The New 'Below Deck' Chef Is Surprisingly Drama Free — So Far

The seventh season of Below Deck is underway, and with it, a new cast to stir up drama at sea. Along with returning cast members Captain Lee, chief stewart Kate Chastain, and bosun Ashton Pienaar there are a bunch of new faces, including the new Below Deck chef, Kevin Dobson. Dobson replaces last season's chef, Adrian Martin, and he'll likely remind viewers of beloved yacht chef Ben Robinson, who was on four seasons of Below Deck and two seasons of Below Deck Mediterranean.

The basics on Dobson's career as a chef are laid out in his Bravo bio. The New Zealander (he's from near Lake Tekapo) started attending culinary school when he was only 14 years old. The career was a great fit, he "moved up the ranks of the culinary world," and ended up working in both the U.S. and Australia. After he welcomed a daughter, he took up cooking on yachts in order to provide for her. He's worked on yachts in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and around the Pacific Islands. Now, this season of Below Deck is taking him to Thailand.

Dobson is currently based in Melbourne, Australia, and, according to Bravo, goes home whenever he can to visit his daughter and his partner, Jazmin, who he's posted about on social media.

Whether he's hanging with his loved ones back home, working, or filming Below Deck, it seems like Dobson has a great time. On the 31-year-old chef's Instagram, he just seems like a drama free dude, who is passionate about food, loves traveling, and is a big rugby fan.

And now, he's also excited about the newest chapter in his life: star of a hit American reality TV show. Dobson posted a lot about the series leading up to the October 7 premiere. In his official announcement, he wrote, "It's outta the bag! Went and done something yacht like. Keep pushing always. Watch me blow my lid in the just released trailer." He has also shared a photo with "the lads" and a few pictures from the yacht kitchen, including this delicious looking spread:

Dobson took part in some behind-the-scenes videos for the show, too. In one, the cast members share what they packed, and Dobson's featured items are pretty innocuous: a pair of sweatpants, his knives, and a good luck marble. He also gave a tour of the Valor yacht kitchen with Chastain, and it looks like he's very particular about his set up — and also about not letting the chief stew use his fridges for her own food.

As for the actual show, so far, Dobson has been seen getting sick ahead of cooking a big meal for guests and getting annoyed at Chastain for not giving him instructions on when guests' lunch should go out. Judging by the trailer for the season, it doesn't look like he's going to be responsible for a ton of drama, but it does seem like he has some more run-ins with Chastain, and also is involved in what looks like a drunken fight-ish thing in a car. Hard to tell what's going on there, but it doesn't look too serious.

Regardless of how much drama he brings, it looks like Dobson will bring some good food to the table, and like things definitely won't be going to the way they did with Below Deck Med last season...