The Untold Truth Of Below Deck’s Captain Lee
He’s the unlikely star of a hit reality show, but fame hasn’t changed Harold Lee Rosbach — better known to “Below Deck” viewers as Captain Lee — one little bit. The Michigan native’s no-nonsense attitude and snappy one-liners made him an instant hit with fans of the Bravo series, which follows the captain and his crew as they attempt to keep a luxury yacht full of rich passengers running smoothly. The pilot episode received a poor write-up in The New York Times when it aired in 2013, but with exotic locations and regular drama guaranteed, “Below Deck” would go on to become the most-watched series on Bravo. In 2021, it was nominated for its first Emmys, a huge moment for Rosbach. “Being part of ‘Below Deck’ since the beginning has been a wild ride that has been filled with many surprises,” he said in a statement (per Variety). “Finding out today that we received two Emmy nominations is the most exciting surprise yet.”
The so-called Stud of the Sea is in his 70s now, yet, despite some recent health challenges, he shows no signs of slowing down. He’s rubbished rumors that he’s thinking about quitting the show (“I’m still having way too much fun,” he told Metro ahead of the “Below Deck” Season 9 premiere), which simply wouldn’t be the same without him. How does he stay in such good shape? Was he always a sailor? And what does he really think of that nickname? This is the untold truth of “Below Deck” star Captain Lee.
He used to own several restaurants
Before he was the Stud of the Sea, Lee Rosbach was a restaurateur who owned a number of eateries across the country. “I had restaurants in Indiana, Georgia, and Florida,” he told the Midland Daily News. He fell in love with the water when he moved to Florida and would later open up another restaurant in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory located southeast of the Bahamas. Staring out at the pristine ocean just wasn’t enough for him, however. “It got to the point that I wanted to spend more time on boats than in the restaurant,” he recalled. When he found himself needing some extra cash, he decided to earn it at sea.
“I took a job delivering a sailboat to the British Virgin Islands,” the “Below Deck” star told GQ. “I was supposed to get paid $50 a day as a deckhand, and I was seasick the whole time. The guy screwed me out of half my pay, so I was actually working for $25 a day.” The low pay and the seasickness — which stopped after about a year of being at sea, he revealed — was ultimately worth it. The trip confirmed to him that he was a sailor at heart, and he decided a career change was in order. “When I got back, my wife and I moved back to the United States and saved enough money so I could pursue my captain’s career in Florida,” he recalled.
Captain Lee wasn’t supposed to be on the show
Believe it or not, Captain Lee wasn’t part of Bravo’s plans when they set about making the first season of “Below Deck.” By this point in time, Rosbach had obtained his captain’s license (he was 35 when he passed the test, meaning he’s been a captain for more than half of his life) and was happily running a luxury yacht called Cuor di Lione. His path would be forever altered when he got a call from the yacht’s owner one day. “He said there’s a TV network that wants to charter the boat for eight weeks,” Lee told Boat International. “They’ve got their own captain and crew and all you need to do is drop the boat off in St. Maarten.” Rosbach delivered the boat to St. Maarten as planned, but there was a big problem when he got there.
The captain that Bravo execs had lined up decided to pull out of the show at the last minute, and the producers on location found themselves in quite the tight spot. The original captain’s loss would be Rosbach’s gain, as he recalled during an interview on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” “They had a conundrum because we were already late into the game,” the straight-talking reality star said, “and they needed a captain, so they said, ‘Well, I guess we’ll use the old guy.'” Little did they know that “the old guy” would go on to become the show’s main attraction.
He used to be an amateur boxer
One thing that “Below Deck” viewers can’t help but notice is that Captain Lee is in remarkable shape for a man of his age. You might think that his physique comes from years of tying knots and hoisting sails, but he actually started packing on the muscle long before he took to the seas. “I’ve always been in pretty good shape,” he told GQ. “I’ve been a gym rat my whole life.” Rosbach revealed to the magazine that he had a spell as an amateur boxer in his early 20s, going all the way to “the state finals in Michigan” one year. “I promised myself I’d fight until I lost, which happened at the state finals,” he said. “Guy really rung my bell. I lost TKO.”
His defeat in the ring didn’t dampen Rosbach’s enthusiasm for the gym. In fact, he started hitting the weights even harder when he began his career as a restaurateur. “I changed my workout when we moved out to Indiana and got our first restaurant, and I started going to a gym where a lot of the athletes from Notre Dame went,” he explained. “Some of the guys from the football team would come in, and they’re just beasts.” Those who have gotten to know Captain Lee on “Below Deck” won’t be surprised to learn that he became friendly with the young football stars. “I used to work out with them all the time,” he revealed.
