‘Below Deck’ Takes a Wild Turn With 2 Crew Members Departing

A relatively chill season of Below Deck exploded when Shane Coopersmith was fired and chef Rachel Hargrove stormed off the boat.

Deckhand Shane Coopersmith was fired almost immediately and he seemed upset that he had to leave the boat. He apologized over and over again, but Captain Lee Rosbach and bosun Eddie Lucas told him the boat wasn’t the time to train.

Rosbach teased Coopersmith’s dismissal in his blog when he wondered if he was long for the boat. “I really hope you can pull it together, because right now, I’m not optimistic, but we shall see,” he wrote about Coopersmith.

This is the second time 2 crew members left at once

Below Deck has seen the combination of having a crew member get fired and someone quit during the same episode. Caroline Bedol from season 6 suddenly quit only hours after bosun Chandler Brooks was fired. The combination was one other instance when the crew was left with two crew members down at the same time.  

Brooks was fired shortly after the last charter ended. Bedol announced she was going to quit before the next charter began, but said she would help the interior team prepare the boat. She ended up leaving the next day when she was verbally harassed by the other stews.

The crew managed to get two new crew members to replace Brooks and Bedol. Of course, the new crew members’ first charter on the boat was the instance when deckhand Ashton Pienaar almost died. A rope wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off the swim platform into the water.

Chef Rachel seems serious about quitting but don’t count her out just yet

Former chief stew Kate Chastain appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and shared some context about Hargrove. She worked with Hargrove in the past and said her reaction to the preference sheet wasn’t surprising. In fact, Chastain said Hargrove has quit and stormed off the boat in the past. But she returned the following day.

Also, Chastain quit mid-season too. She bolted off the boat after a night of partying. Pienaar made a verbal and physically aggressive attack on Chastain and she had enough. She told the crew to get a new chief stew because she quit.

While she disappeared into the night, Chastain returned the following day after spending the night at a luxury hotel located at the end of the dock. Some viewers don’t believe Hargrove is leaving too. “I don’t think Chef Rachel is really leaving,” one person tweeted. “People with that much creativity also come with a side that’s not easy to deal with.”

Fans were also simply shocked by how angry Hargrove became with the preference sheet. “She really went off the deep end,” another fan wrote. “I was so sick of hearing her say ‘f’ this ‘f’ that. I really misjudged her.”

Find out if Hargrove returns or is gone for good. Below Deck is on Monday at 9/8c on Bravo.