Never seen on TV. While testimonies on sexual assaults on reality TV sets have followed one another for years, the productions had maintained silence. The taboo was broken on Monday by the show Below Deck Down Underan American program, and with style: two attempted sexual assaults, filmed and which the teams prevented by intervening, were broadcast during the program.
The broadcast of these images was widely welcomed on Twitter (now X) by American viewers. What is this show? What happened in the episode aired on Monday? What were the reactions in the United States and from those concerned? 20 Minutes takes stock.
What is “Below Deck Down Under”?
The show is the third concept spin-off Below Deck, in which we follow the crew of a luxury yacht on a cruise. In addition to the ten seasons of the original show, there are seven seasons of Below Deck Mediterraneanfour of Below Deck Sailing Yacht and one of Below Deck Adventurewhich takes place in the fjords of Norway. Below Deck Down Under is currently in the middle of its second season and is set in Australia.
The show follows the adventures of the crew of Captain Jason Chambers, known for hitting a Queensland wharf with a superyacht in 2019, aboard the Northern Sun, a yacht over 50 m long. The plot focuses on the relationships between the nine crew members and the surprises of life on board, ranging from broken laundry to pirate-themed parties, in forty-two-minute episodes. Monday’s episode was the 7th in a series that has 11 announced, followed on average by just under 800,000 viewers in the United States, on the Bravo channel.
What happened on Monday’s episode “The Turnover Day”?
After a drunken evening during a stopover in Cairns, the staff is back on board. Margot Sisson, one of the stewardesses, then confided to Aesha Scott, her chef, that “all I want is water and a bed, not Luke”, another crew member who told her make advances. A power outage occurs on board the boat and Aesha Scott has to leave Margot Sisson alone in her room. The cameras then film Luke Jones, dressed only in a towel around his waist, entering the bedroom and slipping into Margot’s bed.
“Luke, man, stop, you can’t do this!” She’s sleeping,” a member of the production team shouts at her on the doorstep. We then see Luke, naked, getting out of Margot’s bed and trying to close the door. In front of the firmness of the members of the production, Luke Jones then goes to his room, shouting to them “go fuck yourself”.
Questioned a few moments later by Aesha Scott, Margot Sisson indicated that she was “asleep”, that she had “not invited him at all” and that, “on a scale of 1 to 10” drunkenness , it was “at 10”.
Later in the same episode, another crew member, Laura Bileskane, tries to get closer to her colleague Adam Kodra and touch him touching her body, despite repeated “noes”. She follows him to his room and sits on his bunk, tending to give him a massage despite new repeated refusals. “Laura, I had a message from production, they are asking you to come down,” a member of the production team intervenes again. Laura Bileskane runs with bad grace and joins… Luke Jones in his room, who then assures him that he has done nothing wrong and has simply “sat” near Margot Sisson.
What were the reactions of the crew, the production and the public?
The versions were confronted in the presence of Captain Jason Chambers. Laura Bileskane notably defends, always in front of the cameras, Luke Jones, assuring Margot Sisson: “I don’t think he was planning anything bad. He didn’t want to rape you or anything. “Luke Jones and Laura Bileskane are sent back in the early morning, at the end of an episode whose name clearly announced “the day of the turnover”.
While Luke Jones did not publicly comment on the episode’s release, Laura Bileskane expressed her “sincere apologies” to Margot Sisson and Adam Kodra on Instagram. “I was 29 when the show was filmed, my 30s were a change in my life. I’m 31 now and I watch it like all of you, as entertainment,” she adds.
On Twitter, many reality TV aficionados are hailing the reaction from the crew and production, which had the footage for over a year. “Last night was the most powerful ‘Below Deck Down Under’ I’ve ever seen. Thanks to the heroes, Captain Jason, Aesha and the production, for standing up against sexual harassment,” wrote one viewer. “’Below Deck Down Under’ was infuriating, heartbreaking, but it was also heartwarming to see good people coming together to support Margot. Aesha, Jason and the production team were quick to act and did the right thing. “No” means “no” and drinking is NOT an excuse!!! “, greets another.
For the moment, no one seems to question the sincerity of the behavior of the various people involved. It remains to be seen if the spotlight on the show will have an effect on the audiences of the 8th episode, entitled Great Expectationsscheduled for next Monday…