Below Deck Alum Nico Scholly Reveals the One Thing He "Hid" from Captain Lee Rosbach
The yachtie admitted he was "holding back the tears" during this Season 5 moment with the Below Deck boss.
Nico Scholly didn't tell his boss everything back in Season 5.
As Nico reflected on his time on Below Deck in Seasons 4 and 5 in the latest installment of Life After Bravo, above, he shared that he was completely open and honest with Captain Lee Rosbach — except for one thing. "I never bulls--t him. I was always real with him. I was always honest with him," Nico said. "I did hide a little bit of how much I didn't enjoy being around EJ [Jansen], I guess, would be the only thing that I really hid from him."
EJ, of course, was the yachtie who climbed aboard the Valor about a third of the way into the season to serve as bosun in Season 5. He famously clashed with Nico after one of his first nights out with the crew telling him, "It's my deck now, buddy boy," upon returning to the yacht.
"The whole buddy boy thing, I just didn't know if I should laugh or be more mad. It almost got pretty nasty. It just was one of those cats clawing at each other," Nico, who now works at his family's construction company in Chicago, recalled of the moment. "I know Lee's actually close family friends with him too, so I knew he was going to take his side because of that, but I don't want to hurt my relationship with Lee, either. It's just kind of one of those s----y situations."
Nico explained that he didn't tell Captain Lee the extent of his drama with EJ because he thought they would be able to "resolve all this and everything would be good." "And it just kept getting nastier and nastier. The last thing I want to do is disappoint Lee," Nico said. "But other than that, I've been an open book."
Overall, Nico said that he had a "really good" relationship with Captain Lee while working with him on Below Deck and even described him as "almost like a father figure." So it meant a lot to Nico when he was finally promoted to bosun at the end of Season 5.
However, that celebration proved to be short-lived. When the Valor crew reunited in New York City for the Season 5 reunion, Captain Lee said that he "never would have given him that promotion" had he been aware of everything that he later saw as the show aired. "Hearing him say he regretted promoting me was kind of a big stomp on the chest. I was kind of holding back the tears a little bit at the end of that. I didn't really have much to say," Nico remembered of the reunion. "It was just really hurtful because I felt like no one understood where I was and where I was coming from and why I was acting that way."
Nico said he still has mixed feelings about that moment today. "Deep down, I know inside, yes, I did make a lot of mistakes and things were out of line, and I shouldn't have acted that way," he said. "But at the same time, I was right about certain things, and it just wasn't seen that way. It just kind of stings a little bit."
Though Nico and Captain Lee didn't leave off on the best note at the Season 5 reunion, they were able to reconnect during Below Deck's 100th episode celebration on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on January 6. The Below Deck alum said that they bonded over losing loved ones over the past few years, with the sudden passing of Nico's younger brother, Tristen Scholly, occurring just a few months before the start of Season 5 in November 2016 and Captain Lee losing his son, Joshua Rosbach, in July 2019. "Actually, seeing him for the 100th episode in New York was pretty amazing," Nico shared. "He went through a tragedy himself, losing his son, and we had a nice little talk."
Nico said he felt like Captain Lee was able to gain a greater understanding of why he behaved the way he did in Season 5 after experiencing something so tragic prior to the charter season. "When I saw him the next time, it was kind of more like, 'I see the way you acted and it was wrong, but I understand now why you acted that way.' And it was really respectable, and it was just a really good talk," Nico said. "My girlfriend [Briana] met him. We have nothing but good things to say about Lee."
Catch up with Nico's fellow Season 4 crew member, Emily Warburton-Adams, in more Life After Bravo, below.
