The calm before the storm. Captain Lee appeared thrilled with Captain Sandy‘s decisions aboard St. David — after he previously vocalized issues off screen.
During a new episode of Below Deck, which aired on Monday, February 27, the Michigan native, 73, returned to the boat after taking a brief break for health reasons. Lee asked Sandy, 57, to fill him in on what he missed — after the Florida native previously told him about Camille Lamb‘s departure.
“So, some changes, Alissa [Humber] is gone for insubordination,” Sandy told Lee after letting the stew go for her rude behavior.
In response, the OG Below Deck star applauded Sandy for her decision. “She did the right thing. If they need to go, they need to go,” he said in a confessional. “She’s the one that had to deal with it and I am sure she made the best decision for the boat and the crew. I can’t express how much I appreciate [her filling in for me]. And maybe one day I will get to return the favor for her.”
Lee’s praise came after he recently questioned why he wasn’t alerted about staff changes in his absence.
“So, I found out after the fact that she fired one of my crew, not before. OK?” he tweeted in January after Camille’s departure aired. “[Camille] deserved what she got. That was never my issue. So many people can’t see that, and I’m sorry for that. I didn’t want [Sandy] to ask permission, just wanted the update, that quick call you mentioned, good manners.”
He added: “She did it on TV in front of how many people with out [SIC] consulting me. That doesn’t sound very private to me at all.”
At the time, Sandy clarified that she was in charge during season 10 amid Lee’s brief exit. “He’s in the hospital. Who’s gonna call and say, ‘Can I fire Camille?’ Never in a million years would I do that,” she explained on SiriusXM’s Reality Checked earlier this month. “But what I did was give him a courtesy call saying, ‘By the way, I did fire her. You almost had a mutiny on your boat because of her.’”
According to the Be the Calm or Be the Storm author, Lee was “definitely not acting” his age with his social media commentary.
“I called him and said, ‘Come back to your boat.’ Because I had a girlfriend that was going to have surgery. Like, I didn’t step on there to take over a show,” Sandy added at the time. “I don’t want two shows. I like the Mediterranean. Are you kidding me? I like the Mediterranean.”
Amid the drama, Us Weekly broke the news that Lee would be leaving the franchise after season 10. The Bravo star, who joined the hit series in 2013, will be replaced by Below Deck Adventure‘s Captain Kerry for season 11. Us also confirmed that the new season is currently filming in Grenada.
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Below Deck airs on Bravo Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
