Captain Jason Chambers was clearly the No.1 Bachelor at BravoCon, and Ashley Darby wanted him to make a love connection.
“I was actually hoping for him and Lala [Kent],” Ashley, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, November 9, while discussing the current season of The Real Housewives of Potomac. “I didn’t see them in person, but hopefully [there was a spark]. I told him, ‘Go for it.’”
Jason, 50, spoke to Us during BravoCon on Saturday, November 4, noting that he had a “great chat” with the Vanderpump Rules star, 33, after bonding over being single parents. (Jason shares daughter Saskia, 9, with ex Fuchsia Quinn, while Lala shares daughter Ocean, 2, with ex-fiancé Randall Emmett.)
While Ashley is now rooting for the Below Deck Down Under star to spark a romance with Lala, she also tried to get his attention during the three-day Las Vegas convention.
“Captain Jason is the homie. He’s just my friend. We had a great time dancing,” Ashley quipped to Us on Thursday. “He’s a very good dancer, which I did put in my Instagram Reel as well, but we just danced. It was very harmless. We flirted … [but] that’s the extent of it.”
Ashley and Lala were not the only Bravolebrities to shoot their shot with the yacht captain. Jason also met Southern Charm’s Olivia Flowers, The Real Housewives of Dubai’s Caroline Brooks and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Sutton Stracke during BravoCon.
“I ran into him and I introduced myself to him and I said, ‘I’ve got to tell you, I don’t want to embarrass you, but I have mentioned to several people that I have a little bit of a crush on you, but it’s OK, don’t be afraid,’” Sutton, 52, told Us in a separate conversation on Thursday. “And he was really nice. He took it off the chin and he was sweet. He’s a good-looking man.”
Ashley Boalch Darby, Captain Jason Chambers, Lala Kent. Bravo (3)
However, after Sutton realized that Jason was a hot commodity — Summer House’s Lindsay Hubbard and The Real Housewives of New York City’s Brynn Whitfield also showed interest while Real Housewives of Miami’s Adriana de Moura claimed they hooked up months ago — she moved on.
“When I heard a couple of stories, I was like, ‘Never mind, Captain Jason, I will just take you off my list,’” Sutton recalled. “I think Captain Jason likes the ladies.”
Ashley has also moved on from her brief flirtation with Jason. She previously split from estranged husband Michael Darby, with whom she coparents two kids, in April 2022 before moving on with Summer House’s Luke Gulbranson after meeting at BravoCon 2022. They went their separate ways several months later.
“I’ve had some fun flings, but dating is really hard. The whole landscape is so different,” Ashley added on Thursday, noting she’s been surprised by the “inconsistency of communication” with potential partners. “The last time that I was single, I was 22, so it’s been 13 years and … things were so different.”
While Ashley is ready to “dip and dazzle” into the new dating scene, she is also busy filming RHOP season 8.
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“We have so many fun trips and things that we did. Our Austin trip was very fun,” she gushed to Us. “I love Austin. It’s one of my favorite cities, and I’ve been three times now and every time is a vibe. So, having the girls do some of the very fun Austin things was really good [and] getting out of their comfort zone — some more than others.”
While the RHOP cast trip to Texas will bring levity to the Bravo franchise, there will be drama.
“Robyn [Dixon] is in the hot seat and it’s hard for her because not only from us but from the outside,” Ashley teased to Us about the upcoming episodes, in response to claims that Robyn, 44, had lied to her costars about the state of her marriage. “There was just so much scrutiny and people were just vilifying Robin, and I just don’t think the punishment warranted the crime [or] the crime warranted the punishment. I felt like it was excessive.”
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs on Bravo Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi