When it comes to delicious dishes, the chefs on Below Deck always deliver. And no one quite does it like Chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph. Coming to television prominence during the second season of Below Deck Down Under, fans were delighted to see the fabulous chef back on board. Reuniting with her Season 2 crew, Captain Jason Chambers and deckhand Harry Van Vliet, Chef Tzarina was beyond excited. But this season was going to be like no other in Below Deck history. Not only because they were shifting locales from Australia to the Seychelles, but because of the new crew joining the team.
For the first time ever, Below Deck employed a Sous Chef to help in the galley. It was a brilliant idea due to the size of the motor yacht, but from the start, Chef Tzarina and Sous Chef Anthony Bird didn't quite get on. Chaos in the galley! But as Chef Tzarina teased, it's just the tip of the excitement to come on Season 3. She said, "This is literally just the beginning, and what you have to come is actually insane."
Chef Tzarina Is Watching 'Below Deck Down Under' From Behind the Couch
COLLIDER: When she's in the gallery, you know your meal is going to be off the charts. It's the fabulous Chef Tzarina! How are you? How's it going?
TZARINA MACE-RALPH: Oh, I'm great. How are you?
COLLIDER: I'm doing so well. Congratulations on this season. I am having such a blast. It's such a good season.
TZARINA: I think this season is going to go down in history. This is literally just the beginning, and what you have to come is actually insane. I don't know how anyone's going to watch it. I'm watching it from behind the sofa each time.
COLLIDER: How did you get into the world of food and further into this high-stakes world of yachting?
TZARINA: So I was a school dropout, and my mom said I had to do something. So, like 14, 15, years old, I went and started my culinary school and different trainings and stuff. And I was actually doing was actually doing hairdressing on the side. Not a hairdresser. Just worked my way up until six years ago, I got into the yachting world, which just completely changed my life.
COLLIDER: The Seychelles is proving to be a stunning location. Talk to me about working in this gorgeous locale.
TZARINA: We were so lucky that we got to see the Seychelles, because it was also on my bucket list. Unfortunately for me, I was locked in a metal galley without a window for 20 hours a day. So I didn't see as much as everyone else, but the parts that I did see were really, really beautiful.
COLLIDER: Let's talk about Katina. What a beauty. She had some challenges on board. You had the stunning gallery three floors below. What were some of the differences between Katina and Northern Sun from Season 2?
TZARINA: To tell the truth, as much as I complained about that corridor of a small galley on Season 2, it was actually better than the one in Katina. Yeah, I couldn't really handle the one in Katina very well. It was so big.
COLLIDER: Speaking of Season 2, we had a reunion this season. You got to work with Captain Jason and Harry again. What was it like being with them?
TZARINA: I just felt so lucky. Out of everyone that I could have worked with, I'm just so glad that I got to work for Jason. Obviously, who wouldn't. And then I had my gorgeous little brother, Harry, back. So I was over the moon.
COLLIDER: One of my favorite parts about Below Deck is learning about the wild preference sheets that the guests have. You've had some challenges over the years, but in your entire yachting career, what's been the most challenging preference sheet you've experienced?
TZARINA: To tell the truth, I definitely think the harder ones are on Below Deck. I think mainly because we don't have as much time to prepare ourselves for it. But I have worked with clients who are literally almost free from everything, and this trying to navigate what you can make with probably about 10 ingredients, and try and make it exciting each day. And it does get quite difficult, because if they're there for three weeks, then you really start running out of ideas.
COLLIDER: What would be on your preference sheet?
TZARINA: I am actually a really boring eater. I could actually have tomato pasta, breakfast, lunch, and dinner and just not complain. You know, I also don't eat a lot. So yeah, I actually think I'll be a pretty easy charter guest, apart from all my allergies and the fact that I don't have pork or shellfish and stuff like that.
COLLIDER: We've had some fun meals requested by charter guests before. Is there a theme or a cuisine or a party that you would love to curate one day?
TZARINA: What if I was a charter guest?
COLLIDER: As a charter guest or as a chef, that has not been on your bucket list yet?
