{"id":679483,"date":"2026-05-19T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/679483\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:05:16","slug":"below-deck-down-under-recap-jenna-has-a-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/679483\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Below Deck Down Under\u2019 Recap: Jenna Has a Meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n The entire crew succumbs to personal and professional drama, but no one gets as messy as Jenna.
\n Photo: Bravo\n <\/p>\n

Remember a couple of weeks ago<\/a>, when Jason woke up to the boat\u2019s main salon in a state of disarray after the crew\u2019s night off, and how exasperated he was at the mess they left? That\u2019s how I felt returning to \u201cCoconut Bar\u201d with the crew this week. Nothing is in its place, everything is chaos. While Jenna and Ben have their break-up conversation, Jo\u00e3o continues to try to convince Daisy to date him, and Barbie encourages Eddy to walk away from Jenna once and for all. By the end of the night, all perspective has been lost. People are yelling, slamming doors, and stomping up and down the stairs.<\/p>\n

Well, by \u201cpeople,\u201d I mean Jenna. Still at the bar, after Ben walks away from their conversation, she cries to Daisy that she likes both Eddy and Ben, and Daisy \u2014 never one to mince words \u2014 advises her to \u201cstay the fuck away from the two of them.\u201d Instead, Jenna confronts Eddy about showing Ben her text. Eddy looks her dead in the eye and lies, saying that he didn\u2019t show Ben the text, only told him about it. Everyone\u2019s erratic behavior is, of course, exacerbated by the fact that they\u2019ve been doing shots all night \u2014 which also explains why, back on the boat, all inhibitions fly out the window.<\/p>\n

In their cabin, Ben tells Eddy that he and Jenna kissed \u201ca week ago,\u201d the night Jenna cabin-hopped from Ben\u2019s bed to Eddy\u2019s. Eddy wants to talk to Jenna and straighten things out, but Ben advises him not to. She\u2019s playing them both! \u201cYou\u2019re being a wuss, dude,\u201d Ben lamely says. Barbie, having experienced this shitshow for 12 or so hours, declares that she\u2019s \u201cdone being on Eddy\u2019s team,\u201d as he\u2019s determined to \u201cchase [Jenna] around like a puppy.\u201d Eddy chases Jenna, but Jenna chases Ben: She tries to make amends, but Ben tells her that he doesn\u2019t care to start whatever it is they were about to start anymore.<\/p>\n

Jenna loses it. She goes on a rampage, stomping up the stairs to yell at Eddy in front of the rest of the crew, climbing over the furniture, and escaping Daisy\u2019s grip. Alesia and Jo\u00e3o try to talk her down, but Jenna is not in any state to listen. She even takes a dig at Alesia about her former almost-involvement with Eddy, and when she finally gets back to her cabin, she locks the door and refuses to open it to Daisy, who bangs on it. It\u2019s very \u201cteenage girl in a fight with her mom\u201d vibes. The crew goes to bed with that drunken sense of foreboding about what the morning will bring: remorse and a brutal hangover. Only Jo\u00e3o has a positive experience of the night, because he gets to share his cabin with the love of his life, Daisy. \u201cThis has been my favorite season because of you,\u201d he tells her. Daisy is sufficiently charmed that she climbs into his bed and kisses him good night.<\/p>\n

