After a successful first season working together, Captain Jason Chambers reunited with Chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph and deckhand Harry Van Vliet on Season 3 of Below Deck Down Under — but how did it go?
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Captain Jason caught up with The Daily Dish ahead of the Season 3 premiere on February 3, and he teased that the Katina crew faced some "challenging" moments in the Seychelles.
"There's a lot more boat romances, more than we actually had in the previous seasons, which is great," he said. "We do have a sous chef, [Anthony Bird] which is the first for the franchises, and it's, it's warranted too. It's a big galley, and it's a big boat. However, that's not always an asset."
As for what it was like to work with Tzarina again, Jason said she's "gotta manage people," though her food remains "fantastic."
"But now she has to work alongside someone as well, so we're gonna see," he added.
Elsewhere, Jason said he noticed some major changes with fellow returning cast member, Harry.
More specifically, the captain noted that the deckhand did "some great qualifications" in "challenging" locations in the off-season, and he also made strides in his personal life as well.
"He's really earned his spot, and he's got a bit more hair on his chin now. He's growing up a little bit," Jason continued. "I think he might have a little bit of a romance."
Chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph teases boatmances to come on Season 3
Tzarina also dished about the third season when she and Jason appeared together on the February 3 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
For starters, she reiterated Jason's point about the amount of romances on the show. "I actually felt like it was Love Island on a boat," she joked, though she didn't share any other details about who got involved.
Tzarina Mace-Ralph discusses her dynamics with Lara Rigby and Anthony Bird
Tzarina also opened up about her hot-and-cold relationship with chief stew Lara Rigby, who she worked with on a previous boat. It turns out that Tzarina thought the two were closer before they got on board together.
"I actually wasn’t nervous going on at all, we actually called almost every single day before going on the show and she really pumped me up," the chef explained on WWHL. "I was actually just a little bit shocked with her negativity from the get-go because it wasn’t what I was expecting when we started."
Tzarina added that it was a bit surprising to watch the episode back and see that Lara was less than enthusiastic about sharing a cabin with her.
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"We’d really been in communication for so long and she was like, 'I can't do it without you! You're amazing,' and then as soon as [she] stepped on it’s putting me down straight away," the Brit continued. "It was more my brain not understanding what’s happening, more than anything."
Tzarina's clash with Lara wasn't her only drama on the Season 3 premiere. She's also not getting along well with her sous-chef. When asked if she was intimidated by Anthony because he had just worked with a Michelin star chef, Tzarina said, "Not at all."
"I understand what goes into chef-ing and it’s very different when you’re on a yacht. And a Michelin star chef at a restaurant is a very different pace than being on a yacht," she said.
Learn about the "gross" issue that affected the galley on the Season 3 premiere here.
-Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