TZARINA: Oh, I don't know. to tell the truth, I actually get more excited about what's chucked at me. You know, I've never had the opportunity to think, "What would I want?" because I'm always told what to do. But I'm really excited to see in the future what different parties and preferences I'm going to have, because I do like a challenge as much as I complain about it, I do actually enjoy it.
Related
Chef Tzarina Sets the Record Straight on the Sous Chef's Job Description
COLLIDER: Now this season, we had a first for Below Deck, a Sous Chef. Before we discuss, Anthony, in your opinion, what is the role of a Sous Chef on a mega yacht?
TZARINA: Well, that's actually a super yacht, not a mega yacht.
COLLIDER: Fair.
TZARINA: No no, it's because it is a huge difference. Anthony actually came from mega yachts. And on a super yacht, it's a very different role. I actually, well watching, because I did obviously second guest myself, I Googled "60 meter sous chef job role," and it's exactly what I asked him to do. You support the head chef. You just make sure that everything is clean and tidy around them. You cook crew food, but normally, the head chef actually tells you what to cook, and gives you a menu to do the crew food. And at the head chef's discretion, you might be able to do some guest food.
COLLIDER: So you weren't going crazy.
TZARINA: No, I wasn't, and I'm so glad I validated myself, because I've been going crazy for a year, and I feel like I should have just Googled it then and shown him.
COLLIDER: What was your reaction when Captain Jason told you you were getting a sous chef?
TZARINA: I was so happy, but also nervous, because I knew we were getting a sous chef, and I hadn't seen the galley yet. That downstairs, it would have meant that it would have been a legal requirement. So I was like, that galley is going to be huge, if I need a sous chef. And I walked in, I was like, holy guacamole. I'm so glad I have a pair of hands to help me.
COLLIDER: And you walked in there, and it wasn't in the best condition either.
TZARINA: No, unfortunately, not.
COLLIDER: You two did butt heads a little bit. But what was your initial read on Anthony?
TZARINA: The hard thing is, is that normally, I pick my sous chefs, and I've always had really, really incredible sous chefs to work with. I'm so lucky. And so having, you know, obviously someone else hired the sous chef for me, I personally, he wouldn't be the actual personality type that I would hire. I think that's why I actually struggled managing him so much, because I've never put myself in a situation where I have to manage that sort of personality.
COLLIDER: Sure. And he definitely had his own expectations of what he wanted to do, which, again, we learned is not what his role was supposed to be. But when he went and started looking for a job, what else were you supposed to do?
TZARINA: I mean, I don't know. I'm kind of happy that he just went ahead and did that, because otherwise, I think I just would have put myself through torture. And to be honest, I was much happier alone, you know.
COLLIDER: It is a stressful job, but you always produce some of the most amazing culinary moments. What has been your proudest moment throughout your Below Deck tenure?
TZARINA: Oh, I don't know. I think just the fact that I get out food I'm so proud of. It's just the moment where I always worry downstairs, you can always see me pacing before I go up and see the guests. And when I go up and get appreciation, it's like this release of like, "Oh, I can actually sleep tonight," because otherwise I worry too much. And also, like the next morning, when you're like, "And no one died," you know, no one got food poisoning. Everyone's alive, everyone's happy. I am in a good place right now.
Chef Tzarina Wants to Be a Drag Queen
COLLIDER: So, the first two seasons, we had all fallen in love with Chief Stew Aesha Scott, but this season, she was not there. But you did have a reunion of your own, where you had previously worked with Chief Stew Lara Rigby before. What was it like getting a chance to work with her again?
TZARINA: I was so excited. I very much convinced her that she absolutely has to do it. Unfortunately, we do have bumps and hiccups, but I think it's bound to happen when you're working on a boat that size and that many stairs, and in that heat. That heat's going to come out in the crew. It's just very normal that it's going to happen. So it begins to get a little bit heated at times. But I'm just so glad that she actually went ahead and did it, and I just really hope that she doesn't regret her experience.
COLLIDER: It's really fascinating to go from Aesha, who we know is really sweet and kind and loving, and Lara has a bit more of a rougher exterior. For you as a chef, do you prefer one working style over the other?