Captain Lee still works out every day
Despite being in his 70s, Captain Lee is still the same “gym rat” he was all those years ago. He lifted the lid on his workout routine during his candid GQ interview, telling the men’s mag that he’s “usually at the gym for two hours” every single day. “I do a lot of repetitions without really heavy weights,” he explained. “I’ll switch it up every couple of weeks so that my muscles don’t remember the same routine.” Of course, this only applies when the captain is at home in Florida and he can frequent a fully functional gym — so what does he do when he’s at sea? “It depends on the boat,” he said. “If there isn’t a gym, I’ll take some weights with me or I’ll buy some when we’re docked. If there’s a local gym, I’ll hit that.”
When he’s really pressed for time, Rosbach will break out the resistance bands that he travels with and do his workout up on deck at first light. “I like working out outside,” he explained. “It just really puts you in a great frame of mind to start your day.” Glimpses of the captain’s sunrise workouts are rare, but that’s not for a lack of trying on the show’s part. According to Rosbach, he often rounds on the camera crew when they try to film him in action. “They’re like, ‘Cap, I’m just doing my job!’ I’m, like, ‘Get the f*** outta here!'”
The seafarer insists the show isn’t scripted
It’s no secret that many reality TV shows are partly (or even fully) scripted, but that doesn’t appear to be the case with “Below Deck.” In 2014, Captain Lee told the Midland Daily News: “I still run the boat the same way, regardless if it is on TV or not.” When he sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Men’s Health in 2020, Rosbach confirmed that this was still the case. “I don’t know if anybody could make this stuff up,” he said. “The cameras start rolling at 6:30 in the morning and they don’t stop until the last person goes to bed. Static cameras are rolling all the time. So whatever happens, happens. There’s no lack of content.”
When asked about ex-cast member Caroline Bedol (who called the show “heavily manipulated” in a Reddit AMA), the captain got a little salty, putting it down to “people trying to maintain their relevancy for longer than they should be.” The former third stew made it clear that she has a pretty low opinion of Rosbach following her unceremonious exit in Season 6 (she left halfway through the charter after accusing colleagues of bullying), telling Reddit that he has “a broken moral compass.” That’s not how one of the charter guests from that season remembers him, however. “Captain Lee is every bit as funny, charming, and smart as he appears on the show,” Linda P. Jones wrote in a blog post. “He’s the real deal.”
His studly nickname makes him blush
Captain Lee got his catchy nickname in 2015 when a teaser trailer for “Below Deck” Season 3 referred to him as the Stud of the Sea for the first time. The name stuck, but Rosbach would later reveal that he didn’t know what was happening when the camera crew arrived to film the now-iconic clip. “I had no idea they were going to do this,” he told Lifestyle Magazine (via Showbiz Cheat Sheet). “A special team came down and did some camera shots. The next thing you know I’m looking at the teaser, and they are talking about the Stud of the Sea. I said to them, ‘Oh, someone is going to pay for this!'” The show’s executive producer loved the new name, however, and so did the charter guests.
Writing about her experience on “Below Deck,” Linda P. Jones revealed that she made Rosbach blush when she called him by his nickname at dinner one evening. “I’ve seen every ‘Below Deck’ show … so I had to tease him and call him the Stud of the Sea,” she said on her blog. “I looked back a minute later and he had put his white linen napkin over his head to hide his red face!” This isn’t an unusual reaction from the captain, who finds the whole thing “kind of embarrassing,” he told GQ. “It’s flattering, but I don’t do anything special,” he added. “I’m just a guy who gets filmed doing his job.”
Captain Lee responds to Below Deck’s racial slur controversy
“Below Deck” hit the headlines in December 2021 when chief stewardess Heather Chase used the N-word twice during an episode. A clip from the crew’s drunken night out showed Chase (who is white) repeating the word after Black deckhand Rayna Lindsey said it, and she appeared to use it again while rapping in front of Lindsey later that evening, which prompted a response. “You cannot say n****, you’re white as f***,” Lindsey said. “It’s not 2002 anymore, you know?” Fans had little sympathy for Chase after she stormed off to bed complaining about being called out, saying, “It just made me feel bad.” Lindsey addressed her colleague’s use of the racial slur while speaking to the cameras the following morning. “It hurts me,” she said, per E! News. “It hurts my heart. It hurts everything in me.”
When Captain Lee saw the episode for the first time, he went straight to his personal blog and penned a scathing post. “I was truly disgusted by some words used in this week’s episode that I will not repeat,” Rosbach wrote. “I find them despicable. The word I heard used casually on this week’s episode is not one I tolerate in any way shape or form on my boat.” Chase was also watching the episode, and she was embarrassed by her behavior. “While I apologized to Rayna throughout the season, I cannot express enough how remorseful I am,” she said in an Instagram post.