Before we address the repercussions of Jenna\u2019s rampage, a word on Daisy and Jo\u00e3o: By the end of the episode, their reluctant fling seems to be a-go. On a wine date, Jo\u00e3o wants to talk about Daisy\u2019s hot-and-cold behavior: They cuddle at night, but in the morning, she tends to act as if nothing happened. \u201cThis will break us,\u201d he dramatically says. Daisy assures him that she likes him, but doesn\u2019t give him much more than that. \u201cI\u2019m having my own inner conflict,\u201d she explains; she has been the victim of one too many disastrous boatmances. Despite vowing to keep up with her pace, all Jo\u00e3o is doing with these conversations is pushing Daisy to get involved. If you strip away the niceties, what he\u2019s asking sounds a lot like: \u201cWhy haven\u2019t we made out yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the morning, sweet, oblivious Eddy texts Jenna: \u201cCan I come give you a hug?\u201d Little does he know Jenna is in the guest cabin with Ben, making up. Eddy looks all around the boat for Jenna while she and Ben talk about how Eddy is not \u201cstrong\u201d enough to be with her. Jenna tells Ben, \u201cI need a dominant man so that I can be submissive,\u201d then proceeds to make out with him. I\u2019ve defended Jenna this whole season because I think she is funny and a hard worker, but this is where I draw the line. I want to mail her a copy of The Second Sex or something. Eddy finally finds Jenna in bed with Ben. He mopes around for the rest of the day. Jenna and Ben recognize they went a step too far; Jenna admits that she wouldn\u2019t have liked to be treated the same way. Ben goes to Jason for advice. The captain encourages him to have a difficult but honest conversation with Eddy, but Eddy doesn\u2019t want to talk. He doesn\u2019t want to talk to Jenna, either. In fact, he doesn\u2019t want to talk to anyone.<\/p>\n

I feel for Eddy. I do! I know boatmances move at an intense clip compared to real-life involvements, and that there\u2019s incentive from production to ramp up the drama. That said, Eddy and Jenna went on one date. It seems like Eddy is less hurt that Jenna doesn\u2019t want anything to do with him than that he got played on television, which has to sting. But I\u2019d rather he be upfront about that than affect this sorrow over a week-long relationship. Jason speaks to Eddy. His solid advice is that if it\u2019s this hard to get along with someone, they\u2019re probably not the right person for him. This is the moment that got teased at the end of last week\u2019s episode<\/a> and made me think Eddy would quit, and though he tells Jason, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I want to be here,\u201d the captain talks him out of it. He assures Eddy that he\u2019s a great person and a \u201cvital part of the crew,\u201d and encourages him to focus on work so they can finish the season strong. Jason gives him a nice, big, dad-like hug. It\u2019s what Eddy needed. Okay, that was touching.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the rumor mill gets to work. Ben tells Jo\u00e3o that he and Jenna kissed, and Jo\u00e3o relays the information to Daisy, Barbie, and Alesia. Jenna admits to the kiss to Alesia and Betul, who is the only one to point out, in a confessional, that Eddy \u201cdid a really similar thing with Alesia.\u201d The gossiping is interrupted by the second-to-last preference sheet meeting of the season. We meet James and his boyfriend Kai, who are coming from Los Angeles with a group of friends. James is a landscape designer, and in perfect L.A. fashion, he name-drops several celebrities when explaining his job. They come across lowkey enough on the preference sheet \u2014 they want a \u201cGarden of Adam\u201d theme for dinner, but leave the food up to the chef \u2014 but when they get onboard, they have several shirts to be steamed, request their things to be unpacked, and have highly specific drink orders, like \u201cGrey Goose with still water and muddled ginger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the guest pick-up, though, Jason has to mend his broken crew. He calls Daisy to his office to get a full picture of what happened. Daisy is not pleased with her second stew\u2019s behavior \u2014 Jenna caused discord among all departments. Jason is surprised that Jenna acted out so badly when she\u2019s been a solid second stew, and worries that if things go on this way, he might lose a deckie. So, the next morning, he decides to teach Jenna a lesson by taking away her second-stew stripe. Her offense is not grounds for dismissal, but he needs to uphold the standards he has been setting throughout the season. Jenna takes her demotion like a champ and only cries when she gets to the pantry downstairs. Alesia comforts her and encourages her to work hard to earn her stripe back, but in a confessional, she says that Jenna deserved it.<\/p>\n

