The cast and production team of Australian Bravo reality series Below Deck Down Under have been praised for the way they handled two “upsetting” situations involving crewmembers.
On Monday (7 August), viewers were shocked by the actions of Luke Jones and Laura Bileskalne, both of whom carried out unwanted sexual advances on their fellow crewmembers.
However, the production team were quick to take action and stopped both Jones and Bileskalne from taking further action that could have led to potential sexual assault. Both parties were later fired by the ship’s captain, Jason Chambers.
The episode began with the cast returning to the yacht they all work on after a night out. One member, Margot Sisson, goes to bed drunk after telling the ship’s chief steward Aesha Scott that she wanted to sleep, and stated: “No Luke.”
However, a power outage occurs and Scott leaves Sisson in her bunk bed to deal with the incident. Later, Jones is seen entering Sisson’s bedroom wearing a towel while she is asleep, and climbing into her bed.
At this point, camera and production crewmembers step in to tell Jones to leave the bedroom as Sisson wanted to sleep. He gets out of the bed and it becomes clear he is naked, and attempts to shut the door on the production team.
However, the cameramen refuse to allow him to shut the door completely. Eventually, Jones leaves and goes into his own bedroom while swearing and telling the team to “f*** off”. Bileskalne follows Jones into his bedroom to ask him what happened, and he claims he did nothing wrong and was only “sitting” with Sisson.
Later, Scott returns to Sisson’s bedroom and tells her that Jones had been in her cabin and left “naked”. She asked Sisson: “Did you consent to him being in here?”
Sisson replied: “No, I was asleep. I did not invite that at all.”
Scott then went to inform Chambers of what had happened and after checking that Sisson was safe, Chambers went to Jones’ room to order him to stay in a hotel for the rest of the night. The next morning, Jones was fired.
While Sisson and other members of the cast tried to process what happened the night before, Bileskalne appeared to dismiss the incident and suggested that Jones “meant it as a joke” and that his firing was “unfair”. She told Sisson: “I don’t think he meant anything bad. He wouldn’t rape you or anything.”
The episode also showed Bileskalne touching and getting close to another crewmember Adam Kodra, despite him repeatedly telling her “no” and asking her to stop touching him.
She then followed Kodra back to his bunk and tries to give him a massage, ignoring his refusal. The production team steps in again to tell her to get out of his room and she eventually acquiesces. Her actions were relayed to Chambers, who reprimanded her and also fired her.
Viewers were impressed and relieved by the quick decisions taken by the production team and the rest of the cast to deal with the situations.
One person wrote: “Last night was the most powerful Below Deck I have ever seen. Thank you to the heroes Captain Jason, Aesha and production for stepping up against sexual harassment.”
Another said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: “I’ve been watching reality TV almost my whole life and I have never seen anything like tonight’s Below Deck Down Under. In a toxic industry and a franchise that ignores poor behaviour by men, it was refreshing to see a woman believed and supported. Captain Jason and Aesha are gems.”
Jones has not addressed the episode publicly. Bileskalne has publicly apologised to both Kodra and Sisson in a social media post and said: “My sincere apologies to Adam, I did not realise I made him feel uncomfortable and no one should be put in that position.
“And to Margot to not been able [sic] to empathise. I was 29 when the show was filmed, 30 was my life-changer. I am 31 now and I am watching it was all of you, an entertainment show.”
