Below Deck Down Under star Jason Chambers touched down in Sydney this week and he’s really feeling the love from his hometown fans.
The ‘hot captain’, 52, told Daily Mail Australia one particularly keen fan tracked him down inside the changing rooms at Bondi Junction Westfield.
‘I’ve experienced some really wonderful people over the last week I’ve been here,’ he said.
‘I was actually shopping in Bondi Junction the other day and I was getting changed when I met a fan.’
Jason was in the middle of putting his clothes back on when he discovered someone had spotted him and sidled into the dressing rooms unannounced.
‘I hear a guy call out, “Captain Jason! Is that you?”‘ he laughed. ‘And I went out and met his family and his children.’
On Wednesday, the reality star was in Potts Point when an 80-year-old woman with grey and purple hair did a double take.
‘She walked past me, did a bit of a U-turn, and said, “Can I get a photo with you? I watch you every say.”
‘Another group of young girls, sisters, ran up to me and and wanted to get a photo for their dad. So we’ve got the elderly, we’ve got old mate in the changing room, and we’ve got a father – Hitting all the demographics. I think our franchise does that, you know?’
On Valentine’s Day, Captain Jason will be meeting and greeting Aussie Below Deck fans at Dolphin Court next to Bondi Pavilion to celebrate his third season at the helm of Down Under.
The single father jokingly calls season three ‘the love boat’.
The series chronicles the lives of the crew members who work and reside aboard a 150-foot-plus superyacht during a six-week charter season.
Jason, who grew up on the Central Coast, has been working on superyachts away from home for 25 years.
‘The biggest gift this show has given me is my parents being able to see me, and see what I do,’ he said.
‘And now that my dad’s got Alzheimer’s, it’s probably the best present I’ve given him in the last few years.’
The 52-year-old, who is a hot commodity amongst the wealthy female charter guests, admits he’s a ‘hustler’.
‘I grew up in a pretty chill world, working in the Gosford RSL and as a plumber – nothing like these kind of people,’ he said, referencing the guests who can drop $876,000 to charter a boat for one week.
‘That’s where we shine in the industry as Australians. We have that ability to accept everyone for who they are, and at the end of the day, I don’t care if they want us to jump up and down like puppets.
‘If you want me to jump in a pair of Budgie Smugglers and pay me more money, I’m in. We’re after that money at the end of the week and that’s what we’re focused on.’
Jason has kept tight-lipped on exactly how big the tips were for that particular stunt, which he said Chief Stew Aesha Scott ‘kind of forced me into’ in seasons one and two.
Without the straight-talking Kiwi by his side this year he said there’s a lot of turmoil among new staff and even a threat of someone being fired on day one.
A sexual misconduct scandal erupted on the Bravo series in 2023 after a boozy night out in Cairns, resulting in two crew members being sacked from the series.
Bosun Luke Jones was terminated after climbing into the bed of Margot Sisson, who was fast asleep in her underwear, ‘without consent’.
‘I actually put the hammer down and I will not tolerate anything like that,’ Jason told Daily Mai Australia, while also revealing he has been in contact with his ex-staff.
‘I don’t let people go, and they have both become better people,’ he said. ‘Luke has gone on to understand what he’s done and he now runs health retreats.’
‘I’m glad that opportunity to step up and bring awareness to a real problem had a positive resolution for everyone in the end.’
Jason shares daughter Saskia, 10, with his ex-wife Fuchsia Quinn.
Much to the disappointment of Below Deck fans, that has kept him out of the dating pool for some time.
‘If I was a regular yacht captain, I’d be away from my daughter for ten months of the year,’ he said.
‘So for me it’s a lot better to be away for short periods of time.
‘These years are so valuable to me.’
When Saskia is a little older Jason said he might be able to captain some longer charters.
Season 3 promises scandal in Seychelles as romances between staff and guests boil over from every direction.
And as for Jason’s love life?
‘I feel like this year I’m putting a lot of things into line so that then I can seriously look at bringing someone into my life in 2026,’ he said. ‘It is getting to that moment where I can start collecting CVs.
‘But in the last two years that would have been taking time away from my daughter.’
