The Australian Bravo reality TV series Below Deck Down Under has caught everyone’s attention this week by doing exactly what we ask from every show being produced…and that is ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of everyone on the set. The show follows the lives of crew members working and living six weeks on a super-yacht as they sail the seas of Australia. It documents the struggles of the crew members adjusting to their new work life and relationships with each other. To the avid watchers of the show, the production crew and Captain Jason Chambers are already well known for breaking the fourth wall to ensure the cast’s safety. During the previous seasons, the production crew has been praised on incidents including Ashton Pienaar’s near-death experience, protecting Kate Chastain from on-set violence, and helping Hannah Ferrier through a panic attack. But this new consent scandal just hits differently. Two cast members even ended up losing their job on the show.

Jason Chambers Shows Us What a Real Captain Is

During the recently aired episode, we witness an undressed Luke Jones climbing into cast member Margot Sisson‘s bed while she is completely blacked out. This leads to the production crew intervening once again and stopping Luke. However, that doesn’t go down well as Luke starts throwing a tantrum not understanding why he is being stopped. Captain Jason himself is then forced to step up and remove Luke from the boat for that night. The next morning Luke gets fired when cast members Margot and Aesha Scott voice their discomfort with his actions.

Following this horrible incident, we have Laura Bileskalne who decides to go at odds with all her cast members and side with Luke. Laura believed that Luke was not to blame for the whole situation. She went as far as going to Margot and saying, “Poor Luke. I wish he had come in and seen me.” This was also when Captain Jason discovers how Laura had also disrespected co-star Adam Kodra’s boundaries and had tried to kiss him without his consent. Regarding this Jason says to her. “Adam feels uncomfortable with some moments out, and he’s tried to say no. You have not listened to him and his boundaries to be set.” Laura Bileskalne is then fired and asked to leave the show.

In the past, we have heard numerous incidents of entertainment show cast members being exploited on set. But Below Deck Down Under is now being praised for setting a beautiful example of what consent looks like in our reality shows and how production crews should be responding to a situation where the boundaries of a cast member are crossed. During the episode Jason sets up a meeting to give the cast members and production crew some strong reminders. He said, “We had an incident last night and I want to stress that this is a place where we respect each other. Our cabin is our safety zone. That door is our boundary. That door is not to be opened unless it is consensual. To walk into someone else’s room without consent indecent is my limit.”