Captain Jason’s Biggest ‘Below Deck Down Under’ Challenge – ‘Let Everyone Hang Himself if They Want to’ [Exclusive]
Captain Jason Chambers may be the youngest (and voted as hottest) Below Deck captain, but he said balancing his “big brother” role with disciplinarian was a challenge on Below Deck Down Under.
Chambers’ management philosophy is a mix of the current captains. He’s hands-on like Captain Glenn Shephard, carrying luggage and helping to serve dinner. But he’s also tough like Captain Lee Rosbach. Chambers sometimes hangs out with the crew and joked during the crew meeting that jumping in the water when the guests weren’t on board was a “prerequisite.”
Although Chambers enjoys having fun with his crew, he knows how to bring down the hammer. He’s furious when he finds his boat in shambles after a crew night out – and the crew is doing yoga instead of cleaning.
Captain Jason wants to be friends with ‘Below Deck Down Under’ crew
Chambers’ brings his no-nonsense, tongue-in-cheek humor to the job. He said this crew is adults, and they decide if they want to be treated like adults or children. “I’ve been a captain for 20 years, and the reason why I’m still doing it is because I enjoy it,” he told Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
“I don’t try and pretend that I’m a heart surgeon,” he joked about the job. “No one’s going to die. You know, we have safety, but we’re not trying to save lives.”
He described his management style as being more of a big brother than a stern captain. “We try to enjoy our environment, and that’s where the big brother comes in,” he continued. “I don’t want to be seen like a principal or a headmaster, I want to be a friend as well. And if people can’t respect the boundaries, then that’s when the discipline comes out and let everyone hang himself if they want to.”
He said some ‘Below Deck’ crew can’t respect boundaries
Unlike other Below Deck captains, Chambers sometimes joins the crew during their nights off. “I don’t know what the editing tape is,” he laughed about how much viewers will see of Chambers partying with the crew. But he added, “I enjoy my environment as much as they do.”
Chambers teased that the balance between fun and discipline becomes a running theme. “I think you’ll find the biggest challenge, like I spoke about, giving the crew the ability to be adults and see if they can actually understand and respect the boundaries, and maybe some of them didn’t,” he revealed.
Chambers already sees cracks in the crew during the first charter. When deckhand Ben Crawley wins the dubious under-achiever award from Chambers, he pushes back, unwilling to see the humor in it. Chef Ryan McKeown also boasted about being “arrogant,” and trouble is brewing with chief stew Aesha Scott.
Captain Jason loved working with Aesha Scott on ‘Below Deck Down Under’
Chambers said Scott and McKeown definitely have a communication problem. “That impression on the chef is pretty massive,” he remarked.
“A lot falls on their shoulders to be successful for the charter,” he added. “Any charter in the industry. However, it’s essential that the communication between the interior and the galley is 100%. You’ll find in the first episode that there’s a barrier already, and we had to try and reduce that defense mechanism and try to more of an open conversation so the two departments could function.”
While Chambers has to deal with communication issues between McKeown and Scott, he said working with Scott was a delight. He knew about Scott from seeing her on Below Deck Mediterranean. “When she walked in and I met her for the first time, I just had a big sigh of relief because I had someone that kind of had the same attitude and vibrance, and I could see that we’re going to get on well,” he said.
“It was amazing,” he said about working with Scott. “And it was like working with my sister or my twin. Yeah. It just kind of it was yin and yang. We just kept going and in the same ocean. It was perfect. It was a wonderful experience.”
Episodes of Below Deck Down Under are currently streaming on Peacock.
