Chef Ben Robinson has a new sous chef on Below Deck Down Under. Shockingly, it’s Elena “Ellie” Dubaich from Below Deck Mediterranean. Now, Ben and Ellie have never filmed together before. Yet, they already knew each other, thanks to a previous run-in outside of filming. Here’s the tea.
What went down between Chef Ben and Elena before BDDU Season 4?
Ellie came aboard in Episode 3, after Ben’s original sous chef threw in her towel. But as Ben explained, he already knew who she was. “I wrote to her two weeks ago, because I saw her on Instagram. And I really liked her page,” he said in his talking head.
He continued, “And I said, ‘Would you like to come for a drink?’ And now, she’s my f*cking sous chef. Sh*t, the powers of manifestation!” However, as Ben recently clarified on the BDDU After Show, he didn’t just randomly message Ellie one day.
Instead, “I had met her a month or so prior, very briefly, at a party,” Ben stressed. “And one of her photos came up, and then I looked at her Instagram.” But did Ellie ever take Ben up on his offer for drinks? No, she did not.
Like Ellie said, “I was home in Slovenia at the time. So I couldn’t go. But, if I had been in [Ft.] Lauderdale, I probably would have gone.”
As to why Ben originally landed in her DMs, “We’re both Europeans, and you know, she’s very smart. She speaks, like, seven languages. I’m pretty deprived of interesting friends, you know, where I live in Ft. Lauderdale, and I thought it’d be cool.”
But also, Ben’s still grieving his broken engagement. So, “I thought it’d be nice to have a chat. I was trying to get out of my shell,” he ended.
Below Deck Down Under continues Mondays at 8/7c on Bravo. It streams on Peacock.
TELL US – WILL ELLIE AND BEN GRAB DRINKS ON BDDU? COULD SPARKS FLY?
