‘Below Deck’: Captain Lee Reveals How He Knew the Season 3 Kitchen Fire Was Chef Leon’s Fault
Captain Lee Rosbach from Below Deck determined that the kitchen fire during season 3 was undoubtedly chef Leon Walker’s fault.
But Walker blamed chief stew Kate Chastain for causing the fire because it occurred when she was using the oven to bake pizza for the guests long after he went to bed. Walker believed the pans stored in the oven sparked the fire. But Rosbach refuted that assertion and explained exactly how he knew the responsibility fell squarely on Walker’s shoulders.
Clean pans don’t start fires, Captain Lee said
Rosbach blogged after every Below Deck episode which is when he explained how he concluded Walker was responsible for the fire.
“The fire in the galley was your fault. Period,” Rosbach wrote in a 2015 blog. “The clean, dry sheet pans in the oven were neither clean nor dry. Kate put the popcorn in the microwave and a frozen pizza in the oven, doing a job that was clearly yours. Frozen pizza, why? Because the chef is getting his beauty sleep.”
“Now enter Rocky, who after five weeks still can’t turn on the DVD player so the guests can watch movies,” he continued. “So she goes to Kate for help. Kate tells her the popcorn is in, and so is the pizza, and goes to attend to the guests that Rocky can’t. So Rocky, our self proclaimed sous chef, can’t watch pizza and microwave popcorn at the same time.”
“Now here’s the rub, the popcorn burns, OK, that can happen to anyone,” Rosbach added. “But now the grease in your allegedly clean sheet pans is heating up and smoking. Rocky opens the oven door and with the addition of oxygen to the volatile mix, a fire starts in your clean sheet pans. Clean, dry sheet pans do not catch on fire and neither do clean, dry oven bottoms. Plain and simple. Clean sheet pans, clean oven, there’s no fire. Your responsibility. Not Rocky’s, not Kate’s, but yours.”
Chef Leon wasn’t the only crew member to anger Captain Lee
Rosbach was also angry that instead of owning the dirty oven, Walker deflected by trying to throw Chastain under the bus in the worst way. “Even though by now, you had just finished cleaning up the oven in question,” Rosbach wrote. “No, instead you tell an outright lie about Kate and her drinking on the job. When asked, you admitted that you had not seen Kate drink, but she had done it before so you knew she was this time as well.”
Walker wasn’t the only crew member who danced around the kitchen fire. Raquel “Rocky” Dakota also tried to blame Chastain, which Rosbach did not appreciate. Dakota was also so furious Walker was fired due to the fire, she stripped down and dove off the boat in protest. She later returned.
“You were so fortunate just to keep your job and you don’t seem to realize that,” Rosbach pointed out. “You picked up exactly where Leon left off as the most disruptive force on the boat. While the rest of the crew is concerned with how we are going to make this charter a great one for our guests, you are concerned with how it affects you.”
