Captain Jason reveals Below Deck Down Under season 3 changes after attempted sexual assault by crew member

Below Deck Down Under producers reinforced safety measures ahead of season 3 after Captain Jason Chambers and his season 2 crew almost experienced a sexual assault on the boat. 

After a night of heavy drinking for some crew members on Below Deck Down Under season 2, bosun Luke Jones stripped naked and locked himself in an unconscious female crew member's cabin. He refused to open the door until producers intervened and removed him from the cabin. Once Captain Jason was notified, he immediately escorted Jones off the boat and fired him the next day.

Heading into season 3, Captain Jason says Below Deck Down Under producers prioritized safety protocols by emphasizing "the policies and procedures that they had already in place and [were] used," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "We've seen them use it by helping out with stepping in," he adds, reflecting on how producers broke the fourth wall to remove Jones.

Captain Jason Chambers on 'Below Deck Down Under'.Fred Jagueneau/Bravo
As a result, alcohol consumption was curbed this season. "I don't know if I can say this, but there was a massive drop in alcohol intake," Captain Jason says. Weeks after the incident aired, NBCUniversal Entertainment strengthened its training and alcohol policy, which extended beyond the Below Deck franchise.

"It's always been the policy of production and Bravo that the crew go out and be adults and pay for their own drinks. That's fine. However, we monitor that," he says.

While the crew may be drinking less, Captain Jason insists it hasn't impacted the on-camera drama. "They actually got a hell of a lot more content," he shares. "The drama was still there. Crew still actually dropped their guard a little bit. However, they didn't get to the point that they couldn't get onto the boat properly. And the safety and dangers were paramount for me as a captain and production as well."

Overserved crew members were a point of contention during the latest season of Below Deck Sailing Yacht when Captain Glenn Shephard told a few select crew members they could accompany the guests onshore for a night out, but had to adhere to a two-cocktail minimum.

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First mate Gary King blew past that rule and sucked down 10 cocktails, but he wasn't the only one. A few other crew members had four or five drinks. While breaking that rule was bad enough, King became belligerent when Captain Glenn busted him for drinking too much.

So is trusting the crew to monitor their alcohol intake a bad idea? Captain Jason says crew members are adults and should be able to follow rules. Where he had an issue is how King reacted to being called out.

"Glenn is doing exactly what I would do," Captain Jason says. "These are the foundations we work in. Be adults above that and don't break the rules. And also Gary's behavior back towards Glenn on that was just quite a bit childish. Glenn had given him ample opportunity to be an adult, and Gary actually blew that. If he was with me, he probably wouldn't have a job."

Back in season 1, Captain Jason had his own case of a crew member violating the rule on drinking with guests. While the crew had been given permission to have a few drinks with guests on the last night of charter, deckhand Culver Bradbury was seemingly overserved. "He broke the rules a little bit on season 1, but that was the last charter, so he got away with it," Captain Jason notes. "There was no real proof there [either]. However, we do have a two-drink policy that's across the board, and some boats are actually zero. And to be quite honest, sometimes the zero policy works because you're not going to have this issue."

Below Deck Down Under season 3 premieres Monday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. Each episode streams the next day on Peacock.