Everyone on the boat agrees that Jenna deserved a little reprisal. Even Jenna\u2019s mom tells her over the phone that she needs to stop seeking male validation and focus on herself. That her mom is so reasonable and direct, and that Jenna is genuinely remorseful, are the two things that redeem her messy behavior. To me, it\u2019s obvious that Jenna is still kind of a kid \u2014 she\u2019s only 22! \u2014 and she regrets her actions. Eddy doesn\u2019t want to listen to her apologies, preferring to get his closure from dubious-sounding podcasts about women\u2019s evil ways. He also doesn\u2019t want to hear apologies from Ben. First, when Ben tries to make up, Eddy rejects his apology: \u201cI\u2019ll be honest,\u201d he says, \u201cI think you\u2019re a massive prick.\u201d The next day, his head cooled a little, Eddy tells Ben that he was emotional the day before and knows they both got played, so he wants to make sure Ben is okay, too. Ben appreciates the gesture and promises him not to pursue things with Jenna any further.<\/p>\n

The most touching moment in this emotionally fraught episode is a brief exchange between Betul and Jenna. After Jenna tries to apologize to Eddy again, to no avail, Betul comforts her crying friend. \u201cI fucked up, Betul,\u201d Jenna laments. \u201cI know,\u201d Betul says, rubbing Jenna\u2019s back, \u201cSometimes, we all fuck up.\u201d Without absolving Jenna of her mistake, Betul gives her some grace. It\u2019s the rare kind of humanity extended to another person on reality television, where mistakes and lapses of judgement are plot fodder. It\u2019s indicative of the strength of this season that we get a moment like this on air. It\u2019s also indicative of the strength of the season that, after 30 straight minutes of interpersonal drama, we get to watch the workplace fall apart. It\u2019s relentless!<\/p>\n

Daisy and Ben start bickering when Daisy asks Ben to set out the crew lunch earlier next time. Ellie suggests they serve Lucky Charms to the crew instead, which makes Ben laugh and would almost certainly make Daisy apoplectic if she heard it herself. When, later, Jenna quips to Daisy that at least her demotion means Ellie gets to move up in the line-up, which she has been dying to do since the minute she arrived, Daisy is ticked off. As a galley-hand, Ellie still ranks below Jenna; or, in Daisy\u2019s words, \u201cShe\u2019s the lowest person on the boat!\u201d Yet all Ben does is \u201cinflate her ego.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the guests enjoy the water toys, Ben comes up to the bar to break things off with Jenna for good\u2026 I think. He puts it very confusingly. \u201cLook, there\u2019s quite a few moving parts on this, but I feel like it\u2019s pretty easy to screw up on my position,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no hostility, I\u2019m here to do a job, that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d Ben is twenty years older than Jenna. His saying, in a confessional, that Jenna\u2019s demotion is \u201can example for everyone\u201d is unseemly at best. He could stand to take way more responsibility for this whole mess and be a lot wiser.<\/p>\n

He could also be wiser about dinner service. He wants to serve whole snapper, which would require the servers to filet the fish table-side. Daisy tells him, in no uncertain terms, that his idea won\u2019t work: Not only does no one know how to filet a fish, but she doesn\u2019t have enough hands to do that in a timely manner. She asks Ben to come up with a different plan, but he maintains that a whole fish presentation is what the snapper deserves. Both Daisy and Ben expect a difficult service, but they are both too headstrong to budge. Ben doesn\u2019t change the snapper\u2019s presentation, and Daisy doesn\u2019t come up with a plan for how to tackle the filleting table-side. So, what happens when the fish finally comes to the table \u2014 including to Jason, who is eating with the guests \u2014 is that no one knows what to do, least of all the guests.<\/p>\n

There were at least a couple of alternative solutions: Ben could have taken a second to demonstrate to the stews how to do the filleting, or he could have deboned and butterflied the fish himself. But both of these options would involve a lot more work when time is in short supply. The service is embarrassing. The guests fumble with their fish; Jason has to help them, and even Jo\u00e3o steps up. To make matters worse, when Ben comes upstairs to help where he can, there is not a stew in sight \u2014 Jenna and Daisy are both inside filling drink orders while Barbie and Alesia are in cabins. I\u2019m Daisy\u2019s No. 1 defender, but she did jump ship when things didn\u2019t go her way. She could\u2019ve at least tried to figure something out. Either way, the blame game is unproductive. As Jason points out, the real culprit is the miscommunication between the galley and the interior.<\/p>\n

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