Below Deck Season 8 Kicks Off with Captain Lee Rosbach in the Hospital

Captain Lee Rosbach had a very different start to the charter season when Season 8 of Below Deck premiered on November 2. The captain was not at the helm of the yacht; instead, he was in the hospital.

Eddie Lucas, who returned to Below Deck as bosun for the first time since Season 3, was the first crew member to arrive and discover that something may be wrong with Captain Lee when he was nowhere to be found on My Seanna. "Captain Lee is always on the boat the first day," Eddie said in an interview during the episode. "Something's wrong."

Eddie called Captain Lee on the phone, and the Below Deck boss shared that he has "had better days." We then saw that Captain Lee was at Mount St. John's Medical Centre in Antigua. "I'm embarrassed to say, but I fell in the shower. Went down pretty hard, busted a couple of ribs. I might need surgery," Captain Lee told Eddie. "If it's bad, I may have to head home. Hell, this season may be over for me before it even starts."

In the meantime, Captain Lee instructed Eddie to get acquainted with the vessel and look out for the new chief stew, Francesca Rubi, who the captain suggested should get a start on laundry with the first group of charter guests set to arrive the next day.

This was definitely not the start to the season that Eddie was hoping for. "Captain Lee's been a mentor since the day I met him, and to now find out that he's in the hospital is terrifying to me," Eddie said in an interview during the episode. "If Lee doesn't show up, this first charter's not gonna be happening. So it's very concerning."

Thankfully, Captain Lee soon returned from the hospital. "My ribs are killing me, but only when I move and breathe. Other than that, it's just fine," the Below Deck boss said with his signature sense of humor in an interview during the episode. "Fortunately, nothing appears to be broken, I didn't damage any vital organs."

Once he got situated back on the yacht, Captain Lee didn't skip a beat, calling the crew for their first official meeting of the season. "I apologize for leaving you guys high and dry today," Captain Lee told the crew.

But Captain Lee didn't waste any time in letting the crew know he runs a tight ship. "I have a couple of rules on your behavior: You will not embarrass the boat, and you will not embarrass yourselves. I'm not gonna put up with it," Captain Lee told the crew during that first meeting. "And if anybody thinks I won't fire somebody in the middle of a charter, they don't know me."

There's the Captain Lee we know!

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

Check out more from the Below Deck Season 8 premiere, below.

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