Credit: Lauren Basset/Bravo
Laura Bileskalne spoke out with a statement on Instagram after being fired for inappropriate behavior amid production on the second season of Below Deck Down Under, which was filmed in 2022.
As Laura apologized to Adam Kodra, while blaming her bad behavior on her age and pointing out that Below Deck is an “entertainment show,” Captain Jason Chambers, who fired Luke Jones for the same reason after he was caught sneaking into Margot Sisson‘s bed while naked, weighed in.
“Hi everybody, I’m sure you’re digesting episodes six and seven as I am. I’ve had a flood of messages over the last 24 hours from people in similar situations, some not so lucky of the outcome, so my heart goes out to them,” Jason began in a video shared on Twitter.
“I’d like to thank the production team for breaking the fourth wall and stepping in, then reforming and allowing [Aesha Scott] to come to me in an authentic manner and us dealing with it as we would as captain and crew,” he continued. “I don’t know what goes on when crew go out. I’m not told. If it’s inadequate behavior, you’ve seen that production will actually inform me but unless a crew member complains of anything, like Adam, I wouldn’t know and as soon as Aesha brought it to my attention, I addressed it straight away so it’s real, it’s real-time.”
After noting that the incident happened “over a year ago,” Jason said he hopes Laura and Luke have begun walking on a better path.
“The people involved are all hopefully on a better journey to better themselves and less hate please and more love. But let’s send it home and know that this is not acceptable. Thank you very much,” he concluded.
Captain Jason shares his response to this week’s shocking episodes of #BelowDeckDownUnder. pic.twitter.com/MnYk7sPe6S
— Below Deck Sailing Yacht (@BelowDeckSailng) August 9, 2023
In Laura’s post, which included a photo of her sitting with Adam, who had a big smile on his face as he looked at her, she offered a “sincere” apology for not only acting inappropriately with Adam but for failing to empathize with Margot.
“My sincere apologies to Adam, I did not realize I made him feel uncomfortable and no one should be put in that position. And to Margot to not been able to empathize,” Laura wrote on August 8. “I was 29 when the show was filmed, 30 was my life-changer. I am 31 now and I am watching it as all of you, an entertainment show.”
Following Monday’s back-to-back episodes, which featured Laura and Luke’s firings, Aesha shared a video on her Instagram page in which she encouraged her fans and followers to look out for their friends.
“I just wanted to take the opportunity to come on here and just remind everyone of the main message that was shown on the episode, which is that women, and actually everyone, has the right to go out and have fun and feel safe and that is just the f-cking end of it,” she told her online audience. “There’s no questions or ifs or buts or maties. That is just the end of it. So please, please, just keep an eye on your friends. Keep an eye on your friends and we just need to share the love. Keep an eye out.”
As for Luke, he spoke out as well, saying, “It doesn’t matter what they think about you because you don’t care.”
Below Deck Down Under season two airs Mondays at 8/7c on Bravo.