TZARINA: I mean, I just feel so honored that I got to work with Aesha because she is so professional and so good and skilled at her job, and she made my life so much easier. And I don't understand how, with the amount of stress that she has on these boats, she's always smiling. And she never shouts, and she never loses her cool. And I actually really inspire to that woman. And I think because she's obviously done the show before, and it's basically where she began, we've all seen her growth. She's just gonna nail it every time. But I think with Lara stepping into something that was alien to her, and the amount of pressure that she had with that boat as well, I think there's definitely, there's some challenges there. But I much prefer the positive attitude board and also someone to be weird with, because I felt like I couldn't be weird this season.
COLLIDER: I mean, Aesha is beautifully weird.
TZARINA: I love her.
COLLIDER: She's on my dream list to meet one day. I adore her.
TZARINA: You have to wear earbuds!
COLLIDER: One thing that I really appreciate about Below Deck is yes, we live for the drama. We love when the hookups happen. But one of my favorite scenes was when you went into the cabin to console Lara, because it proved that in this pressure cooker and being a dysfunctional family, you really do love and care about each other. What is it about this environment that brings the crew so close to one another?
TZARINA: Trauma bonding? No, no, I think like we're all in it together at the end of the day, and we're doing something incredible. I think that just over time, with my 16 years being a chef, I'm very used to being screamed at in restaurants by head chefs and really, really abused. But then as soon as it's all over, you're sat at the bar having a beer, being like, "Good job mate. We got through it.' And that's how, what I was used to for years. So I think at the end of the day, you never want to see someone upset. You, yourself knows how hard it is, and you just have to support each other to get through it.
COLLIDER: You are a legend of Below Deck. We have seen many, many other legends. But is there anyone within the Below Deck Cinematic Universe you would love to work with in the future?
TZARINA: I mean, I would die to work with Aesha again. And also, I hung out with Kate Chastain a bit, and I would love to see what she's like as the chief stewardess. She'd probably hate working with me, but I wouldn't care. You know, it will all be for me. But yeah, there's so many incredible people that come out of Below Deck, you know. And I just think it'd be an honor just to meet new people. And also Hayley [De Sola Pinto] and I, she was on OGm big red head, we hang out a lot and chat all the time, and I don't think we'll be allowed together, just because our sense of humor and us together is too much. I don't think people will be able to handle it.
COLLIDER: To be honest, I would love to see you with Fraser [Olender] as well,
TZARINA: I know! I've spoken to Fraser a little bit, but I don't know. Fraser is very perfect, as well. I think my more grungy attitude towards things, that maybe it wouldn't be a perfect fit, but it would be an honor to try and impress him.
COLLIDER: So when you're not yachting and cooking, what is your favorite pastime? What do you like to do in your downtime?
TZARINA: I've definitely had a lazier year because I took a year off from yachting. Because I actually hadn't been back to the UK and seen family in almost nine years, I think. So I managed to have so much nice family time. Go and see the grandparents, steal in all of my grandparents' clothes, and get a new wardrobe from them. I love, yeah, just being around people. I'm not a big drinker, so anything that we can do that isn't drinking. I'm a TV fanatic and like crime documentaries, but my best thing in the world, which I can't get enough of, is I'm obsessed with going to drag queen shows, and I just can't say no to a drag queen. I could be on my death bed, and my housemate would come out, being like, "Do you want to see drag queens tonight?," and my leg would just come out of bed, come crawling out. I'm gonna go see them! So yeah, that's my happy place.
COLLIDER: Well, when we get to hang out one day, we are definitely going to drag shows. I used to produce drag shows frequently, so let's do it. We're going.
TZARINA: Oh my god, stop it. I love it. So my goal being this year in America and all the drag queens I've been hanging out with is that I want to do a drag show.
COLLIDER: Let's do it! Let's make it happen.
TZARINA: Yeah, I would love that. You're going to call me. I literally, I want the wig. I want everything I know my songs, I want to do, and I want to perform as a drag queen.
COLLIDER: I'm here for it. We're going to make it happen.
TZARINA: Yes!
COLLIDER: Chef, it's amazing chatting with you, and congratulations on the incredible season.
TZARINA: Thank you so much. And thank you for giving me your time today. I really appreciate it.
