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Here's Why Elizabeth Frankini's Departure Was a First for Below Deck
This has never happened before in eight seasons of Below Deck.


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Elizabeth Frankini Used a Guest Cabin Without Permission Because She "Lost All Respect" For Francesca Rubi
Elizabeth admits she got "carried away" in her romance with James Hough.
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2:07S8 - E7 | Part 1Captain Lee and Eddie Lucas Reveal Which Crew Member Is a Perfect Love Match for Kate Chastain
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3:48S8 - E7 | Part 2Eddie Lucas Was "Wasting His Time" With Shane Coopersmith
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1:53S8 - E7 | Part 3Rachel Hargrove Says Shane Coopersmith "Needs a Swift Kick In the Butt"
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3:15S8 - E7 | Part 4Izzy Wouters Was Convinced She Was Getting Fired
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4:54S8 - E7 | Part 5Captain Lee on Elizabeth Frankini: "I Can't Believe She Could Be That Incredibly Dumb"
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4:06S8 - E7 | Part 6Captain Lee Rosbach Admits He Would Have Replaced Elizabeth Frankini Over Bleach Incident If He Could
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5:30S8 - E7 | Part 7Izzy Wouters Wishes She Was a Fly on the Wall for THAT Preference Sheet Meeting
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1:41S8 - E7 | Part 8James Hough Will "Never Forgive" Francesca Rubi
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1:56S8 - E7 | Part 9How Did Shane Coopersmith Really Get His Sunshine Nickname?
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2:56S8 - E8 | Part 1Was Francesca Rubi Making Elizabeth Frankini Feel Insecure "As a Way to Control" Her?
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3:49S8 - E8 | Part 2Elizabeth Frankini Says It Was Actually Kind Of Francesca Rubi's Fault That She Forgot the Beach Picnic Rosé
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3:13S8 - E8 | Part 3Eddie Lucas and Captain Lee Rosbach Break Down the Slide Saga That Drove Cap "Overboard"
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3:16S8 - E8 | Part 4Robert Phillips "Has As Much Personality As a Six-Foot Asparagus" According to Izzy Wouters
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3:41S8 - E8 | Part 5Captain Lee Rosbach Admits That Chef Rachel Hargrove's "Extreme Talent" Is the Only Reason He Let Her Return
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1:19S8 - E8 | Part 6Captain Lee Rosbach Explains Why He Kept a Close Eye On "Hand Grenade" Rachel Hargrove After She Returned
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2:18S8 - E9 | Part 1Chief Stew Francesca Rubi Says Jumping Into the Ocean With Ashling Lorger Was a "Breather" From Elizabeth Frankini
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3:18S8 - E9 | Part 2Francesca Rubi Was "Relieved" to Demote Elizabeth Frankini to Third Stew
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4:15S8 - E9 | Part 3Izzy Wouters Doesn't Think Francesca Rubi Is a Great Manager or Leader
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3:02S8 - E9 | Part 4Eddie Lucas Calls Chef Rachel Hargrove’s Behavior at the Crew's Night Out "Rude and Classless"
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1:50S8 - E9 | Part 5James Hough Really Doesn't Want to Talk About His Hot Tub Moment with Elizabeth Frankini
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4:39S8 - E10 | Part 1Captain Lee Rosbach Relives the Moment When Charter Guest Delores Defied Him and Jumped Into the Water
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2:27S8 - E10 | Part 2Why Did James Hough Actually Get Upset When Elizabeth Frankini Told the Crew About Their Hookup?
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2:31S8 - E10 | Part 3James Hough Is Shocked to Find Out How Dirty the Hot Tub He and Elizabeth Frankini Hooked Up in Is
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2:20S8 - E10 | Part 4Francesca Rubi Calls Stew Elizabeth Frankini a "Huge Deflector"
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1:54S8 - E10 | Part 5Eddie Lucas Loved Saying "No" to These "Boat People" Charter Guests
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1:16S8 - E11 | Part 1I Knew She Wasn't Going to Go Peacefully Says Captain Lee Rosbach About Delores Jumping Into the Water... Again
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2:13S8 - E11 | Part 2What's Really Going On Between Deckhand Robert Phillips and Chief Stew Francesca Rubi?
