‘Below Deck’ Benny Crawler Slams Jamie Sayed’s ‘Dangerous’ Leadership

Below Deck Down Under star Ben “Benny” Crawler says he was in fear of his life while working on the yacht. The deckhand also opened up about the fallout of his working relationship with boatswain Jamie Sayed. As fans already know, the two butted heads for much of the season. Benny previously said in his confessional that he doesn’t respond to authority well.

It wasn’t just Jamie’s leadership style he had a problem with. Benny also didn’t like doing the jobs he was asked to do. He felt like he was being put in danger. The two are no longer on speaking terms after they filmed the premiere season.

Benny Crawler addresses his feud with Jamie Sayed

In a new interview with Daily Mail Australia, Benny said they haven’t spoken since after they filmed Below Deck Down Under. He didn’t appreciate Jamie talking negatively about him on the show and in press interviews. The 34-year-old called out his boss for his “dangerous” way of handling the job. He felt it was risky to enter a chain locker on the boat, which put him in a panic.

Benny didn’t like the way Jamie reacted to his anxiety. He felt that Jamie was flippant to his concerns about safety. However, Benny was genuinely scared to lose his life. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do the job. He just didn’t want to lose a limb or his life since he was green.

“It was actually really intense. A lot of the time  I was having to watch my back,” Benny told Daily Mail Australia. “It culminates with the fishing and the chain locker. That was so dangerous. I don’t give a f*** what anybody says, that’s not safe.”

The entrepreneur went through a lot a year before joining Below Deck Down Under. Benny lost both of his parents. He enter the yachting industry, hoping to fill a void left by the family he was grieving. Benny found himself in some risk-taking situations that had him fearful about doing his job.

“I had come out of fear of death with my parents, I’m in a three-by-two-meter thing, chains filling up in there. S***’s dangerous,” Benny explained. “No instruction, I don’t know who these people are, who’s controlling it.”

Not on speaking terms with Below Deck crew members

Ultimately, he didn’t trust Jamie’s leadership abilities. They had issues from the moment they started working together. Benny sided with Aesha Scott and Brittini Burton in their own feuds with Jamie. The former police officer didn’t like it when the girls jokingly called him a “b****” after a drunken crew night out.

Benny confirmed that he and Jamie are no longer friends. They attempted a friendship after filming Below Deck Down Under. However, it quickly ended when Benny realized that Jamie was talking poorly about him in interviews. Benny also stopped speaking to Chef Ryan McKeown, who was the villain of the season.

Captain Jason Chambers fired him in a previous episode of the Below Deck series. Though the two were friends, Benny didn’t agree with his behavior on social media when Below Deck Down Under premiered. Benny admits that Ryan was “lovely” to him, but he didn’t want that energy around him.

His comments come after Jamie claims that Brittini and Aesha “bullied” him on the show. Jamie argued that he can’t “trust” his Below Deck crew members any longer. What are your thoughts on what Benny said about Jamie? Sound off below in the comment section.

New episodes of Below Deck Down Under drop on Thursdays on Peacock.