Any of us should be so lucky in life to have Andy Cohen as our wingman.
Two years of the Grand Poobah of Bravo joking about setting up Below Deck: Down Under captain Jason Chambers with any of the single Real Housewives or Vanderpump Rules stars on the network culminated with Cohen becoming a sentient version of Tinder at BravoCon on Friday night.
At a taping of the network’s The Bravos award show, Chambers may have been the Bravolebrity with the most screen time, outside of Cohen. At the show—which is, it must be said, both the stupidest and most fun industry event this writer has ever attended—Chambers’ single status was a main topic of conversation. (Something that should excite any eligible bachelorette who saw Chambers in his “budgie smugglers” this past season.)
First, Cohen paraded Chambers past Bravo’s finest single ladies, including Real Housewives of New York’s Brynn Whitfield, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Garcelle Beauvais, and Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent. When he introduced Chambers to RHONY alum Sonja Morgan, she high-kicked her leg in the air, leading Cohen to ask who was on her “snatch guard” duty that night.
When, later in the evening, Cohen asked whether the audience “agreed or disagreed” that Chambers would get lucky at BravoCon, Morgan turned around to give a very enthusiastic “AGREE” to the audience.
It’s all silly fun, which Chambers told The Daily Beast’s Obsessed the morning after The Bravos taping in Las Vegas. It also epitomizes the tonal push-and-pull that has been defining Bravo lately. While the thirsting over Chambers is a very tongue-in-cheek aspect of his presence on the network, so too is his role in shepherding the network to a more progressive place.
Chambers and his Below Deck: Down Under chief steward Aesha Scott earned major praise for how they handled a horrifying incident of sexual assault that occurred while two crew members were intoxicated. A tick-tock depiction of how the crew, led by Chambers and Scott, quickly moved to address the matter had never been seen on a reality show, which was eye-opening for a genre that, some would say, encourages debaucherous behavior.
So, while Obsessed was at BravoCon, we chatted with Chambers and Scott about those two polar-opposite, buzzy experiences—the horniness for Chambers and the reaction to those episodes—and what it’s like to be at a fan event with the tonal whiplash of talking about both.
I’ve never seen someone root so hard for someone to get laid as Andy Cohen did for you last night.
Chambers: You’ve got to have fun with it. You know, we work. I’m a yacht captain. I’ve got things to do. But then this is the second BravoCon I’ve come to. It’s part of the entertainment. It’s an enjoyable thing. It’s Andy's thing. I find it quite funny. I’m not that stiff. Let’s have fun!
Aesha, how do you feel when everyone is talking about banging your boss?
Scott: It’s very entertaining. Yes, I very much respect Jason. He is my boss in the workplace. But he’s more like my brother, you know? So it’s good to tease my brother all weekend.
It must be a really strange experience to be at BravoCon this year. I’ve been overhearing so many people ask you about those sexual assault episodes of Below Deck, and then you also have this really funny experience of being here with people celebrating the show and trying to get Jason laid.
Chambers: I think that’s part of what we’re doing. This is a reality show, filming us at work. But then there’s the show side of it. And with that comes the audience. And with that comes the press. And with that comes some situations that we need to voice out and be able to keep talking about. We’re here for a short moment. Let’s be positive about the outcome of what happened and tell everyone.
Scott: It’s just a really great opportunity for us to keep setting the precedent and spread some really positive messages. Yeah.
Do you remember how you felt when you first watched the episode?
Scott: I really had goosebumps watching it. I felt a little bit upset watching it. Because I did so much to stop anything from happening. And in watching it, I kind of again felt a little bit like I failed her in a way. I saw something start to happen. And so I definitely felt a little bit upset watching it. But I just was so grateful that the messages went out there that we’re both standing up for what should happen in that situation.
And Jason, you didn’t see those things that Aesha was doing to try to keep this incident from happening beforehand. What was it like for you to watch that in the episode?
Chambers: Season 1, I was told that I’m too much of a friend, not a captain. Season 2, I still brought the same game. That’s who I am. And me being that sort of her captain allows me to really be in contact with my crew and understand them. So when she came to me, I knew that that action had to be made. And I wanted a good night’s sleep and to talk it over the next morning. Looking back on it, we definitely made the right moves. And I’m so glad that I didn’t react and let it bubble up and take action verbally. I actually just played it out. I thought about it and thought about everyone involved and still do, and hopefully everyone learns from it and becomes a better person.
Scott: It’s just amazing that you believed me. I came knocking on the door at two in the morning. He sent someone off the boat purely based on my word. And I think that that says a lot about the respect we have in our relationship.
