How to Watch
Watch Below Deck Down Under on Bravo Monday, Feb. 3 at 8/7c and next day on Peacock. Catch up on the Bravo app.
Captain Jason Chambers made history as the head of the largest-ever vessel ever seen in the Below Deck franchise, as Season 3 of Below Deck Down Under set sail in the Seychelles. But he didn't know there was a big problem lurking down in the depths of the super yacht just before it left on its first charter.
“We’re east of Africa,” Captain Jason said in Episode 1. “South of the Maldives. We are in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It’s a top-notch destination.”
That first-class destination means an even more first-class vessel: motor yacht Katina. Both the crew and guests were immediately impressed by its gleaming floors, large cabins, and yachting rarity: an elevator.
“Holy guacamole — wow! There’s a piano!” said returning Below Deck yachtie, head chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph, when she walked on. “Oh my god, it’s like a cruise ship.”
In addition to Captain Jason and Tzarina, deck hand Harry Van Vliet also returned for Season 3. Before guests arrived in the season premiere, Tzarina was busy cleaning the galley from top to bottom with her sous chef Anthony Bird, when she made a disturbing discovery.
“S---. Oh no. You’ve got to be kidding me. Oh god, that’s horrible!” she exclaimed while cleaning shelves in a cabinet.
Keep reading to see what the crew found aboard Katina.
What did Chef Tzarina find while cleaning the galley aboard Katina?
Something creepy was crawling among the bags of noodles, rice and flour in the galley of Katina: weevils and maggots. Weevils are small beetles, according to the University of Minnesota, while a maggot is the second stage of a fly's life cycle, after an egg, per USA Today.
“It’s gross,” Tzarina declared, while Anthony added, “There’s no excuse for this … oh, there’s f---ing loads of them.”
When the chefs checked the dry food storage area of the vessel, more weevils were discovered walking among rice.
“It’s always f---ing something, right?” Tzarina said with just hours to go before the first charter guests stepped on board. “I’m losing my cool.”
What did the Below Deck Down Under crew do to deal with the maggot and weevil infestation?
Tzarina and Anthony immediately began cleaning the galley and throwing away infested food.
“I have to chuck everything away only to make sure there’s no eggs laid everywhere,” Tzarina said. “I need to bleach everything. Super yacht standard means that charter guests won’t get a little bug in their pasta salad.”
The chefs also alerted Captain Jason to the problem, with Tzarina remarking, “The chef before honestly wasn’t cleaning properly.”
Tubs, containers, shelves — the whole galley had to be dismantled and sanitized.
“The guests come in 12 hours. Now we got a whole full clean to do. Not a good start,” Jason said.
Harry jumped in to help empty all the shelves and throw all of the dry goods away off the yacht.
“Join yachting, they say! Pick up boxes full of maggots, eh?” he joked as he worked. “At least I’m not outside in the heat. Could be worse.”
Anthony was naturally disappointed that this had happened.
“In the environment’s I’ve worked on in yachting, the galley’s absolutely spotless. So yeah, I’m a little bit like, ‘What have I got myself in for?’” he said.
He stayed up until close to 1 a.m. cleaning the galley from top to bottom, impressing his boss.
“So much better in here, mate! You are a legend with a capital L,” Tzarina said to him the next morning.
