Entertainment

A 'Below Deck' Fan Favorite Returns

by Laura Rosenfeld

The moment we've waited for all season finally arrived during Tuesday night's episode of Below Deck. Though I was sad to hear that Chef Ben Robinson wouldn't be the ship's cook at the start of Below Deck, one of the things that has kept my spirits up has been the knowledge that he would eventually return to the show sometime during the season. The only question was when that fateful day would come. When it looked like Leon would be in trouble during Tuesday night's episode, I had a feeling that this would be the moment we would see Ben return to Below Deck .

With Leon's sudden departure and Rocky's not-so-stellar dinner service, the Eros was desperately in need of a chef to help keep the guests happy with just two more charters left of the season. And who better for Captain Lee to call than Ben, who served as the Below Deck chef during the first two seasons of the show. The Brit wasn't available at the start of the season for some reason, but I always say, a little Ben is better than no Ben at all. OK, I actually never say that, but that sentiment definitely applies in this situation.

After Leon's exit, Rocky was missing one of her only allies on the ship, so she was hoping a new chef that no one had worked with before would bring a new dynamic to the Eros. Unfortunately for Rocky, about half of the crewmembers had worked with Ben before, so Rocky could feel left out of the team once again in the next few episodes. For some reason, Emile didn't seem too thrilled to see Ben either. His first impression of the chef was that he seemed cocky, which is true, but so is the deckhand, so these two could either get along swimmingly or be at each other's throats due to their strong similarities.

The person that was most excited to see Ben was of course Kate. Though their initial relationship wasn't too different from the one between Kate and Leon, Kate and Ben eventually got along so well, their relationship even took on a romantic nature. Judging by the way Kate's eyes lit up more when she saw Ben than at any other point this season, I wouldn't be surprised if these two became romantically involved again this season. Eros is the Greek god of love, after all. Let's see if this ship can truly live up to its namesake before we're done with another season of Below Deck.

Image: Justin Stephens/Bravo