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2:10S8 - E11 | Part 3The Crew Reacts to “Babysitting” Delores’ Room Overnight
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2:53S8 - E11 | Part 4Delores’ Friends “Threw Her Ass Under the Bus So Fast It Made Your Head Spin” Says Captain Lee
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3:03S8 - E11 | Part 5Izzy Wouters and James Hough’s Room Smelled Like “Sweaty Infected Butt Crack” According to Izzy
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2:05S8 - E12 | Part 1“It’s Annoying…It Hurt” Says Elizabeth Frankini of James Hough’s Comments About Instagram Girls
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4:33S8 - E12 | Part 2Izzy Wouters Says “Babe I Love You But… Time and Place” of Chef Rachel Hargrove’s “Scary-oke”
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1:32S8 - E12 | Part 3Chef Rachel Hargrove Reveals She Was on America’s Next Top Model
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4:39S8 - E12 | Part 4The Yachties React to Rachel Hargrove “Destroying” James Hough: “What the Hell?!”
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4:45S8 - E12 | Part 5Could COVID-19 Be the Reason Half the Below Deck Crew Got Sick at the Same Time?
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4:03S8 - E13 | Part 1Izzy Wouters Calls Rob Phillips' Reaction to Her Getting Lead Deckhand "Immature and Childish"
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4:15S8 - E13 | Part 2Was James Hough Flirting with Ashling Wouters Just to Make Elizabeth Frankini Jealous?
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2:12S8 - E13 | Part 3Ashling Lorger Says She Was "Instantly Turned Off" By James Hough
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4:37S8 - E13 | Part 4The Yachties Address Elizabeth Frankini and James Hough's Cannoli Rendezvous
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3:37S8 - E13 | Part 5Izzy Wouters and James Hough Admit They Enjoyed Being Roommates in the "Harry Potter" Cabin
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3:07S8 - E13 | Part 6Captain Lee Rosbach Calls Izzy Wouters a "Diamond in the Rough"
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4:10S8 - E14 | Part 1Captain Lee on His Son's Passing: "Every Day Is a Battle"
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5:11S8 - E14 | Part 2Chief Stew Francesca Rubi and Chef Rachel Hargrove Go to Captain Lee Over Mahi-Mahi Miscommunication
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3:10S8 - E14 | Part 3Elizabeth Frankini Used a Guest Cabin Without Permission Because She "Lost All Respect" For Francesca Rubi
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5:06S8 - E14 | Part 4Staying in a Guest Cabin With Elizabeth Frankini Was Worth Getting in Trouble With Captain Lee, Says James Hough
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1:45S8 - E14 | Part 5What Even Is "Fairy Bread"? Izzy Wouters Explains
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3:04S8 - E14 | Part 6Izzy Wouters to Robert Phillips: "You're a D*ck"
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2:08S8 - E14 | Part 7What Captain Lee Really Thinks of Elizabeth Frankini FaceTiming Her Energy Healer
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5:27S8 - E14 | Part 8Izzy Calls "Dramatic as F***" Chief Stew Francesca Rubi "Cruella DeVille"
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2:43S8 - E15 | Part 1Was Francesca Rubi Blamed for Chef Rachel Hargrove's Mistake?
