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Why Is Captain Lee Leaving Below Deck? Another Bravo Captain Is Replacing Him & It’s Not Sandy
Tuesday, March 21st, 2023
The Stud of the Sea is out. If you’ve been following his career for the past decade, you may be wondering why Captain Lee is leaving Below Deck and the real reason for his retirement after 10 seasons.
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Below Deck is Bravo‘s reality TV series following the personal and professional lives of crew members who work and reside aboard a superyacht during charter season. Lee joined Below Deck as its original captain in season 1 in 2013. Since then, Below Deck has been spun off into four spinoffs — Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Below Deck Down Under and Below Deck Adventure — as well as made celebrities out of several cast members, including Lee, who’s earned the nickname the Stud of the Sea.
“I’m just a blue-collar guy who does his job. I just happened to get filmed while I’m doing it,” Lee told The Los Angeles Times in December 2022. “I don’t really do anything any different on my boat than I did 30 years ago. And if the camera doesn’t like it, well, that’s not my problem. But I guess people like it, because it’s still going after 10 years.”
But after 10 years on reality TV, could the Stud of the Sea be done? Read on for what we know about why Captain Lee is leaving from Below Deck and who is replacing him as the new captain after his retirement.
Why is Captain Lee leaving Below Deck?
Why is Captain Lee leaving Below Deck? Captain Lee Rosbach hinted he was leaving Below Deck in the season 10 finale on March 20, 2023. “Going on 40 years, I’ve been a yacht captain,” he said in a confessional interview. “Have I seen a lot of crazy shit? Is a 40-pound rabbit fat? Yeah. Have I been in situations that I didn’t think I’d make it through? Oh, yeah. Deciding to become a yacht captain has been the best decision I ever made in my life.”
Lee also explained why he returned to Below Deck after he underwent back surgery earlier in the season and was replaced by Captain Sandy Yawn from Below Deck Mediterranean. “I made a promise that I would come back. That’s a promise that I’ve delivered,” he said. “I want people to look at the job that I’ve done and go, ‘He set the bar high and he kept it high. Goddamn, what a ride. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but the ocean’s always going to be a part of me. I still got the best goddamn show in the world.”
So why is Captain Lee leaving Below Deck? The answer is likely due to his current health issues. In season 10, episode 4 of Below Deck, Lee revealed that he had nerve damage due to an injury in his left leg, which affected his ability to walk forced him to leave the season early to undergo physical therapy. “My injury, it’s getting worse. The left side of my body, I don’t feel anything,” he said in a confessional interview. “I expected a lot more progress than I’m experiencing, and the most frustrating part about it is, I can’t do a goddamn thing about it, and it’s hard.”
He continued, “The pain’s getting worse, not better. I owe it to my crew to do right by them. They expect that out of me. There comes a point if a captain is really being objective; he should be putting the best interests of his crew first because that’s your primary responsibility.”
In an interview with People in December 2022, Lee — who returned to Below Deck in season 10, episode 15 — revealed that he still didn’t know the exact cause of his nerve issues. He explained that doctors told him that two previous surgeries he underwent before Below Deck season 10 — one on his back and one on his neck — both went “extremely well” and didn’t affect his nerves.
Lee also explained that he was able to regain his strength and return to Below Deck later in season as a result of physical therapy, which he attended as much as six times a week. “Gosh, the progress with nerves is really slow,” he said. “Nerves regenerate about four millimeters a month. And if I wanted to get back, I had to bust my hump and not pay attention to the nerve issue, but pay attention to getting the muscles stronger so that I could physically perform my duties. Because I had atrophy, where my muscles had weakened because of underuse. So that’s what I concentrated on; the muscles. The nerve, that’ll happen when it happens, and it’s going to be slow.” He continued, “If they were open, I was there,” he said.
Despite his progress, Lee told People that his recovery wasn’t overnight. “There were times when I would get discouraged,” he said. “I’m like everybody else, I guess. We’re so used to instant gratification. We want to see progress immediately. And with nerve damage, it just doesn’t happen that way. So I’d get frustrated. Other people would see a difference in my progress but it wouldn’t seem like anything to me because I wanted to see leaps and bounds instead of baby steps. But we got there.”
Lee also credited his wife, Mary Anne, and Below Deck fans for their “tremendous support” in his recovery. “The outpouring of sympathy was just overwhelming,” he said. “I thought I died!” He continued, “I don’t consider myself a celebrity or a reality TV star. I’m just a captain that does this job, happens to get filmed while I’m doing it. And then when something like that happens and you see the reaction to the fans, you realize the responsibility you have and how many people’s lives you actually touch in a great way. So it’s humbling to say the least.” He added, “But I’m still here. It’s going to take more than that to stop me.”
Lee also told Us Weekly at the time about how his back surgery turned out. “Back surgery came out great, it really did,” he said. “You will find this season that I do something that I’ve never, ever done before in my career or in my life. And there’s gonna be a lot of situations where you’re gonna go like, ‘Wow, didn’t see that coming at all.’ And not only will it be true for the viewers, [but] it was also true for myself and the crew.”
Who is the new Below Deck captain after Captain Lee?
Who is the new Below Deck captain after Captain Lee? Us Weekly confirmed in February 2023, Captain Kerry Titheradge — the captain on Below Deck Adventure season 1 — will replace Captain Lee as the new captain of Below Deck for season 11, which started filming in February 2023.
In an interview with Us Weekly in February 2023, Kerry revealed the advice Lee gave him before the first season of Below Deck Adventure premiered in November 2022. “‘Be yourself. Be that same guy I was playing golf with,’” Kerry said referring to advice Lee gave him. “And then I asked him about social media and how to do that. I said, ‘I heard I should get someone to do it, so I don’t get caught up in it.’ He goes, ‘No, do your own social media. Don’t let anyone do that.’”
He continued, “The show hadn’t been out yet, but we got a chat and he’s like, ‘Man, you’re gonna do great. You’re gonna do really good. I can see it.’ He says, ‘You’re gonna do fantastic in this franchise.’ And then he chatted with my daughter. It was cool.”
Below Deck is available to stream on Peacock.
For more on primetime shows, check out our photo gallery on the best nighttime soaps ranked.
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Two words: Jane Wyman. The sour grapes that she served as viperish vintner Angela Channing kept us coming back for refills of the CBS soap from 1981-90 no matter <em>how</em> (hic) intoxicated she left us. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Who’s Who of silver-screen stars that passed through the series, among them Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson and Kim Novak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Robert Foxworth, who played halo-clad Chase Gioberti, turned down the role of devilish J.R. Ewing on <em>Dallas</em>.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> The foul-mouthed Roy family proves that the only way in which the rich are truly different is that their dysfunctions play out in mansions and exotic locales. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Beaten-down hubby Tom Wamsbgans telling wife Shiv, “I wonder if the sad I’d be without you would be less than the sad I get from being with you.” Ouch. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The HBO hit’s bombastic patriarch, Logan Roy (played by the inimitable Brian Cox) originally was set to die in the pilot episode, setting in motion a battle for control of Waystar Royco.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In 1990, the supernova that was ABC’s short-lived David Lynch series was something altogether new, a traditional soap on an alternately dreamy and nightmarish acid trip. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode that revealed that Laura Palmer had been killed by her possessed father. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2017’s Showtime revival, Lynch muse Laura Dern finally gave a face to Diane Evans, the FBI secretary to whom Special Agent Dale Cooper was always dictating messages.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount Network Western pulls no punches, and neither do any of the members of the rough-and-tumble Dutton family. Well, maybe Jamie. (But he’s adopted.) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The outta-control Season 4 finale that gunned down John, took aim at Kayce and blew up Beth. Or <em>tried</em> to, anyway. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> As of Season 5, Sheridan has written or co-written every episode of the series, which has thus far spawned two prequels, <em>1883</em> and <em>1932</em>.</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy Everett of the Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> As much as we may hate actually going to see the doctor, we can’t get enough of medical dramas set in hospitals. Plus, this long-running NBC series featured George Clooney, whose Dr. Doug Ross was the original McDreamy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 episode in which Ross saved a child trapped in a storm drain left us breathless and helped propel Clooney to superstardom. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The series was created by Michael Crichton. Yes, the same man who gave us <em>Jurassic Park. </em></p>
Image: OWN/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> There was no “there” to which Tyler Perry’s OWN soap wouldn’t go. Yet neither Jeffrey Harrington stabbing his homophobic Mommie Dearest in the breast implant nor Veronica Harrington setting her estranged husband on fire is <strong>What We’ll Never Forget:</strong> That would be Crystal R. Fox’s fierce portrayal of long-suffering Hanna Young. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> In 2022, Tika Sumpter, who played Candace Young, tied the knot with co-star Nicholas James, aka off-kilter Officer Justin Lewis.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Over the course of its 2016-22 run, the creators of the NBC series proved master manipulators where our emotional well-being was concerned. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The unbreakable bond between the Big Three — the Pearson siblings. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> So upset were fans upon learning that a slow cooker was the cause of Jack Pearson’s death that the makers of the responsible appliance posted a Facebook message addressing the incident. “We love [Jack], and we love you, too. Don’t further add to our heartbreak by no longer using Crock-Pot Slow Cookers.” </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Unlike its American brethren, the British sudser makes a big deal of the “little people.” In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a “have” amongst the “have-nots” who populate Albert Square and hang at its beloved Queen Vic pub. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The 2008 tearjerker in which Dot Cotton recorded an episode-long farewell monologue to former hubby Jim. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> For 28 years running, June Brown’s Dot wore the same dress on Christmas Day. </p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Productions/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> In a way, we grew up with the characters on Aaron Spelling’s 1990-2000 Fox hit, which originated as the fish-out-of-water story of sheltered Minnesota twins transferred to schmancy West Beverly High. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The heated debates that erupted over Season 3’s Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Since the network wasn’t initially as sold on Luke Perry or the character of Dylan McKay as Spelling was, the EP at first paid the future teen idol’s salary himself.</p>
Image: Fox Image Collection/Getty Images
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> While we could wax poetic about the shocking plot twists which befell the Lyon family as they fought for control of their hip-hop dynasty, the truth is, what we <em>really</em> loved was Taraji P. Henson’s trash-talking Cookie. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Sadly, the show will likely be most remembered for star Jussie Smollett staging a fake attack against himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Henson darn near got a spinoff focused on her character, but that Cookie crumbled before the proposed show could launch.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Love It:</strong> Nineteen seasons in, Shonda Rhimes’ medical drama never forgets that sometimes all it takes to get a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">patient</span> series off life support is a transfusion of fresh blood. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Season 5’s finale, which kept us waiting till the last second to learn whether Izzie Stevens or George O’Malley died. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Original cast member Ellen Pompeo was TV’s highest-paid actress — to the tune of $20M/year — when she stepped away from her role of Meredith Grey in 2022.</p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> The suburbs-set 2004-12 series beautifully combined slapstick comedy with dark drama while chronicling the lives of Wisteria Lane’s residents… as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor! <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Early in Season 1, Gabrielle Solis mowed her lawn in a full-length evening gown to prevent her hubby from finding out their hunky young gardener had been too busy tending to her needs to do the chore himself. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Said gardener was played by none other than a post-<em>Passions</em>, pre-<em>Chesapeake Shores</em> Jesse Metcalfe.</p>
Image: Fox/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> After Aaron Spelling spiked his <em>Beverly Hills, 90210</em> spinoff with <em>Dynasty</em> vet Heather Locklear as Amanda Woodward, it went from plain and boring to wild and crazy. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> The Season 2 scene in which a back-from-the-dead Kimberly Shaw ripped off her wig to reveal her scarred head. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> Years after the show ended, Locklear dated and even got engaged to former leading man Jack Wagner, who’d played her love/hate interest, Dr. Peter Burns.</p>
Image: Aaron Spelling Prods./Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> ABC’s answer to <em>Dallas</em> was heavy on the glitz and glamour and even heavier on the catfights and spectacles. (Moldavian massacre, anyone?) <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Joan Collins’ Season 2 debut as Blake Carrington’s ex, Alexis, who elevated bitchcraft to an art form and moved the series out of Dullsville. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The role of the scheme queen was originally supposed to go to Sophia Loren. Elizabeth Taylor and Jessica Walter were also pursued, Collins told <em>W</em> in 2018. </p>
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<p><strong>Why We Loved It:</strong> Based on Grace Metalious’ novel, ABC’s 1964-69 serial about a small town with big secrets was so addictive that at one point, three new episodes aired every week. <strong>We’ll Never Forget:</strong> Lee Grant’s stunning turn as the sublimely cynical Stella Chernak. <strong>Fun Fact:</strong> The exit of rising star Mia Farrow in 1966 not only killed the popular Allison/Rodney/Betty triangle with Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Parkins’ characters, it began the series’ slide toward the primetime graveyard.</p>
Image: CBS/Getty Images
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