What would Below Deck be without Captain Lee Rosbach? For a season, for an episode, it’s an odd feeling when our favorite stud of the sea is absent. During the Season 8 premiere, Captain Lee injured himself, and had to go to the hospital. The crew boarded a ship without a captain and were unaware if the first charter would go on as planned. Luckily, Captain Lee showed up in time, albeit bandaged up and sore, and was able to drive the yacht out for the first charter.
And it looks like Captain Lee will again be late to join the cast of Below Deck. The Season 9 trailer was just released and shows an interim captain stepping in until Lee’s return. Captain Sean Meagher seems more of a micro-manager, and we have yet to see such a captain on this show.
When Captain Lee does return, he mentions a “condition” that prevented him from arriving on time. The trailer does not reveal anything more than that, but in a recent interview with E! News, Lee explained his tardiness.
Referring to his health issue, Captain Lee confirmed, “I am much better,” but it was necessary for Sean to step in. “The timing was mainly screwed up,” he continued, “because we have such a tight shooting schedule, it was imperative that the guests’ charters start and end on time so it didn’t have a domino effect and impact every charter after that.” Captain Lee doesn’t share more about his medical status, except to say it, “was not related to COVID at all.”
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Whatever the details are regarding his health, Captain Lee was definitely happy to be back on the water. He reflected on the season, “it was a totally unique year. It’s unlike any other season that we’ve had, and I really enjoyed it.”
“There was just a lot of different things this year, because of the circumstances in which we had to film,” Captain Lee praised production, “a lot of things that we’re used to doing, we couldn’t do because we had to stay within the confines of our bubble because of COVID, so we had to improvise in some situations, which is not a bad thing. Sometimes you can improvise and get extremely creative, which I like to think we’re pretty good at.”
It’s clear that COVID is impacting staff replacements. Captain Sandy Yawn is more hesitant to fire an unpredictable chef because of quarantine requirements on Below Deck Mediterranean. Will Captain Lee show any reservations about asking someone to “pack their bag?” It will be interesting to see how health restrictions affect the show.
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Of course, Captain Lee can handle anything so long as he is in his element. “It really felt good to get back on the water,” he concluded, “when I finally got onboard, I was the happiest guy in the world.”
Catch the new season of Below Deck on Monday, Oct. 25th on Bravo or streaming on Peacock.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK DELAYED CAPTAIN LEE? HOW WILL CAPTAIN SEAN MANAGE THE TEAM? WOULD YOU WATCH BELOW DECK WITHOUT CAPTAIN LEE?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
