‘Below Deck’: Francesca Rubi Reveals the Real Reason She Cried on the Show
Until now, Below Deck viewers can only guess why new chief stew Francesca Rubi is crying. Does Captain Lee Rosbach come down hard on her? Do guests push her over the edge?
Rubi shared that she broke down due to a variety of factors, but mainly because she was exhausted. “I’m not actually a crier,” she told Decider. “When my girlfriends and colleagues have seen that trailer where I am crying, it’s like, ‘How did you even get to this stage?’”
“I wasn’t looking after myself,” she added. “I didn’t drink any water, I didn’t have any sleep that night — four hours or something. I’d been running on empty. My adrenaline was gone.”
Francesca Rubi admits to a rocky start on the show
She added that she was also under a tremendous amount of self-imposed pressure. “There were a whole lot of different factors,” she said. “And then add on the pressure of myself that I put on myself to do the best possible job I can. In hindsight, I think it helped me and it helped our working relationship. You’re only human. I act like a robot enough towards the guests. You are a server. This is what you do, you don’t have a personality, almost.”
Rubi said that she also needed time to get to know the crew and Rosbach. “I think it took a little while,” she remarked. “It does take a little while in the industry. It takes a little while to earn someone’s trust and see how they work. It’s the same with myself and my stewardesses, so I understand from his point of view, it takes time to get to know me, my strengths, my weaknesses. We started out with a pretty rocky start.”
“I think respect was earned throughout the season when we had to tackle certain situations and be put in positions that we both hadn’t been in before,” she said about Rosbach. “Working together, that definitely helped us create a stronger working relationship.
“And also, getting to know each other,” she added. “When I reach breaking point, each time I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?’ But you know, when you see that side of people, I think that that also makes you realize that that person is human. That person is working really, really hard and putting a lot of pressure on themselves. It also took me balls to cry. I never cry.”
Captain Lee was proud of Francesca Rubi on ‘WWHL’
While she watched the show, she didn’t have any expectations before joining the crew. “I thought it was a great opportunity to create unique experiences for guests that they’ve never had before,” she said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “And that was really exciting to me.”
Rosbach was also pleased with Rubi on WWHL. “Watching Francesca respond tonight on WWHL, total delightful response to @andy she kept her head down and did her job. Well done Chez,” he tweeted.
He also defended her when a viewer tweeted that Rubi was a mess. “Don’t prejudge, way too early. Be patient,” Rosbach replied.
Below Deck is on Monday at 9/8c on Bravo.
