Captain Lee From ‘Below Deck’ Teases Why He Booted the Season 8 Charter Guest
A Below Deck fan may have guessed why Captain Lee Rosbach bounces a charter guest during the upcoming season.
“Get your godd*mn a** back to this boat,” Rosbach is seen yelling at a guest who is swimming in the ocean at night. “Now!” He storms away and says, “Your charter just ended!”
Viewers were intrigued by the scene wondering what sparked the anger. “I can only think of two things that would irritate you that bad, sexual harassment or safety. Close?” one person tweeted.
Rosbach simply replied, “Yup.” He added that the season 8 scene was a first for him and the show. “It is a Below Deck first for me ever, and the series,” he tweeted. “But I do not regret it, but you will have to watch to see exactly who prompted that [visceral] response.”
Safety first for Captain Lee
The guest appeared to be swimming in the ocean at night, which is a serious no-no in yachting. Rosbach takes safety very seriously considering all the near misses and safety breaches that occurred during season 6.
The season began with Rosbach worrying about charter guest and friend Steve “Foam Man” Bradley when he is allowed to ride a jet ski while inebriated. Not only is Bradley drunk, but bosun Chandler Brooks doesn’t insist he wears a lifejacket. “It’s hard to have a good time when you’re dead,” Rosbach barked, Vulture recounts.
The crew also had a near-death experience when deckhand Ashton Pienaar’s ankle became entangled in a rope on the swim platform. The yacht took off and Pienaar was dragged into the water by the rope. A fast-acting cameraman freed Pienaar’s leg from the rope, essentially saving his life. Rosbach was completely rattled by the experience.
“We weren’t from 30 seconds of him dying and I have to call his parents and tell them their son is dead,” Rosbach said in a confessional interview. “And I’m responsible. I don’t know how I’d deal with that. I have kids. And I don’t know how I’d make that call.” Rosbach became so overwhelmed with emotion he needed to step away from the camera.
Season 7 was also another turning point for Captain Lee
Sexual harassment was another issue for Rosbach as he dealt with misogynistic behavior from some of the crew last season. Pienaar returned for season 7 as the bosun and had issues with both chief stew Kate Chastain and deckhand Rhylee Gerber.
Rosbach shared in his blog he that he was disappointed in Pienaar. Pienaar forcibly kissed Chastain after a night on the town. She refused his advances and he later became so angry with her he punched the inside of a van. Chastain later left the boat, claiming to quit. She returned later the following day.
“You stated that you were going to be the bigger person and apologize but I didn’t get the sense that you thought you really should have,” Rosbach wrote in his blog after the episode aired. “But the offended party, Kate, came to the wheelhouse, took the heat, and not once did she attempt to throw you under the bus. Even though you thoroughly deserved it. No, she covered for your a**. Then you have the gall to say, ‘when you were younger you had a temper’. News flash Ashton, you still have a temper, especially when you get black out drunk.”
