‘Below Deck’: Was Season 4 Chef Ben’s Last Because Captain Lee Wanted to Fire Him?

Chef Ben Robinson never returned to Below Deck after what could be considered his most contentious season working for Captain Lee Rosbach.

Robinson had more tension than ever with chief stew Kate Chastain during season 4. He even got a little snarky with a charter guest. The guest claimed to be a psychic medium who gave Rosbach and the crew readings that sometimes weren’t exactly accurate.

The crew tried to remain gracious and professional during the readings, but Robinson didn’t hold back during girlfriend Emily Warburton-Adams’ reading. He demanded to know if the couple would stay together and was rude to the guest when she refused to continue the reading.

When the guest finally told him that she didn’t see them staying together, Robinson is annoyed and didn’t hide his feelings. Rosbach did not know Robinson had the exchange with the guest. But he was furious and shared that he would have fired Robinson had he known.

The crew embarrassed Captain Lee

Rosbach blogged about the charter, clearly upset with more crew members than just Robinson.

“First off, I must say I am embarrassed by some of the behavior of my crew. I offer my apologies to our guests,” Rosbach wrote in his Bravo blog. “They deserved better.

“No matter what your beliefs about mediums or the hereafter are, or how anyone may or may not communicate with them, your opinion as crew does not matter,” he continued. “I would never voice my opinions to them even if I didn’t agree with their beliefs. You need to be neutral as charter crew. Anything less is not acceptable. I found some of my crew’s behavior arrogant and condescending, and totally unacceptable. The guests had their beliefs and were willing to share them, and they didn’t need to be judged.”

Captain Lee called Chef Ben ‘arrogant’ and ‘condescending’

Rosbach applauded how Warburton-Adams handled the moment with the psychic. But he was frustrated with Robinson.

“Please stop with the nit picking,” he said about Robinson being annoyed with when the guests wanted their meals. “You are a brilliant chef. But your personal life and opinions have no place here.”

“Nor do your arrogant, condescending attitudes towards our guests,” he added, referring to his attitude toward the psychic. “You may express your opinions to Emily or anyone else in private about our guests, I can’t prevent that, but to set out to deliberately humiliate a client and embarrass her intentionally was so over the line.”

“Had I been there and witnessed it, as soon as the charter was over, you would have received a plane ticket out of there,” he added. “Totally unacceptable behavior from a senior crew member who is there to serve at the clients’ pleasure (clients who by the way pay us). Such arrogance and condescension was appalling to witness.”

Captain Lee wasn’t going to tolerate rudeness from any crew member

Rosbach would often give Robinson a pass, usually because he redeemed himself in the kitchen. But Rosbach made it clear that he would not tolerate being rude to a guest.

“Not just Ben being Bennie and doing what Bennie does, you were just plain obnoxious and rude period,” Rosbach blasted Robinson in his blog. “Especially after she didn’t think you and Em had a future. Then you not only wanted to embarrass her, you put Em on the spot to help you do it. No excuse, and if I see it again personally, we will part company. Under no circumstance do you set out to deliberately humiliate a guest and get away with it on my boat.”