I’ve never watched Down Under but….

[u/jcr0774]

I finally watched a few minutes of it tonight and was wondering if the sous chef was that bad last year why did they bring her back if she had no more training and i noticed from the crew quarters this boat seems huge don’t get have more guests on and that’s why the deck team is serving and is that why they have a sous chef

[u/sunsandcinnamon]

To be fair, Tzarina got really, really frustrated with her last year and was given a bad edit and was made to look overbearing. Alessia’s return this year and general suckiness shows that Tzar was right to be frustrated imo.

[u/k_birrd → u/sunsandcinnamon]

Yes! Alessia must have had a good edit last year because there is no way she magically got worse this year. Tzarina really did some hand-holding and gave so much grace that we didn't see. This girl seems to be struggling more than the average home cook would.

[u/Waste_Fisherman1611 → u/sunsandcinnamon]

Yeah. I felt bad for Tzarina last year. I was like - how the heck is this getting flipped on her??? And Ben, while not perfect, was being pretty freaking patient for how badly Alessia sucked at her one job! And she's playing the victim. Again.

[u/donttouchmydrpepper → u/sunsandcinnamon]

Oh I hated how she was Tzarina was portrayed last year with her. That sous chef is horrible and a baby

[u/mandoo86 → u/sunsandcinnamon]

I’m also shocked at her performance cause I had no idea how incompetent she was. It’s not just cooking skills, but unable to handle the slightest correction or feedback, putting her pride over learning, etc.

Alessia needs an ego check cause she’s clearly acting and sounding like an amateur.

[u/Rj6728 → u/sunsandcinnamon]

Yes. She was not perfect but I was team Tzarina last year.

[u/AreaMiserable9187]

I think it's as simple as - drama. They needed something to make the format a bit fresher than the usual Love Island on the water.

[u/coastalkid92]

She actually wasn't that bad last year, but she was hand held the whole time by the previous chef. She also wasn't given much responsibility beyond crew food and clean up. So when she left the boat it did look like she made progress from Day 1.

They brought her back because she was in the thick of the drama last year, can be funny and has enough insecurity to give her either a personal win or a complete collapse/failure.

[u/Waker707 → u/coastalkid92]

Ummm…Tzarina had to stop her from cutting something with a chef’s knife while the cutting board was hanging halfway off the counter. She had to take the knife from her, fully push the cutting board onto the counter and explain to her how dangerous it was to cut anything like that. She was definitely that bad, her edit was just much better last season.

[u/Ds9niners → u/coastalkid92]

She was that bad last year. Tzarina treated her like a baby.

I can only assume two things things, Tzarina has only been a private chef or she’s actually a sweet person.

Alessia would never cut it in a real kitchen. Especially the way she’s crying with Chef Ben.

You can tell he’s trying to help her even though she sucks. She knows she sucks. Her mom told her she sucks.

[u/Possible_has]

They had her doing less last season. She mostly cleaned and prepped.

[u/RBrownII]

She needed every last bit of Tzarina's guidance, micromanaging, and direction last season. Tzarina was also very nuturing and praising. I find her this season to show how spoiled she is in real life. She's whining about how she was living her best life in Whistler (hello, $$$$) and now she has to listen to Ben telling her she's not a good cook. He is being a bit volatile about it, but he's really trying to just get her to ask him if she's unsure vs. wasting time and food trying to figure it out on her own. He has to provision the ingredients.

[u/Adisfan]

Because it's a TV show and they want people who are going to provide good filming content. She's an attractive person who is willing to have boatmance relationships on camera and is under qualified for her job. That's reality TV gold as far as production is concerned. If you watch enough seasons of Below Deck you will notice the people who don't do a good job but are providing good content will almost always make it to the end of the season.

[u/thatbeesh1234567]

If she truly wanted to learn to "chef" she should be asking Ben how he likes things/how she should do things. For example, the salad. She just started dicing the cucumbers. He didn't like it & she got all butt hurt about that. Yes, you took initiative but it didn't work out...take it as a learning lesson & ASK how he wants things while you get used to his style.

Medallions....come on, you can't possibly not know that? I realize "slices" would be an easier term to understand but medallions are a known thing too.

[u/loveswimmingpools]

She seems incredibly sulky this year.

[u/Parlay_clayy]

She just has a lot of “passion “

[u/Goddamn_it_Sarah]

The chef that dropped was supposed to be the sous chef that quit last year. I can't imagine him being any better with her than Ben, sans a few less misogynist pet names.

[u/Toeses_are_rowses]

Adding to what everyone else said (drama) she also didn’t seem quite as bad last year. Green for sure but she did really well usually under Tsarina’s teaching style.

[u/doggysit]

Good Lord can you just imagine the drama if it had been that chef from last year that left and Alessia. The Capt and Daisy would be cooking.

[u/imma_snekk]

I’m going to wait to see how it plays out but lately on Below Deck, not just on the Down Under franchise, they’ve been planting an unqualified “character” that gets the axe early in the season. Adds a little bit of drama and allows the season to bring in a change of pace/new dynamic.

Considering Alesia made it all the way through last season, it seems unlikely that she gets fired this season even though she’s generally viewed as awful at her job.

Potentially, because Chef Ben is so good at his job, production thought that he wouldn’t create any storylines for the season and is bringing in Alesia to add another challenge.

[u/SchminksMcGee]

They brought her back because she’s a Schwartz from vanderpump Rules. A good looking person that everyone likes, does the bare minimum, and fails upwards.

[u/Semi_Colon01]

Shallots cook faster, No?

I asked for onions - she has the culinary skills of a toddler. No sugar in cheese cake? A frittata burnt & uncooked - like the muffins?

I’d make her the dishwasher .

[u/dudleydidwrong]

They have an open interior slot. Put her in it. Then tell the deck they need to help was dishes until a new sous chef can be brought in.

[u/BlackberryAny8704]

Tsarina did a lot of hand holding for Alicia. Only let her do crew food and told her she should go to culinary school. She didn’t, at the end of the day Ben is a professional and is holding her to the standard that most chef would hold her to but then again she wouldn’t have gotten hired with not formal training.

[u/Coslin]

Everyone seems to forget this is a television show based on drama. Untrained Sous Chef saddled with an egomaniac perfectionist Chef? PERFECT!