During Below Deck Down Under Season 4, Episodes 8 and 9, Elena “Ellie” Dubaich approached Captain Jason Chambers in the middle of dinner service with complaints about chef Ben Robinson. On the Below Deck Down Under After Show, the captain gave his blunt assessment of the situation.
“Storming through the boat and coming straight up to the captain, in front of guests, is not the way to handle it,” he declared. “Obviously, everyone’s looking at her going, ‘What is the problem here?’”
Captain Jason continued, “Yes, I do have to listen to her. I have to have empathy for this situation [and] her boundaries. I have to have respect for them as well.”
Still, he felt the whole situation could have been handled much better. “For her to storm off like that, it’s just like — just have a talk to him,” Jason added. “You know?”
Ben Robinson and Ellie Dubaich’s drama, explained
To recap: An argument broke out between the chef and chef’s assistant in the galley, with Ellie’s chief complaints being Ben’s management style and his use of pet names towards her. The blow-up played out in front of the entire crew during the March 30 episode of Below Deck Down Under. After Ellie had relayed her issues to Captain Jason, Ben attempted to speak with Ellie about the situation.
“So, how do you feel your reaction to it all was?” Ben asked Ellie in the galley after dinner service had ended.
“My reaction was justified because you were belittling me, and I stood up for myself, which I will continue doing,” she answered.
In this confessional during the episode, Ben shared his side. “I would definitely have taken this on board better with a professional conversation, and I would have listened,” he said. “I didn’t actually mean any harm by any of this.”
Ben, like Captain Jason, felt the timing of the complaint made the whole situation worse. “I just feel like there’s a golden rule, particularly in service, if you have a problem with your boss, or whatever, during service, you save it ’til after service. Or maybe discuss it the next morning,” Ben explained during the After Show.
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But Ellie explained why she couldn’t bite her tongue any longer. “I just had tunnel vision at that point,” she shared on the After Show. “I saw and heard charter guests somewhere. There were like muffled signs of charter guests. But I did not really care at that point. I was just gone.”
She continued, “I was determined to just not have my worth diminished any further.”
Captain Jason Chambers weighs in on Ben Robinson and Ellie Dubaich’s galley fight
After the charter ended and guests departed, Jason was forced to deal with the tension between Ben and Ellie. He had constructive criticism for both parties.
Jason told Ben his “terms of endearment” weren’t “appropriate.”
“It isn’t sitting right with her,” the Captain explained to his chef. “That’s something you have to work on. There needs to be some respect.”
On the other hand, he explained to Ellie that she took the situation “too far.”
“If there’s a tone you’re not happy with, that’s a work environment conversation,” he told her. “You don’t have to escalate to swearing, yelling…you have an obligation [to] deal with it in a professional manner. Storming past the guests—they noticed. Then downstairs, we’ve got that going on in front of the other crew.”
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Jason concluded, “You went over the line. All this could have been handled with a mature approach like two adults.”
As Episode 9 came to a conclusion, Jason told Ellie and Ben to sit in the bridge together and hash out their problems.
“I’m not sure where we stand or how we can get through a season together,” Ellie told producers. “I’m kinda feeling like my job is on the line here, so I need to figure out how to get through the season with him, because I’m not going to lose my job over this man.”
ICYMI, Ben and Ellie have more history off the boat — read all on their off-camera relationship.
