Is Captain Lee Rosbach Really Tougher on the Deckhands?

If there's one thing most people can agree on when it comes to Captain Lee Rosbach, it's probably that he's an incredibly fair leader. However, bosun Kelley Johnson accused the Below Deck boss of playing favorites earlier this season after Captain Lee called him out on some dirty windows on the yacht, saying that "he won't pick on Kate [Chastain]" and that "he's terrified of Kate" (clip above). 

Now looking back, Kelley told The Daily Dish that he misspoke. "I think the thing is Kate's worked with him for so long, I don't think he's afraid of Kate. I think she does her job so well that he doesn't have to be on her. He trusts her to do the job, and so he doesn't have to be down there all the time," he explained. "With me coming back, he needed to make sure that everything was getting done because I wasn't Eddie [Lucas]. He doesn't know what I was capable of as a bosun." 

He also said he understands why it seemed like Captain Lee was being so hard on him at the time. "The problem was that I was doing my job and he wanted me to do above because he saw the potential in me to do above," Kelley said. "So I think he was a little harder on me, but it was for a good reason. It wasn't to pick on me or to try to mess with me. It was because he wanted me to excel."

Pool Problems Below Deck

Deckhand Nico Scholly defended his superior. "You just needed to build that trust. I think by the end of the season, hopefully, it's there," he said. "Maybe next time then he'll give him a little bit more slack because he does trust him and knows he can do his job." 

Still, Nico said that he felt like the deck crew really needed to impress Captain Lee, even more so than the interior staff. "I think there was a lot more pressure on the exterior, maybe, because Kelley was returning, and he really wanted to see a difference from the first season he did. You can obviously see there is a big change and he's done a great job, but I think that pressure of him coming back, whether Captain Lee sees it or not, may have subconsciously been there," Nico said. "Do I think he treats the interior staff necessarily different? Maybe not. But as far as pressure towards the exterior, making everything done the right way, which it should be, but maybe to a higher level, I think is definitely there." 

Of course, the deck crew came under fire from Captain Lee again during Tuesday night's episode after pizza was left on the floor and a panini press started smoking. Kate had tipped him off to the situation, which Nico did not agree with. In that moment, he said he started started seeing a divide between the interior and exterior crews. "It kind of came to the point of we're all adults here, no one's perfect, we made a mistake, and we should have taken care of it," he said. "To just run to the captain, it's like the big sister running to your dad to get you in trouble. It just is a little bit childish, so it's a very annoying situation, to say the least." 

Pizza and Panini Press Problems #BelowDeck

As bosun, Kelley said he understood where both sides were coming from. "Being the bosun, like heads of department, I want to keep that peace there. There are a few things that I saw, like I wish you had just come to me and been like, 'Hey, there's pizza on the ground,' stuff like that instead of going to the captain," he said. "But at the same time, when Nico and Lauren walked away from her, I wished that wouldn't have happened. Unfortunately, there was alcohol involved, and people weren't making the best decisions. She should have just sent them to bed and then we could have dealt with it in the morning... That's the way it should've been handled. That was just a bad night." 

It looks like that won't be the last unforgettable night for the Valor crew this season. Check out what else is coming your way this season of Below Deck.

Still to Come on Below Deck