Kate Chastain Reveals the "Closest" She Ever Came to Firing a Stew

Watching chief stew Francesca Rubi ask Captain Lee Rosbach to consider letting Elizabeth Frankini go earlier in Season 8 of Below Deck made Kate Chastain think about whether she ever did the same with one of her stews during her time on the show.

"Have I ever fired a stewardess?" Kate wondered out loud during the January 1 episode of Below Deck Galley Talk, which airs Fridays at 8/7c on Bravo. "I don't think so. I really wanted to."

So, which stew was Kate referring to? The Below Deck alum revealed all during an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider in January.

"Oh, I definitely wanted to fire Rocky [Dakota]. I’m pretty sure I tried to fire Rocky," Kate said of the memorable Season 3 stew. "I was like, listen, 'She’s causing drama, and she’s actually not doing any work. She’s actually making it more difficult for Amy [Johnson] and I to do her job also.'"

However, Kate said that she actually came even closer to firing another stew later on. "Laura [Betancourt], after she yelled at me to check myself, that was probably the closest I ever [got]," Kate recalled. "I’m glad that Captain Lee wouldn’t let me because, actually, we’re like friends now. It was just in that moment, I was so over it."

Laura Betancourt Tells Kate Chastain to "Check Herself"

As Below Deck fans may remember, Laura told Kate to "check yourself" in Season 6 after the stew's turndowns of the guests' cabins weren't up to the chief stew's standards. However, there was a moment the following day of that charter that actually helped Kate and Laura move on from that confrontation and even form a friendship.

"I think the fact that Laura told me to check myself, Captain Lee had a stern talking to with her, and then the next day I made her a checklist and told her to checklist herself, the fact that she laughed at that joke at her expense, my respect for her immediately skyrocketed," Kate said. "We were kind of looking at each other like, OK, you yelled at me, I got you back, we’re good now. Let's move forward."

"So I kind of feel like the yoga saying, 'the light in me honors the light within you,'" Kate continued, paraphrasing a common translation of the word "namaste." "This is like the bitch version, like, 'the bitch in me honors and recognizes the bitch within you.'"

When The Daily Dish caught up with Laura in June 2020, she similarly had nothing but kind words to say about Kate, sharing that she was "super excited" and "proud" of the chief stew following her announcement in February of that year that she would not be returning to Below Deck after six seasons on the show.

In fact, Laura said that it "was really nice" to be able to resolve her issues with Kate and have a friend in the chief stew as their charter season together came to a close. "Because our season, I felt, was a roller coaster — like, there were so many emotions involved there — and then at the end of the season, we all were friends," Laura said. "We all cried when we left and we missed each other, and it’s been really interesting since then." 

Want more Below Deck? New episodes air every Monday at 9/8c or catch up on every episode ever through the Bravo app.