Captain Lee Rosbach is speaking out on Below Deck Down Under's recent controversy.
After Bosun Luke Jones and Stew Laura Bileskalne were both fired for inappropriate behavior towards co-workers on the Bravo series' Aug. 7 episodes, the longtime Below Deck star spoke out in support of their terminations.
"Their behavior was despicable, both of them," Lee told Us Weekly on Aug. 10. "And I'm sure they'll be paying the price for it for a long time to come—as they should."
Captain Jason Chambers fired Luke after he drunkenly climbed into Stew Margot Sisson's bed while she was asleep and let Laura go for repeatedly trying to hook up with Deckhand Adam Kodra despite him telling her he was not interested. Lee said he's "impressed" with how production stepped in to stop the unwanted sexual advances and applauded Jason and Chief Stew Aesha Scott for "not getting rattled" amid the drama.
"I don't know if I would have had the wherewithal to remain as calm as Captain Jason did, but he certainly stepped up to the plate and did it right," the 73-year-old noted. "It's a tough spot to be in. When there's the captain, you're responsible for everything and anything that does happen. Jason handled it superbly."
During the episode, Jason made it clear to his crew that he had a zero tolerance policy when it came to non-consensual advances.
"We had an incident last night and I want to stress that this is a place that we respect each other," the captain told his reports before firing Luke and Laura. "Our cabin is our safety zone. That door is our boundary, that door is not to be opened unless it's consensual. To walk into someone else's room without consent, indecent, is my limit."
Following the drama, Jason shared his perspective on the situation, praising both his Chief Stew and the Bravo show's crew for intervening.
"I've had a flood of messages over the last 24 hours from people in similar situations—some not so lucky of the outcome—so my heart goes out to them," the 50-year-old told fans in an Aug. 9 Instagram video. "I like to thank the production team for breaking the fourth wall and stepping in. Then reforming and allowing Aesha to come to me in an authentic manner and us dealing with it as we would as captain and crew."
Below Deck Down Under airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Bravo and streams the next day on Peacock. Keep reading to see more of the most shocking firings in Below Deck history.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family)