Captain Jason Chambers from Below Deck Down Under has addressed scenes of sexual misconduct on the show.
On this week’s episode of the Bravo reality TV show, viewers were shocked to see the boat’s bosun Luke Jones and second steward Laura Bileskalne fired for inappropriate behaviour towards their fellow crew members.
Producers were forced to step in during filming when, shortly after a power outage on the boat, a naked Luke climbed into the bed of third steward Margot Sisson, who was reportedly drunk and sleeping at the time.
A producer was seen on camera trying to get him out of Ms Sisson’s bed, until a naked Luke got up and slammed the door in their faces. The producer then re-entered the room and successfully removed him.
Meanwhile, Laura appeared to make multiple unwanted advances towards deckhand Adam Kodra in the hot tub before attempting to give him a massage in his bunk.
He tried to stop her advances before falling asleep, but Laura was relentless, climbing over him with a bottle of lotion.
A camera operator could then be heard telling her: “I got a message from producers telling you to come down. This is when you have to step down and you need to go to your own cabin.”
In an Instagram video Captain Chambers thanked production crew for their intervention during two incidents.
“I’ve had a flood of messages over the last 24 hours from people in similar situations, some not so lucky [with] the outcome, so my heart goes out to them,” he said.
“I’d like to thank the production team for breaking the fourth wall and stepping in, then re-forming and allowing Aesha to come to me in an authentic manner, and then us dealing with it as we would as captain and crew.”
Captain Chambers also stressed that he’s unaware of what happens between crew members when they go out together.
“As soon as Aesha brought it to my attention I addressed it straight away, so it’s real,” he said.
He also urged people to “stop the hate” saying that both incidents happened over a year ago.
“Less hate please, more love. But let’s send it home and know that this is not acceptable,” he said.
Chief steward Aesha also took to social media to address the sexual misconduct.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to remind everyone of the main message that was shown on the episode, which is that women, and actually everyone, have the right to go out and have fun and feel safe and that is just the f***ing end of it,” she said.
“There’s no questions or if’s or but’s, that is the end of it. So please keep an eye on your friends and each other.”
She went further to say that while she and the rest of the crew “don’t actually know what would have happened” had producers not intervened, she said “it actually makes my skin crawl” that Margot had “no idea” Luke was in her bed naked.
“You have no right to put someone unconscious into that position,” said Aesha, who also later climbed into bed with Margot to comfort her.
The day following the incident, Captain Chambers scolded Luke for his behaviour, firing him on the spot.
Fans of the show have praised the crew on Twitter.
“As awful as last night’s episode was of Below Deck Down Under, I think it was important they showed it and didn’t cut it. Thank you for stepping in,” one fan tweeted.
“Such a hard episodes to watch … Below Deck seen lots of crazy sh*t on Bravo. Aesha did exactly what was right … that could have ended very differently … and ultimately very badly,” a third commented.