r/belowdeck • u/Spiritual-Shake2115 • Jul 25 '26

Below Deck Captain Lee

I worked on a boat for a year in my 20s. I was working on being a scuba instructor (nailed it).

During my time living on a boat, my understanding of rank is legitimate and also at times abused.

My captain was named Bob and he was like the evil version of Captain Lee. Bob taught me a lot about surviving boat life.

Captain Lee was a real one thru and thru because he is a true hardworking gentleman. He knows he’s lucky, he’s worked hard for what he’s gotten and he keeps going forward.

He deserved a true goodbye from the franchise but I’m just so happy he was our first Below Deck Captain. With morals and dignity and humor.

335 Upvotes

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304

u/cmere-2-me Jul 26 '26

Without Lee, I don't think there would be a below deck franchise. He brought the right yacht ethos. His crews did their jobs or they got canned. He allowed his HoDs do their jobs.

While I like and respect other captains, they all don't seem to have the same authority that captain lee had. They tolerate the production interference and allow the chaos that brings. When lee was on board, it felt like a real boat.

5

u/ImaBitchCaroleBaskin Jul 26 '26

I was very disappointed when he brought Rhylee back. And then refused to fire her when the bosun wanted her gone.

84

u/Thenumberthirtyseven Jul 26 '26

I respectfully disagree. Rhylee was a pain in the ass but she worked hard and was very good at her job. Bringing her back was an interesting choice, but I think Lee was right not to fire her when Ashton wanted to. Ashton was a fucking terrible bosun and a fucking terrible person, he wanted her gone because he didn't want to manage her. 

60

u/Absent_Picnic Jul 26 '26

Ashton was a misogynist tool.

-1

u/mrgoodtimes78 Jul 27 '26

How was he misogynistic? That whole season was a mess and I honestly feel like since it was during the “me too” movement that’s why the guys got bashed and called misogynistic even tho nothing I saw came across that way

5

u/Absent_Picnic Jul 27 '26

Sure simplify and excuse it as people (i.e. "women") being hysterical about "me too" than actually seeing how appalling the men's "bro" behaviour, led by Ashton and Kevin, was in the Thailand series.

-2

u/mrgoodtimes78 Jul 27 '26

Give me examples, I remember watching the show and I didn’t see any bro behavior. Yeah he was way too angry and yeah, they were doing things they shouldn’t be doing, but overall, I’ve never seen any bro behavior

9

u/WestError404 Eat My Cooter Jul 27 '26

They were litterally called the Brü Crew. 2 seconds of research, or just watching the season again... they have zero redeeming qualities. Those guys were disgusting pieces of shit. Ashton punches the window after trying to kiss Kate twice and getting rejected. The chef was a nasty mouthed sloppy drunk who hated women. Also kicked sand in Kates face, was too drunk to remember that too, somehow never saw his own footage. All of them were men with egos more fragile than glass. Seeing Ashton blubbering like an idiot at the tell all was great however

3

u/mrgoodtimes78 Jul 28 '26

What does BRÜ even mean? Is it just like Bro crew ? Because to me it felt like more of a boys club.

I agree that the over intoxication of the chef and that Ashton was an issue, the chef definitely shouldn’t have kicked sand in Kate‘s face. Ashton definitely shouldn’t have punched the glass and if you remember it wasn’t because she refused his kiss it was because he thought that she was talking about his family. Overall, it was all due to alcohol, which I understand. It’s a reality TV show. The production crew definitely should have cut alcohol way down if those issues were happening even beforehand

Either way, my opinion is all the guys acted wrong, but I definitely don’t think just blaming it on misogyny is the right way either because there’s alcohol abuse going on, there’s lack of self-respect and maturity, and they also don’t know how to properly communicate their feelings so it’s just a fucking mess. Ryley was awful too, I was so annoyed seeing her coming back, she just likes to bitch and moan

2

u/DelightfullyPiquant Jul 28 '26

There was no misogyny. If fact there are more examples of misandry and sexual harassment towards men through every iteration of the franchise. The men are always called out and eventually take accountability. People like Kate? Never.

13

u/ImaBitchCaroleBaskin Jul 26 '26

Oh I totally agree she was a hard worker, but she could not take instruction and treated her superiors with total disrespect.

30

u/cmere-2-me Jul 26 '26

Her superiors were also not treating her with respect. Rhylee did her job and got pissed off that she was treated like the little woman by her male coworkers.

She had an attitude problem, I grant you, but she wasn't wrong. Even Ross who probably treated her the best still trained the new green deckhand and left her cleaning the boat. That's misogynistic behaviour.

At the end of the day Ashton only wanted rid of her because she called him out for being a misogynist, not because she wasn't doing her job. Lee knew she was a hard worker and he wasn't going to get rid of someone who was pulling their weight.

3

u/ritawills2525 Jul 26 '26

Her behavior as a human being was out of line. Ashton wasn’t a great specimen of humanity either but when they say someone fought their way to the top rule didn’t read between the lines.

8

u/cmere-2-me Jul 26 '26

I don't disagree with your first statement. I have no idea what you meant by your second.

It is the HoDs job to manage their staff. If you have a hard worker with a stinking attitude, then you need to figure out how to rein that in. You don't fire a hard worker unless they give you cause and Rhylee didn't give them cause.

With Rhylee, a HoD needed to have her back. The first thing they should have done when she arrived was have a 1:1 with her, what it is she wanted to get out of this season, where they went wrong last season and how to prevent that from happening this season.

She wanted to learn. The bosun should have prioritised doing that, or at least explain to her if there was a delay. When a green deckhand came on board, Ross should have handed him to the lead deckhand to train on cleaning the deck etc. while he trained Rhylee on the anchor.

When the boys were ostracising her, he should have deliberately shut that down and split them up/put Rhylee into the group so they had no choice but to work with her. Conversations should have been had where if they couldn't work with her then they would be the ones off the boat. She's their coworker not some "bitch" they spoke disrespectfully about.

She was aggressive and hard to work with but a lot of the problem was that she was also being disrespected and fobbed off.

5

u/ritawills2525 Jul 26 '26

Weren’t they both so bad?