked off into the horizon. So that’s what it was, — constant laughter.”
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The official trailer for season 4 teased tension between Daisy and Ben. The chief stew, for her part, teased to Us the outcome of her back-and-forth with Ben.
“This season in the galley my big challenges [had to do with Ben],” Daisy exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the show’s return earlier this season. “Ben is an interesting person to work with. He’s really fun, he’s a great personality and he’s great TV. But he is definitely a challenge.”
Daisy acknowledged similarities between herself and Ben.
“Maybe we’re both as kind of stubborn as each other,” she noted. “[Our issues were] kind of all of those things. It was the guest cabin, it was the way he managed his team and the way he ran his galley. There were difficulties with communication — so timing and not envisioning service the same way. There were honestly a lot of difficulties and challenges.”
Despite their issues, Daisy said Ben is “a hard person to stay angry at,” adding, “But neither of us wanted animosity, and I think both of us really wanted to give the best for the guests. With that being our primary focus, we were always able to come back to that and be like, ‘OK, look, we like each other. We have the same goal. How can we make this happen?’”
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She continued: “But I think toward the end of the season, I was getting frustrated. We have a few flare-ups, and there’s definitely some arguments there. It’s difficult because I was trying to do a good job — as he was. Everything was honestly a challenge.”
Jason, meanwhile, hinted that season 4 was “challenging for everyone” on board.
“There’s a difference between the fighting that we’ve seen in the previous seasons to this one. This is what the audience is going to love now, which I am really starting to see how it’s going to unfold myself. I only see it with you all. But it is the fact that the things that are going on are true personality and work related issues to get through,” Jason shared. “In working in such close confinement, it’s really raw stuff. It’s not just pointless arguing over silly topics. It’s just the crew — not just the heads of department. There’s more to it than they’ve but it’s actually challenging drama that is significant or poignant to actually operating a vessel.”
Below Deck Down Under airs on Bravo Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
