Meet the New Below Deck Second Stew, Leigh-Ann Smith — Who Already Has a Connection to Ben Willoughby

The St. David crew has officially picked up their new second stew. 

After Alissa Humber’s firing on the February 20 episode of Below Deck, Captain Sandy Yawn and the rest of the yachties were introduced to new addition Leigh-Ann Smith on the following episode — though deckhand Ben Willoughby already knew who she was. 

As the Australian revealed to bosun Ross McHarg and fellow deckhands Katie Glaser and Tony Duarte on Episode 13, he’s intimately acquainted with Leigh-Ann.

“We’ve got so many nudes of each other on our phones,” he said. 

In an interview, Ben couldn’t get over the fact that Leigh-Ann was on the boat, especially since his former boat flame, Camille Lamb, had left just a few episodes earlier. 

“[I] can’t believe I know this girl,” Ben admitted. “You can’t write this stuff.”

As he later explained, Ben matched with Leigh-Ann on Tinder about a year before she joined the crew. Though they had exchanged photos with each other, they hadn’t actually met in person before she arrived in St. Lucia.

Ben was clearly flustered by Leigh-Ann’s arrival, but she was calm, cool, and collected.

“What a small world!” she said before chief stew Fraser Olender gave her a tour of the vessel.

In her own confessional, Leigh-Ann formally introduced herself to viewers. The Cape Town, South Africa, native has been in the yachting industry for about five years and previously worked as a chief stew. Leigh-Ann believes in using hard work and dedication to get things done, but that isn’t what she likes best about the industry.

“My favorite part of yachting is the boys...” the self-described tomboy and adrenaline junkie said in an interview. “I’m not joking.”

Will Ben give his online connection with Leigh-Ann a shot IRL, or will his loyalty continue to lie with Camille? 

Watch Below Deck on Bravo Mondays at 8/7c and the next day on Peacock. Catch up on the Bravo app.