Below Deck Down Under is hitting the high seas south of the equator. This time, the series is traveling into a new frontier. Season 3 will be taking charter guests to the stunning locale of the Seychelles, a beautiful country in Africa located in the Indian Ocean. Back again to steer the motoryacht is the hunk of the sea, Captain Jason Chambers. After two sensational seasons, Captain Chambers has become one of Bravo’s biggest fan favorites. And now, he’s telling us everything we can expect for the upcoming season.
After a bit of a health scare, Captain Jason shares some vital updates, plus his advocacy to help others about safety surrounding melanoma. Now, he’s back in the bridge, ready for another high-octane season. With some returning faces and a slew of new crew, Captain Jason discusses how this new dynamic is going to shake out. “The whole audience gets to come into the captain’s lounge,” Captain Jason teases about the VIP treatment fans will get this season.
Captain Jason Chambers Teases Life on Katina in ‘Below Deck Down Under’
Image via Bravo
COLLIDER: He is the hunk of the sea. It is Captain Jason Chambers. How are you? I know you had a health scare a couple months ago.
CAPTAIN JASON CHAMBERS: Yes. Yeah. Look. Everything just collided at once. I felt a little bit stupid being out in the sun for all my life. Playing sports, and especially working on boats, and ignoring the annual checks that we all should get. It was a scary moment. It lasted for a whole month of the process.
CAPTAIN JASON: Yes, I got it all cut out. I had two two cuts, and it’s only 5% chance of removal. But the amount of people that can’t. unfortunate scenarios. Was huge. So I want to talk about melanoma a bit more in the next year. And really be an advocate to protect a little bit and be a little bit more sensible, and have a health check every year.
Amazing. Well, if you could tease Below Deck Down Under Season 3 in three words, what would they be?
CAPTAIN JASON: Oh, lack of cohesion.
Oh! That’s good.
CAPTAIN JASON: Tropical. Remoteness. Lack of cohesion and growth.
What is it that keeps you coming back to the world of yachting?
CAPTAIN JASON: Probably those three things. To actually go to remote location like the Seychelles, it’s just amazing. The first two seasons were in Australia, which was my home. I love doing things in remote locations. So the Seychelles, it was just! And if they do another one somewhere, as long as it’s tropical, I love that, too. But also the testing of my ability to manage the crew in these scenario. Because they are put into these scenarios of pressure cookers, and they have to learn themselves, a lot. They have to learn of themselves throughout. And me also. And I get, at the end of it, I really get satisfaction that we get to an end point. And I think Season one and two showed that we can get to the end. And I don’t set the bar too high. I allow people to make their mistakes and grow and learn. And in just a short time frame of six weeks of filming, but a very high workload, I think back, and I just think, okay, you’re going to remember this time. And you’re going to be a better person. Or you did really well. Or you got this out of it. I really think Season three is going to see a hell of a lot of growth from a hell of a lot of crew members. You’re going to see them come apart, and you’re going to see them try and get back together, and you’re going to see some really good end results.
The yacht is spectacular. What is your favorite part of Katina?
CAPTAIN JASON: Look, it could not be a better yacht for this show. It’s got so much deck space internally. And you’ve seen on Season two and on Season one, we’ve had a lot of weather issues. And these franchises, you cannot predict. You cannot predict the weather all the time. And these shows have to be filmed at certain times of the year. And, as you saw in season two, we had some hell weather on a boat that had no interior space. We were limited, but we still got some great shows out. The best thing about this ship is that it has got so much space that, regardless of the weather, we can entertain a guest and have some fun. And which we did. We had some great theme parties, and it was howling outside. The rain was coming. We were performing. We were putting out dishes and food around the table. We had a piano. Yeah, we had some fun.
Now, after seeing the premiere, I think I know what the answer is going to be. But what is the biggest challenge of this particular ship?
CAPTAIN JASON: Well, the biggest challenge was Tzarina had a sous chef. She’s never managed someone before. And you know, Tzarina is a great chef. She’s always trying to manage herself. You know, she really is in with herself all the time, and she doubts herself a lot, but she always puts out some great food. And now she has to manage someone else. And it was a tough galley. Even if it was huge. Even if it was commercial style. It was down at the bottom. It was locked away. It was like a little dark box for her, and she had to go through a hell of a lot. That was one of my biggest challenges was actually trying to keep her at a level that she could actually produce the best food. And not only that, the team around her.
What was it like having Cheffy and Harry back this season?
CAPTAIN JASON: Harry‘s good. Look, it’s always good to have someone that’s loyal. And I know Harry’s well to me. And I know he wants to grow, and I like to know that people want to move on. He’s really done some great training in his certifications outside of. He’s gone off to some of the most harshest places to do his certification. So he’s challenged himself. So he’s coming back a more certified crew member. More well-rounded. And he’s a little bit cheeky, what I’ve seen on season three. He doesn’t mind stirring up a bit of trouble. So look, I think you’ll probably see in the teaser that Harry might find a bit of love, which is amazing.
Yeah!
CAPTAIN JASON: And Tzarina is great. I loved having Tzarina back. It was really good to see her come back. Look, she’s funny, she’s unique. And I like unique.
I think we were all a bit heartbroken not to see Aesha Scott back again this season. What was it like being without her?
CAPTAIN JASON: Actually, Aesha, she helps me because she knows that she knows the environment. She’s done Below Deck before, so she was a really big help to me. Not only that, we worked so well together, and it’s sad to see her leave, but I understand that she’s gone to work with Sandy, who she gets on very well with, too. And she had a great story to tell there, you know. And crew do move on. And as sad as it is, it just gives us an opportunity, or me an opportunity to meet someone else in my life as well and work with someone else. And Lara really brought in experience, high standard, but doesn’t know the environment like Aesha did. So we’re going to see. What Lara wants to deliver, she may not be able to put down.
