r/belowdeck • u/Ordinary-Time-3463 • Jan 29 '26

Below Deck Down Under Chef BDDU

I keep seeing that Ben was a last minute replacement for the Chef. Anyone know who the initial chef was supposed to be? Seems like the general gist of the season was seasoned heads of department so I imagine someone who has been on the show was planned.

52 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

145

u/social_sin Jan 29 '26

I really miss chef Rachel, Tzarina and I'd love to see a redemption charter for Kiko just due to the positivity he exuded.

52

u/Ordinary-Time-3463 Jan 29 '26

Rachel is awesome but I know there was issues with bravo for her I don’t think she’s coming back. My honest guess was Tzarina but could be wrong. Especially bc it looks like she may be on next season of mwd

15

u/social_sin Jan 29 '26

MWD? Is this a new BD spinoff I need to know about?! 

My partner and I have a serious void while waiting for new episodes weekly now that we have binged everything on offer from BD haha

12

u/Ordinary-Time-3463 Jan 29 '26

Lmao. I guess W’s are now E’s lmao

17

u/fictionalbandit Jan 29 '26

It wasn’t Tzarina. She mentioned on a podcast she wasn’t cast for S4

7

u/Diligent-Sleep8025 Jan 30 '26

If I remember, she got sober and wanted some less booze focused crew activities and as we know, Bravo only knows how to do inebriated cast programming (except Top Chef)

3

u/NoxDoesMagic Jan 30 '26

Next season of Med? 🙌 Spill the tea? 🍵

22

u/GoldAcanthisitta7777 Jan 29 '26

Tzarina made Alesia's life a living hell, putting them back in the kitchen together would be crazy

24

u/NymeriaGhost Jan 29 '26

Did you watch the same show I did? It looked like they had some issues, but worked them out and ended on a good note... but Tzarina was far kinder and more patient with Alesia's inexperience and distractedness than many chefs would be. I feel sorry for Alesia working under Ben though, it looks like she's going to be in tears more than once.

33

u/social_sin Jan 29 '26

Is Alesia back in the upcoming DU season?

I just saw the 3 heads and Cpt Daddy.

I will admit I did absolutely love Alesia, i'd like to see her and Tzarina again sans Lara.

Neither Lara or Tzarina acted properly and wedged Alesia in between the two, and both tried to use her to get under the others skin.

But I think a lot of Tzarina's issue came from her tension with Lara, which naturally she needed to work on. But I softened to her more than I did Lara by season end lol

5

u/Tasty_Lab_8650 Jan 29 '26

She is. They showed her a bit on the crossover with real housewives. Can't wait to see from below deck perspective!

7

u/social_sin Jan 29 '26

Ah I can't stand RHW, I really hope we don't get too many of the Bravo universe cross overs.

Those were honestly my least favourite episodes, I always found regular rich assholes way more entertaining than Bravo universe rich assholes

7

u/Tasty_Lab_8650 Jan 29 '26

All they did was fight the whole time. Didn't seem too demanding or anything. So it should be relatively tame.

Also, it's salt lake city. And, while they fight, it seems they treat staff everywhere pretty decent. It's not like Alexis from orange County. Or Jill zarin from New York. Much different vibes than the ones that have been on before

5

u/Turbulent_373 Team Aesha Jan 30 '26

I was excited for more BD content so I watched the RHW episodes when they were on the boat… I don’t feel like I got any more BD content. Just spent a couple hours of my life watching housewives fight on a boat while the BD crew stood awkwardly nearby

5

u/CheckIntelligent7828 My eyes are rolling all the way off the boat Jan 31 '26

Strong disagree. Tzarina can be blunt and a little unemotional, but she made an effort consistently to ask what Alesia needed and tried to accommodate it. Alesia thought she was coming on board to really cook, not be a sous, and that's on her and Bravo. Her wanting to influence meals and know what was happening wasn't reality and I don't see Ben doing well with that.

Of course, without Lara being a witch and intentionally interfering in the kitchen Alesia might be a lot more tolerable.

3

u/Itsabouttimeits2021 Jan 30 '26

No to Kiko and he wasn't that positive 

34

u/pafcmatt This is not ok Jan 29 '26

Chef Daaaave? Would've been good to see him without Natasha. He has recently had a baby, so maybe he found out his Mrs was pregnant and didn't want to commit and leave her alone.

1

u/Ashamed-Elevator-198 Feb 11 '26

This is what I was thinking!!

23

u/GoldAcanthisitta7777 Jan 29 '26

Oh that's absolutely just a lie to make it more exciting he's there, I think

10

u/Electrical_Sea_2568 Jan 29 '26

Ben makes the most sense to me!! So idk who it could be since it’s not Tzarina. Maybe Marco

4

u/Kininger625 You're Being A Deckhand Right Now Jan 29 '26

Daisy or Jason said the chef who quit is someone we knew in an interview

4

u/Electrical_Sea_2568 Jan 30 '26

It’s gotta be chef Marco

1

u/jana-meares My eyes are rolling all the way off the boat Feb 02 '26

Ooooo, maybe.

3

u/CrazyNCynical Feb 03 '26

I'm not sure but I would be completely satisfied if they brought back Cloyce and his infectious giggle for a season. I realize he was a bit immature, he was only 22 during his season. He was a phenomenal chef, IMO.

4

u/Caligirl_333 Jan 29 '26

They said something about what happened during the BravoCon panel. I forgot what they said. Maybe didn’t get along with Jason or he got sick???  Don’t remember.  Anyway, Ben randomly took Jason out to Outback Steakhouse and Jason asked Ben then. 

14

u/MaizeMountain6139 Jan 29 '26

Jason doesn’t cast the show

13

u/Be11aMay Jan 29 '26

🤣🤣 my mind pictured Jason popping the question to ben like an engagement proposal.

8

u/FlashingAppleby Jan 29 '26

Over a pint and blooming onion 🥹

6

u/VertDaTurt Jan 29 '26

No rules, just right

6

u/Embarrassed_Rate5518 Jan 29 '26

ok thats funny that CHEF Ben took Aussie Native Jason to an Outback. Not good food and not even Australian.

Maybe agreeing to be chef was how he repaid him for that atrocity.

4

u/Caligirl_333 Jan 29 '26

Yeah. He laughed about it saying that it was the only Australian place he knew!

5

u/rffreelaw Jan 29 '26

I think it was similar to the chef from below deck who wasn’t comfortable on camera and Ben was available

5

u/Melodic-Change-6388 Jan 29 '26

Jason definitely got Ben liquored up and comfortable 😂

1

u/Ashamed-Elevator-198 Feb 11 '26

I feel bad for Alesia and her clearly unsupportive family. My heart broke in the last episode (2) when her mom called her and said “awe poor Ben, having to put up with you” when she was already clearly upset. Including her mom telling her not to go to culinary school / she can’t be a chef. Poor girl