Season four of Below Deck sailed into the sunset this week; thus we are left with Captain Lee Rosbach’s final searing blog in its wake. Though a fair amount of drama happened throughout filming, Lee reflects that his crew didn’t seem to learn a whole lot from it. But he sure did.
“From a captain’s point of view, I learned a lot,” writes Lee. “For instance, I found out that no matter how well you feel you know your crew and how they will behave in a given set of circumstances, you really don’t know them as well as you thought you did. People I thought were loyal weren’t and some who I thought weren’t turned out to surprise me. I’m not going to get into names or specifics here, but I really was not all that pleased with our overall performance this season. And for that I must bear responsibility.”
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Captain Lee accuses his crew of spending too much energy on their personal lives rather than their professional duties, a theme that emerged pretty much every week.
Beginning with his assessment of Sierra Storm, Captain Lee doesn’t pull ANY punches. “I’m not quite sure if you grasp this concept: Just because you think you have done a great job, doesn’t mean that you really have done one. As they say, perception is reality, but not in this case. For the most part I thought you came across as condescending and put out that someone actually expected you to work and do your job. Not only do it, but also do it well. You couldn’t keep your radio with you, much less answer it, you left a very hot roller iron on, not once but twice, burned the 1,200 thread count sheets for the second time, thought the guests wouldn’t need toilet paper, and shall we say that your coffee and drink service left a bit to be desired. I would think that another line of work would be in order for you, as yachting is not where we hand out participation trophies. You have to do more than just show up.”
As for the many faces of Kyle Dixon, Captain Lee has absolutely no patience – or forgiveness! Though Kyle’s work ethic was technically up to snuff, Lee calls the deckhand out on his sketchy “character issues.” He writes, “I don’t know how you thought early on that Sierra could be ‘the one’ for you, and then after she shuts you down, just a…how did you put it? A waste of skin? I thought that the way you talked to her and treated her after striking out was deplorable and uncalled for. Using the fact that you’re from Manchester is not an excuse for rude behavior. Somehow I feel that you would not have spoken that way if I was present, and if you had, there would have been a steep price to pay for it.”
“You weren’t as honest as you thought yourself to be as far as I can see,” continues Lee to Kyle. “You weren’t honest with Sierra, you weren’t honest with Ashley until you had to be, and to me, you are either an honest person or you’re not. Oh and let’s not forget about the mother of your child either.” YESSSS!!!
Though Emily Warburton-Adam was also a decent employee, Captain Lee thinks she let her romance with Ben Robinson cloud her judgment and performance at times. “One thing that bothered me though was how you kept telling Ben you didn’t want to get in the middle of him and Kate [Chastain], but you still did. Like when Ben wanted verification that he was making the right call not putting all the food out for the guests, going against the recommendation of Kate, you jumped in and said that you didn’t want to get in the middle but then agreed with Ben. Seems to me you inserted yourself smack in the middle.”
“My opinion is you should have stayed out of it and Ben should have listened,” says Lee, who adds that Emily also shouldn’t have appeared so smug at the crew’s final dinner after Ben treated Kate like such dog sh*t. “And was that a look of satisfaction I saw on your face when Ben was being rude to Kate? I did not think that was a very good look for Ben at all.”
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On to Ben! Though Captain Lee is a fan of Ben’s food and his general work performance, he thinks Ben’s infatuation with Emily muddied the waters. “I do think work and balancing a relationship was too much on your plate. I think both suffered because of the existence of the other.”
“However, I really wasn’t all that pleased with the morale between you and Kate. You fought with her on everything this year,” continues Lee. “Really would have liked to see the galley run better this year from a morale standpoint. I mean to have the guests comment on the yelling going on was embarrassing as hell. Not the professionalism I expect. But in the end as I stated, your food production and presentation never suffered, and so neither did the guests, which ultimately is what we are there for. It just could have been so much easier though I feel. I would also expect you to keep your knickers on as well in the future.”
Captain Lee was not, however, pleased in the least with frick and frack – er – Nico Scholly and Lauren Burchnell, both of whom somehow managed to devolve into foot-stomping toddlers by the end of their six week stint aboard Valor.
“I just was amazed at how little respect either one of you showed to a person of higher rank than you. At least Kate had the courage to confront you to your face, and not behind your back, like you both seem to do on a regular basis. Nico, where do you get off just stomping off and then going to talk smack behind her back immediately? Not a good look for you and certainly not the mature behavior that I would expect from you. It’s exactly how someone behaves when they are wrong. You acted like the kid that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.”
“Lauren, as far as I can see the only thing working really hard on you was your mouth and your ability to talk about other people behind their backs. Kelley [Johnson] called you out on it a couple of weeks ago when you were telling everyone that he got demoted and Nico was promoted to Bosun, and then you got called out by Kate as well for making another assumption that wasn’t true and spreading it through the crew. I hope this was a learning experience for you and I wish you good luck in the future.”
Speaking of Kelley, Captain Lee comments on this first-time bosun’s overall improvement this year. He blogs, “You and Nico worked well together, you gave him added responsibility and he stepped up his game. Well done, both of you. I can see so much progress between now and Season 2…not to say we didn’t have some speed bumps this season. It’s the way you didn’t shy away from owning your mistakes that I feel made the difference. You took ownership of what you did wrong and then took steps to correct it. You have really come a long way, sir, and as I said in the wheelhouse, I would gladly work with you again. Keep moving in the direction you are and you will have a long and great career.”
Finally, it’s no secret that Captain Lee has a major soft spot for Kate, who he admits didn’t need micromanaging at all this season (thus, his love for her, perhaps!). Lee reflects, “You know what I want and the level I want things, and you get it done. As I stated with Ben, wish things had been different on that front, but except for the one yelling incident, I thought you dealt with it well. Your girls lost it a wee bit at the end of the last charter, but you stepped in and got it straight. I thought you had another good season and it was good to work with you again. I hope we can work together again soon.”
TELL US: DO YOU AGREE WITH CAPTAIN LEE’S FINAL TAKE ON HIS CREW? WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BACK IN FUTURE SEASONS OF BELOW DECK?
Photo Credit: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo
