Below Deck’s January 4 episode ended with a bombshell it had been teasing the whole season: Captain Lee Rosbach ended the charter early for a group of middle-aged boat enthusiasts. One of the guests, Delores, had jumped in the water after a particularly drunk dinner. One of her friends, along with chief stew Francesca Rubi and Rosbach himself, tried to talk her down when she was on the deck, only for her to jump in. “Delores jumping in the water is the ultimate ‘Fuck you’ to the captain,†Rosbach said in a confessional on the episode. “She’s drunk. It’s dark. I don’t need somebody jeopardizing their own life on my watch.†Rosbach tried to convince Delores to get out of the water, but she told him, “I have paid a lot of money.†He shot back, “I don’t give a shit what you paid! Your charter just ended,†shocking the guests and crew alike who were watching. He then went back to the rest of the guests, still at the dinner table, to tell them he was taking the boat back to the dock and ending the charter — not even 12 hours after it began.
It’s not the first charter that Rosbach ended early. In fact, he cut short the very first charter of the first season of Below Deck, after the crew found what they suspected was cocaine in one of the guests’ rooms. Yet that time, he didn’t tell the guests until they were already back at the dock and wasn’t as visibly angry. “It’s hard to really imagine a time that he’s been that angry,†bosun Eddie Lucas said on Watch What Happens Live. Lucas, who worked that charter as well, added, “He was pretty pissed off then, but I think this time was worse because it was such just a slap in the face, right in captain’s face — just like, ‘I’m not going to listen to you at all.’†The episode ended with Delores in the water and a “To Be Continued†card, meaning Rosbach’s anger isn’t over yet.