{"id":344753,"date":"2026-03-24T04:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/344753\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T04:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T04:37:09","slug":"ben-is-the-worst-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/344753\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben is The Worst Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n Ben\u2019s whining, delegation, and, worst of all, demeaning pet names have finally caused Ellie to short-circuit.
\n Photo: Bravo\n <\/p>\n

We all knew the peace in the galley couldn\u2019t last. Ellie, who has become notorious in the franchise for being explosive,\u00a0if also hard-working,\u00a0had been surprisingly chill this season, especially given Ben\u2019s \u2026 idiosyncratic way of speaking to women. Many readers had already noticed the chef\u2019s grating habit of calling his assistants \u201choney,\u201d \u201cbunny,\u201d \u201cbooboo,\u201d \u201cbabe,\u201d and other such pet names, but so far, it didn\u2019t seem to affect Ellie. But combined with Ben\u2019s pitying self-regard, his whining, and his constant stealing off to take baths, go for swims, and have glasses of wine, Ellie starts to get the nagging feeling that she\u2019s working harder than her boss.<\/p>\n

She brings up the pet name issue with Jo\u00e3o after they get back to the boat from their night out. Jo\u00e3o had asked Daisy to join him for a glass of wine in the main saloon, but Daisy was too tired, and Ellie \u2014 not as worried as Jenna about being second choice \u2014 showed up instead; at least she brought chocolate. Jenna turns her attention back to Ben after giving Eddy a piece of her mind on the way home. Ben, weary of getting involved in any messy love triangles, asks Eddy what happened, and Eddy shrugs that he has ruined his chances for good. \u201cShe wouldn\u2019t say that unless you had a chance,\u201d Ben offers, which is concerning. Thankfully, Eddy doesn\u2019t seem inclined to pretend that a woman means the opposite of what she says. Going forward, he plans to put his head down, learn his lesson, and hope that Jenna will soften towards him with time.<\/p>\n

In the main saloon, Ellie asks for Jo\u00e3o\u2019s advice on how to handle Ben\u2019s name-calling. Jo\u00e3o makes a fair point that Ben calls everyone by a pet name \u2014 the editors back him up by showing evidence of Ben calling various crew \u201clove,\u201d \u201cgorgeous,\u201d \u201csweetie pie,\u201d and others \u2014\u00a0but Ellie has an even stronger point: He is her boss, and it\u2019s not only inappropriate but also diminishing to be constantly called \u201cbooboo.\u201d She\u2019s no honey bun, she\u2019s a war survivor! Jo\u00e3o advises her to bring it up to the chef directly. She might have still been wondering how to phrase her concern when, in the morning, Ben decides to go for a swim early in their shift to \u201cwake up,\u201d which only adds insult to injury. Ellie vents to Daisy that, despite Ben\u2019s promise that she could have a late start in exchange for cleaning the galley while he took a bath the previous day, when she clocked in this morning, not only was Ben still not there, but he had also left for a swim almost as soon as he arrived.<\/p>\n

At least when he comes back, the new oven will have arrived. Alesia has the idea to put red bows on it, and as Ben marvels at his new gadget, Alesia stands next to Jason, with the captain\u2019s arms draped around her shoulders, looking happily on as if she had bought the oven herself. This is the same pair who were just chatting in the crew mess. Alesia appeared to apologize to the captain for leaving the helmet behind and to promise it will never happen again \u2014\u00a0that she will never even have the helmet again. In a confessional, she acknowledges she was given a second chance, which means the stakes are high for her to prove her dedication to the job.<\/p>\n

