EXCLUSIVE: The Chief Stew spoke to The Standard about her Below Deck future, reuniting with Captain Sandy Yawn and being put in the ‘toughest management position’ of her career
Aesha Scott made her Below Deck debut in 2019 as the lovable second stew with an unfiltered personality.
Over the years, she has become a beloved fixture in the reality TV franchise, returning as Chief Stew in 2021’s Below Deck Down Under.
Since then, fans have enjoyed watching the Kiwi climb the ranks, leading with kindness, and her camaraderie with Captain Jason Chambers as they tackled all the post-pandemic travel woes Northern Sun threw at them.
Now, Scott, after two seasons in Oz, has returned to the show that propelled her yachting career and reunited with the steadfast Captain Sandy Yawn on Below Deck Mediterranean much to viewers delight.
Sailing the Aegean high seas this time round, how does Scott feel about working with Yawn again and going back to where it all began?
“I was very, very nervous because I felt like coming back because I respect Captain Sandy so much,” she told The Standard.
“I worked for her as a second [stew]. I went away, I became a Chief Stew and I was just so nervous or like determined to prove to her that I had grown into a chief steward that she could be proud of and that was worthy to work with her.”
Only two episodes into season nine, and Scott has already given the franchise the energy injection it so desperately needed after a lacklustre season eight. So far, viewers have seen Mustique’s crew struggle to prepare the superyacht in time for their first charter, contend with a missing provisions delivery — and an even more glaring absence of rosé for their guests.
But that’s nothing compared to the drama that lies ahead. The Bravo star may have thought after a few seasons as a department head dealing with demanding guests and unexpected obstacles she was heading into a chilled season with her interior team – but my, was she wrong.
Instead, Scott revealed that her two inexperienced stews, Elena Dubaich and Bri Muller, put her in the toughest management position of her career.
She recalled: “It was the first time ever that I felt like I’d been really, really tested in terms of managing people because I knew I’ve got enough faith in myself, in my capabilities that I knew that I could do the job of the Chief Stew – I know how to do service, I know how to do housekeeping, I know how to work my ass off until I collapse.
“So, the actual physical work wasn’t the issue but this was the first time ever, I had my two stews, for all these different reasons that you’ll see, they just kept butting heads but when they were there around me, they’re like these little princesses, you know, and they’re both swearing black and blue that their stories are right and they’re both so convincing, and for someone that thought she could read people really well, I just was really struggling to kind of manage my girls and their personalities and their fighting.”
It got so intense between her stews Scott revealed that she had to seek guidance from Captain Sandy.
“It was the first time ever that I had to go to Sandy and I was like, ‘Look, I actually don’t know what to do. Can you lend me some of your wisdom?’” the New Zealand native said.
So, does that wisdom work? “Well, you have to watch but you know, Sandy, she always knows what to do,” the 31-year-old said with a smile.
While the first charter might be over, the tension onboard is already palpable. Given her positive working relationship with Captain Jason, I wondered whether Scott felt she had to change her approach with Captain Sandy given not only had it been four years since they had last worked together, but also, she had garnered a lot more yachting experience.
“I didn’t have to change my style because Sandy and Jason were actually the same in the sense that they both let me go and just run my department and run it how I want it,” she shared.
“They didn’t micromanage. They didn’t keep an eye on me. I just went off and did my own thing. And they trusted that I would do that.”
Scott added: “I guess with Jason, we had such a brother sister kind of relationship that I thought maybe with Sandy, it would be a little bit more like, ‘I’m your boss and you are my stew’, kind of thing, even though we’re friends as well.
“But it was really beautiful because over the season, Sandy and I actually started developing the same sort of relationship that I have with Jason and I would go to visit her in her cabin and we’d have a little giggle and we yeah, we ended up becoming really close friends and it was quite a beautiful thing to unfold.”
2024 has been a big year for Scott, who not only bought her first home with longtime love Scott Dobson but also announced their engagement last month after four years together. As her life on land goes in a new and exciting direction, Scott reassured fans that she’s not going anywhere from the Bravo franchise.
She, who is set to wed her partner in February 2025 in New Zealand, said: “I really want to keep doing Below Deck for as long as I can, as long as the network will have me.
“It’s been such a big year but I think one thing I love about [my fiancé] Scott and why we do work so well is that he is so supportive of me and my dreams and we’re so stable, he’s so secure in himself, there’s never any paranoia or any worry and he’s like ‘look, you go off you do your thing and when you come back, I’ll be here waiting for you with open arms’, you know.
“So, I think, it’s just as long as I want to keep doing it, I’ll keep doing it – and it’s so nice that when filming wraps, I can actually fly home to my own house and walk through the front door and flop on my couch.”
While Scott is keen to stay on board with the Below Deck franchise, she stayed mum on whether she’ll return to Below Deck Down Under, simply saying: “Well, you have to wait and see what gets announced.”
