Below Deck Down Under Season 3: Marina Hints At Being Frustrated With Lara's Leadership

Below Deck Down Under Season 3 has had no shortage of drama. There have been multiple firings aboard the Katina with Captain Jason Chambers making the final decision to let go of his sous chef, bosun and one of his deckhands so far this season. Additionally, there has continued to be a clash between department heads, most notably between chef stew Lara Rigby and chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph.

However, Lara is also having a few issues with her interior staff. She has not allowed stewardess Marina Marcondes de Barros to work in service. For most of the season, Marina has been kept in housekeeping, which she has called “the dungeon.” While she does an excellent job in her position, a chief stew should allow for her stew to learn and grow in other areas. Fans have even grown frustrated at Lara’s leadership style, with Captain Jason stepping in to make sure Marina gets the chance she deserves in service.

Below Deck Down Under’s Stew Marina Gets Frustrated With Chief Stew Lara For Keeping Her In Housekeeping

Brazilian native Marina Marcondes de Barros came aboard the Katina with 4 years of yachting experience as a stewardess. As Season 3 of Below Deck Down Under progressed, it became clear that Marina’s boss, chief stewardess Lara Rigby, was not giving her the opportunity to grow and learn, particularly by rotating the team to allow Marina a chance at working in service. Fans have watched Marina doing housekeeping and laundry duty all throughout the season.

In Episode 9, Marina decides to confront Lara about the possibility of allowing her to work in service where she could interact with charter guests. When Marina learned that she would be housekeeping on yet another charter, she asked Lara, “Do you still plan to do a rotation on service and housekeeping?” Lara then told her, “At this point, no,” adding that Marina is “strong” at housekeeping, so what would be the point. Lara tells her that she does do some service, like when the interior does late-night events with their guests, to which Marina replies, “Yeah, but I don’t actually do service. I just bring the plates with you.”

Stew/deck Adair Werley defends Marina during their conversation. She asked Lara why couldn’t Marina and stewardess Brianna Duffield switch this charter. In a confessional, Lara shared her frustrations:

“Am I missing something? We’re on a super yacht darling. I’m the chief stew and this is how we’re gonna run it. I don’t need your input girls. Seriously? What are you doing right now?”

Lara decided to end their conversation by sharing that this was how she was going to run her team and that was that.

After the episode aired, fans found it unfair that Lara would not allow Marina to work in service and get some experience. Some took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and shared, “Marina deserves an opportunity to serve!” Another person wrote, “I feel like Marina is being made to be the bad guy when she really isn’t. She’s rightfully frustrated when Laura said she would rotate and now she obviously favors Bri.”

Captain Jason Chambers Sides With Marina

In the following episode, Captain Jason speaks with Marina after she spoke to Lara about hoping to work in service. While Jason did not like how Marina handled the situation by not speaking to her chief stew in a private conversation, he did believe that she should be able to learn and grow and get a chance to work in all areas.

“Jason is a very smart guy. It’s very nice to feel validated by someone with so much experience. I see him as a mentor,” she shares in a confessional. “He sees how hard I’ve been working and putting myself into the job.”

In an interview with Us Weekly, Marina shared that she was happy to see Captain Jason standing up for her. Marina has every right to work in service and should get the experience if she were to ever want to move up in the yachting industry.

“I raised the concern that we weren’t rotating and that the situation was a little unfair. Laura didn’t take it very well,” Marina began.

“I didn’t want to create any conflict so I just made my peace with the fact that I was going to be housekeeping the whole time,” she shared. “But having [Captain] Jason [Chambers], somebody that I look up to, advocating on my behalf and showing that I am a hard worker and I deserve my chance to shine, it just gave me back my strength. I needed to go back there and ask [for what I wanted]. It felt like I wasn’t crazy.”

She continued, “I did deserve a chance to shine and I feel so blessed to have him by my side. I just hoped it made an effect on Laura.”

Marina also shaded Lara during an April appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. Playing a game in which she had to give advice to each one of her crew members, when asked about her chief stew she savagely shared, “You have 13 years of experience, you should know how a rotation works.” Ouch.

Marina Finally Got Her Chance To Shine Working In Service On Episode 12

In Episode 12, Marina finally gets to work a service shift during a charter. When Captain Jason learned that Lara and Adair would be going on a picnic on a beach with the guests, he proposed that Marina handle the service portion. Lara was hesitant at first. “She’s never done service on her own,” she tells him. However, the Captain urges Lara to “mix it up.”

“Lara is a great leader, but a part of being a leader is to make people strive to learn and grow. This is just a picnic setup on land. Marina can strengthen her skills, Bri can strengthen her housekeeping skills, and Lara can step out of her comfort zone and teach them both. So it’s a win win,” Captain Jason shares in a confessional.

Lara gives in and tells Marina that she will take over the picnic lunch off the boat. “I feel confident,” Marina states. Marina does an excellent job setting up a lovely picnic for the guests after a rum tour. She’s attentive to the guests and proved that she could be in service. She states that she’s “too cute and charismatic to be in the dungeon,” which she refers to as the laundry, and she’s right.

Lara admitted to being “impressed” by Marina, although she wished she would stay in housekeeping forever.

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New episodes of Below Deck Down Under air on Bravo on Mondays at 8/7c. Episodes are also available to stream the next day on Peacock.