In fact, the whole crew is heading into the incoming charter with a renewed air of optimism, despite the hangovers. It will be a challenging four-day charter \u2014 a concept with which Ben wasn\u2019t familiar \u2014 that will double as a vow renewal for co-primaries Marc and Clay. They even request Jason to officiate a ceremony on deck. Daisy feels the pressure of delivering an unforgettable experience to match a special moment, so it makes her feel good that Mike demonstrates a desire to improve and promises to have her back. Daisy is so struck by this spontaneous show of goodwill that she brings him in for a hug, congratulating him on taking the time to reflect. We might call this the Katina\u2019s gun principle: if every member of the crew displays unusual amounts of gameness in the first act, by the third act their morale will have completely worn off.<\/p>\n

Daisy brings up Ellie\u2019s complaints with Ben, though she dresses them up as her own observation, taking care not to throw Ellie under the bus. Ben, who is worried about developing a reputation as The Worst Boss in the World, pulls Ellie aside for a talk. He\u2019s confident that his assistant is a \u201ctrooper,\u201d adept at handling pressure, so he\u2019s not worried about their dynamic. Even when she tells him that she felt it was insensitive of him to take a bath while she cleaned the galley alone, he apologizes for his behavior and encourages her to communicate with him. Ellie decides to pick her battles and save discussion about the pet name problem for another time, so they can close the conversation on a productive note. It\u2019s a fatal mistake.<\/p>\n

This talk happens before the charter begins, so Ben is still relatively rested, rejuvenated by his swim, and open to feedback: It would be the perfect time for Ellie to bring up her reservations, ensuring they start the new charter with a clean slate. It\u2019s supremely annoying that Ellie has to walk on eggshells around her boss, and even more annoying that Ben keeps bringing up the fact that he learned by having knives and chairs thrown at him. Especially in light of recent revelations<\/a> about the working conditions at the world-renowned Danish restaurant Noma, these comments have aged terribly, inexcusably. Maybe I\u2019m naive, but it seems like Ben would have received Ellie\u2019s concerns about the pet names with an open mind. But bottled up, the problem only gets worse.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Alesia\u2019s honest effort to be a more proactive stew sets the team back. Daisy instructs her to focus on making beds and forget the laundry, but Alesia can\u2019t help herself from folding one million towels in the middle of the boat 40 minutes before the guest\u2019s arrival. Jenna comes to the rescue while Daisy tells Alesia to make sure she finishes every job she starts. After some light flirting with Jo\u00e3o in the crew mess, the chief stew is ready to welcome the guests. Everything is going swimmingly \u2014\u00a0undocking is smooth, Clay, Marc, and their extravagantly dressed guests seem like a great time \u2014\u00a0until, as she\u2019s unpacking, Neshea finds a (clean, but still gross) panty liner stuck to the inside of her closet. It\u2019s a bad first impression for the interior team, and it doesn\u2019t help that Mike runs around the boat telling everyone except the captain about it. The honor of telling Jason falls to Daisy, and he warns her to step up her game. As second stew, Jenna is supposed to detail the cabins and keep an eye on \u201cTweedledum and Tweedledummer,\u201d as she called Mike and Alesia, and she readily takes responsibility for the incident. Daisy is only too happy to let her have it and offload some weight from her shoulders. Jenna indeed is her second in command, but Daisy is the boss who runs inspections; if anyone should have the last word on detailing, it should be her. For such a reliable, no-nonsense chief stew, this was an uncharacteristically weak moment from Daisy.<\/p>\n

While the guests enjoy the water toys, one of them, Christina, wonkily steps onto the boat from the floating platform. Eddy offers her a hand, but she refuses it and ends up landing on her head. Jason gives her an ice pack and asks her to let him know if she feels nauseous or tired, but he\u2019s the only one concerned: the other guests chalk it up to good ol\u2019 drunkenness. She is fine by the time they are ready to sit down for their Pride-themed dinner. Alesia set a beautiful table with Betul\u2019s help, and up until here, team morale is strong: Alesia and Mike even congratulate each other on doing a good job. Despite some bickering in the galley before service \u2014 Ellie gets Daisy\u2019s go-ahead to start plating, but Ben prefers to wait until Daisy and her team are waiting in the galley before putting food on the plate, so that it won\u2019t get cold, which irritates both sides of the counter \u2014 dinner goes well. The guests are happy with the food, and by the end of the night, Ellie is still feeling good enough to hit on Jo\u00e3o.<\/p>\n

