‘Below Deck’: Captain Jason Fires Sous Chef Anthony Before He Has Chance to Quit

Captain Jason Chambers wasn’t messing around on Monday’s (February 17) episode of Below Deck Down Under as he fired his first crew member before the second charter had even concluded.

The situation came about after sous chef Anthony Bird clashed with head chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph, leading to lots of back-and-forth bickering and high tension on the boat. Even though Chambers tried to get the two working on the same page, his efforts proved futile.

“We have to work together. You have some managing to do. It is your department, fix it,” Chambers told Mace-Ralph, per Us Weekly, adding to camera, “Every galley is full of egos with chefs. But at the end of the day, there is one head chef and a sous chef. He needs to step in line and she needs to take control.”

However, Mace-Ralph failed to control Bird, saying in confessional, “My mind has been racing so hard about how I am meant to manage Anthony to make him do what his job is and what I need him to do. It is early in the charter season so I need Jason to see that I can manage my own department.”

The two chefs continued to butt heads, with Bird claiming he felt he was been “taken advantage of.” Bird also felt insulted when Mace-Ralph said he should take a break and lie down, calling her “patronizing.”

“I just feel a bit insulted. I am struggling to get on with her,” Bird explained to a friend on the phone. “She’s an awkward character and I can’t work like this. I have to work in a dirty galley and put up with dirty food. I’m just caught within a weird situation for me to be in.”

He also threw shade at Mace-Ralph’s cooking, saying, “I am really glad to showcase my cooking style which is modern with flavor and a bit more passion put into it. Tzarina’s cooking is a little more basic with a flower on top.”

Things escalated when Bird was caught searching for a new job while still working on Chambers’ charter. “At this point, I am just a bit over it. She’s not a great manager and if I am being honest, I don’t respect her as a chef and I don’t feel like I am being treated like a human,” Bird said. “So I am ready to leave because I can’t take any more of this bull****.”

After realizing the situation wouldn’t resolve itself, Chambers told Mace-Ralph she could let Bird go if things weren’t working out. However, she didn’t get a chance to make a decision either way, because Bird told her he’d found another job and would be leaving after two more characters.

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When Mace-Ralph passed this information on to Chambers, he flexed his captain’s powers and decided to fire Bird on the spot.

“You feel like the environment is not for you and you have a better opportunity? I just find it hard to be halfway through a season and jump off and find another job,” Chambers told the sous chef. “You can go today — this morning. Pack your stuff up there and that is just the way I operate.”

Season 3 of Below Deck Down Under follows Chambers, Mace-Ralph, and long-time deckhand Harry Van Vilet. They are joined by newbies bosun Wihan Du Toit, chief stew Lara Rigby, deckhands Johnny Arvanitis and Adair Werley, and stews Brianna Duffield and Marina Marcondes de Barros.

Below Deck Down Under, Season 3, Mondays, 8 pm et, Bravo