Laura Bileskalne isn’t concerned about how she has been perceived following Below Deck Down Under‘s season 2 consent scandal.
“I have always been mentally prepared that there will be negative messages for one topic or other, you can’t go on a reality show when having a strong personality and a character and expect people not to have opinions,” she wrote via her Instagram Story on Thursday, August 10. “This is reality TV, you have to be interesting enough to make people talk, that is basically the goal of good TV. Nobody is going to talk about how good the deco looked or how the drinks were at preferred temperature.”
Laura tagged Margot Sisson and Adam Kodra in the message while hinting that she was on good terns with her former costars. “I find it beautiful that we have this support for each other,” she added. “Even when the support for such topics means few hatred messages in my DMs. I don’t take them personally but rather as a sign that people care. And are invested in the show, which is also very good to see.”
During back-to-back episodes of the hit Bravo series, which aired on Monday, August 7, Luke Jones was shown getting into bed naked with Margot, who at the time was passed out after a crew night out. Producers made Luke leave her room and he was fired by Captain Jason the next morning.
Laura, for her part, got let go after she blamed Margot for Luke’s termination. Laura’s questionable romantic advances toward Adam were also mentioned by Jason as a reason for her dismissal.
“Sorry Adam that it was so hard to hide that I liked you. I might have been a little obnoxious. And thank you for accepting my apology,” Laura concluded in Thursday’s post before calling out viewer outrage. “You can’t stand [against] harassment with harassment. It just cancels it out. And I will not support social media bullying or harassment. It’s just wrong, but that’s on you this time.”
The second season of Below Deck Down Under has recently been making headlines after Luke and Laura’s controversial exits.
Laura originally addressed the drama on Tuesday, August 8, writing via Instagram, “My sincere apologies to Adam, I did not realize I made him feel uncomfortable and no one should be put in that position. And to Margot to not been [sic] able to empathize. I was 29 when the show was filmed, 30 was my life-changer. I am 31 now and I am watching it as all of you, an entertainment show.”
Meanwhile, Jason has used his platform to remind viewers to have more empathy.
“I’m sure you’re digesting episode six and seven as I am. I’ve had a flood of messages over the last 24 hours from people in similar situations, some not so lucky of the outcome, so my heart goes out to them,” he said in an Instagram clip on Wednesday, August 9. “I’d like to thank the production team for breaking the fourth wall, and stepping in. Then reforming and allowing Aesha to come to me in an authentic manner and us dealing with it as we would as captain and crew. … Look this happened over a year ago and again I’ll stress the people involved are all, hopefully, on a better journey to better themselves.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