The next morning, though, the crew\u2019s \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together\u201d vibe has already started to fray. Mike waltzes into the galley and orders an omelette from Ben. It\u2019s so astounding that Alesia, who was also in the galley, advises him never to do that again. Mike, who was probably the worst kind of kid on the playground, immediately goes to Ben to tell him what Alesia said. Ben sticks up for Alesia: she was only trying to help, and it is inappropriate for him to ask the chef for \u2026 anything. Noticing that he\u2019s in the wrong, Mike immediately becomes defensive, barking at Alesia that she can\u2019t tell him what to do. For her part, Alesia finds Daisy, who is up to here with being made to play principal while managing these two. Why can\u2019t they just be quiet and do their jobs? She is shocked that Mike would have the gall to ask Ben for an omelette, though, and tells him that even if Alesia was harsher than she needed to be, he should not be ordering food from the chef.<\/p>\n

Imagine Mike\u2019s Schadenfreude later, when Alexander comes up to him to say that there\u2019s no toilet paper in his and Neshea\u2019s cabin, the very same cabin Alesia turned around (and which had the panty liner stuck to the wall). There is glee in his voice when he finds Daisy, Jenna, and Alesia all together in the pantry, ready to receive this news. Jenna and Daisy are one mistake away from losing it on their two subordinates, and given the start they\u2019ve had to the charter, they\u2019ll have to spend the next three days redeeming their service. Meanwhile, on deck, Betul and Marc have a touching moment when he tells her that his sister, Sofia, didn\u2019t know he was gay; and now Sofia is expressing her best wishes for his happiness and thanking him for taking her on such a nice trip. Betul, who knows a thing or two about breaking free of familial ties, is emotional and warm in her response.<\/p>\n

Whatever wholesome energy might have accumulated in the air from that exchange dissipates as soon as we\u2019re thrown back in the galley. Ellie, who has been enduring being called all manner of \u201choneybun\u201d throughout the day, becomes exasperated, asking Ben to sharpen knives, sending herself to get into blacks, and ordering Ben to do the same. He senses the vibe shift, and things explode when Ben makes a chiding comment about the speed with which she\u2019s setting up the charcuterie board. In a slight overreaction, she spits at him that she will \u201cnever, ever, ever\u201d be spoken to like that again. It makes sense that Ben would be on edge about timing, as the galley has been chronically late this season, but once she\u2019s started, Ellie is off to the races: her name is Elena, not \u201choney,\u201d not \u201cbunny.\u201d She is frighteningly articulate when she tells her boss that he is \u201can emotional anchor around the galley team\u2019s neck, dragging us to the bottom.\u201d Their argument escalates, running the gamut from Ellie\u2019s bossing him around to his lack of organization and the need for them to be \u201cin a better mood.\u201d The nail in the coffin is when Ben says that she\u2019s more sensitive than he thought. That is it for Elena, who marches out of the galley and up the Katina\u2019s many levels, storming past wide-eyed stews and unsuspecting guests, ignoring the fact that service has basically already started, in order to reach Jason on the sundeck. The woman is seeing red!<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Housewives Institute Bulletin<\/p>\n

Dame Brian Moylan breaks down all the gossip and drama, on- and off-screen, for dedicated students of the Reality Television Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Notice<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben\u2019s whining, delegation, and, worst of all, demeaning pet names have finally caused Ellie to short-circuit. Photo: Bravo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[44493,4908,156,111,139,69,1678,1093,1679,437,1677],"class_list":["post-344753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-below-deck-down-under","tag-bravo","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overnights","tag-reality-tv","tag-recaps","tag-tv","tag-tv-recaps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}