Benny From ‘Below Deck Down Under’ Brings the Drama for Bosun Jamie – ‘He Takes Advantage’ [Exclusive]
Below Deck Down Under bosun Jamie Sayed admits he didn’t know about the immense grief deckhand Benny Crawley carried with him onto the boat.
So when he realized that Crawley tragically lost both parents in a span of a year, he decided to go easier on the deckhand and give him a little more of a break. But he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet easing up on Crawley didn’t do him or the boat any favors. He teased massive drama with Crawley and shared if Crawley was correct in saying that dealing with the anchor chain was a death trap.
Benny from ‘Below Deck Down Under’ arrived grief stricken
Sayed felt bad when he finally learned how grief-stricken Crawley was when he arrived. “I was not aware of what happened in his past,” he admitted. “I maybe heard bits and pieces, but I did find out later on. And I obviously feel sorry for the guy. I didn’t want to keep pushing him like you would a normal deckhand. Because if the deckhand wasn’t listening to the bosun on a normal boat, he’d get fired straight away.”
Rather than go to Captain Jason Chambers when Crawley displayed insubordinate behavior, Sayed kept it to himself, thinking he could just handle it on his own. “I didn’t tell the captain about a lot of what Ben was doing in relation to his attitude and sort of prevented it from going to the captain.”
Jamie Sayed tried to give Benny Crawley a break – but it backfires
Crawley pushed back against Sayed when he told him the deck team must follow protocol and rules. “I did feel bad for him,” he added. “But at the end of the day, you have a job to do, and it can be a dangerous job. So we can’t just let people do their own thing. That’s why there are rules and safety and precautions.”
Sayed teased that he ended up tiptoeing around Crawley for a few episodes, trying to give the deckhand space. “I’m still a little cautious around Ben in the next few episodes,” he remarked. “Just trying to avoid being so hard on him, and you’ll see I’m easier with him.”
“But that changes very quickly because he just takes advantage of it,” he added.
The ‘Below Deck Down Under’ anchor chain job isn’t as dangerous as Benny said
He also said Crawley was being a little overly dramatic when he was asked to keep the anchor chain from tangling. “This isn’t something that’s normally done on most boats,” he remarked. Below Deck has never shown the deckhands having to go underneath the boat and use a large stick to manually keep the anchor chain from moving. Sayed said this yacht was equipped with an especially long anchor chain.
Crawley panicked when he had to go underneath to maneuver the chain and ended up cutting his foot. He became so upset Sayed had to swap Crawley out for Culver Bradbury, who didn’t seem to have any concerns with the task.
Sayed also said, “We explained many, many times how to do it. And you’ll see how Culver had no problem with it, and even Brittini [Burton] did it.” He shared that the job could become dangerous if the crew member got into the chain area, but “you don’t place yourself in a dangerous position.”
“Because it’s not that dangerous at all,” he added. “You just push the chain out of the way to avoid it from getting caught. Also, his foot shouldn’t have been cut because he should have been wearing shoes.”
Episodes of Below Deck Down Under are currently streaming on Peacock.