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4:42S8 - E15 | Part 2Ashling Lorger Is Over These Charter Guests and Their Drunk All-Nighter
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2:54S8 - E15 | Part 3Chief Stew Francesca Rubi Supports Ashling Lorger's Decision to Lie to the Charter Guests
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2:32S8 - E15 | Part 4Captain Lee Rosbach "Really Likes" the Queen of Versailles and Her Husband David
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2:15S8 - E15 | Part 5Rachel Hargrove Reveals That She and Boyfriend Vincenzo Have Broken Up
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2:18S8 - E16 | Part 1"I Just Can't Take It Anymore" Says Chef Rachel Hargrove About Working With Francesca Rubi
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3:56S8 - E16 | Part 2Captain Lee Gives Eddie Lucas His First Officer Stripes, Says "You Earned It"
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5:11S8 - E16 | Part 3The Crew Weighs In On Elizabeth Frankini's "Dramatic Exit"
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6:46S8 - E16 | Part 4Rob Phillips Admits He "Felt Pretty Terrible" About How He Treated Izzy Wouters
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4:49S8 - E16 | Part 5Captain Lee and the Crew React to the Season Ending Abruptly
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5:35S8 - E16 | Part 6Captain Lee Says They "Exhausted Every Possibility" Before Firing Elizabeth
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2:13S8 - E16 | Part 7Was James Hough Secretly Glad to "Be Rid Of" Elizabeth Frankini?
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4:15S8 - E16 | Part 8Chef Rachel was "F***ing Pissed" That the Crew Celebrated Elizabeth's Departure
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4:00S8 - E17 | Part 1Francesca Showed "Deliberate" and "Obvious" Favoritism Towards Ashling, Says Elizabeth
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3:03S8 - E17 | Part 2Captain Lee Calls Chief Stew Francesca a "Breath of Fresh Air"
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4:07S8 - E17 | Part 3Ashling Lorger and Francesca Rubi Weigh In On Elizabeth's Crystals and Energy Healing Practice
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2:19S8 - E17 | Part 4James Hough's Mom Crashes His Interview and Tells It Like It Is
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1:08S8 - E17 | Part 5Chef Rachel Reveals That She and Kate Chastain Have Had "Some Really Interesting Times Together"
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3:38S8 - E17 | Part 6Eddie Lucas Calls Francesca Rubi a "Bombshell"
After being dissatisfied with Elizabeth Frankini's work as a stew for much of Season 8 of Below Deck, chief stew Francesca Rubi was finally given the go-ahead by Captain Lee Rosbach to let her go.
Francesca delivered the news to Elizabeth at the very end of the February 8 episode of Below Deck. "Every charter, I've really had to work, and I'm continually putting in energy and checking up on you. We've had numerous chats about this, but sleeping in the guest cabin was sort of the final straw for me," the chief stew told Elizabeth in the wheelhouse. "I've come to sort of a decision. We're gonna have to let you go."
Elizabeth appeared to be shocked and saddened by Francesca's decision before the episode ended. We'll have to wait and see how Elizabeth really takes the news when the Below Deck Season 8 finale airs on Monday, February 15 at 9/8c.
The stew spoke a little bit about her reaction to hearing Francesca say she was being let go during her February 8 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. "Yeah, I actually was totally shocked, if you couldn't tell. But I thought we were just gonna have a chat, because Captain Lee, Francesca, and I never actually all sat down, the three of us, to talk about what was going on," Elizabeth said. "So, I thought we were just gonna see where we were gonna go forward from there, but no."
Every Below Deck firing is jaw-dropping and momentous, but Elizabeth's was especially so because it was actually history-making for the franchise. Though we have seen Captain Lee hand many a deckhand a plane ticket home on Below Deck before, Elizabeth has the distinction of being the first stew to ever be fired on the show, which was first pointed out by Showbiz Cheat Sheet.
In fact, Francesca's desire to have Captain Lee let Elizabeth go this season made the chief stew's predecessor, Kate Chastain, wonder if she ever did the same during her six seasons on Below Deck. "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."
Kate later revealed who she was referring to during an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider last month. Head over here to find out which stew she said she "definitely wanted to fire" and who she came "the closest" to firing.
Season 8 of Below Deck has been full of personnel changes. Following the departure of one of the deckhands early on in the season, Captain Lee granted Izzy Wouters' request to move from the interior to the deck team. Ashling Lorger was then brought in as the new stew. Deckhand Shane Coopersmith was later let go, and Rob Phillips joined the My Seanna crew as his replacement.
Want more Below Deck? New episodes air every Monday at 9/8c or catch up on every episode ever through the Bravo app.
Get your first look at the Below Deck Season 8 finale, below.


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