‘Below Deck’: Captain Lee Reveals His First Impression of Kate Chastain – ‘I Totally Missed Her Completely’
Captain Lee Rosbach from Below Deck admitted that he mistakenly thought chief stew Kate Chastain was a charter guest and not his new chief stew.
Rosbach blogged about his first impressions of the season 2 crew, who also included Kelley and Amy Johnson. But Rosbach said Chastain truly surprised him because he would have never thought she was a chief stew when he first saw her.
Captain Lee thought Kate Chastain was a charter guest
“Kate, when she strutted down the dock, I totally missed her completely,” Rosbach wrote after the first episode of season 2. “Seriously…missed her. I was looking for a chief stew and what came down the dock was an attractive, well-coiffed, confident lady that no one would mistake for a chief stew.”
“After chatting her up a bit, she does have experience, and as you have seen, it has been put to the test right from jump street,” he continued. “I must say that she has stepped up and so far I am pleased with her abilities. Time will tell, it’s much too early to see how the chemistry is going to work out between Kate and the rest of the crew.”
Rosbach also shared his gut feeling about Chastain as the season progressed. “Kate continues to impress me with her calm demeanor and her read of her stews and their abilities as well as her own coping skills. So far so good,” he reflected in another blog. “But again it’s early. I hope that she can continue in this fashion, because as of right now I feel pretty good about her.”
Captain Lee considered firing Kate Chastain this season
Despite all the good vibes, Chastain’s job was on the line when she created the infamous “rocket ship” blanket fold on guest Dean Slover’s bed. Slover needled Chastain about not smiling even referring to her as being b*tchy. So, she retaliated in a passive-aggressive way.
The crew and Chastain knew the blanket incident could seriously jeopardize the tip. Rosbach was furious. Chastain fibbed and said the blanket fold was a “rocket ship” (it wasn’t). Plus, she tried to blame the guests for being rude to her.
“Kate, how could you possibly think that you could manipulate me into thinking that you were the victim here?” he addressed Chastain in another blog. “Feigning ignorance? Really? I asked you twice and you lied to me. Then, you tried to lie to me again.”
“Then you want to blame the guests for your bad behavior,” he continued. “Your feelings were hurt, so you took it upon yourself to extract retribution for your hurt feelings without regard for the guests, the crew, or the reputation of the yacht. You wanted Andrew gone for lying. Are you serious? This is the second consecutive charter that has called you on not being pleasant enough and you have the gall to accuse them?” Thankfully for Chastain and the crew, Slover found the blanket fold to be funny and left a healthy tip. Could Chastain’s time on the series tilted in a different way if Slover was angry?
