Captain Lee Rosbach was recently forced to exit Below Deck, but he isn’t ready to leave for good.
Earlier this month, viewers watched as Rosbach announced on-screen that he would depart due to nerve damage in his left leg.
“My injury, it’s getting worse. The left side of my body, I don’t feel anything,” Rosbach said in the episode that aired last week.
“As you guys know, I’ve been struggling with my mobility, and it’s been hard,” he told his co-stars.
“And I’ve let you guys down, and for that, I apologize. So I’ve made a decision to leave the boat.”
Below Deck Mediterranean’s Captain Sandy Yawn stepped in to take over, but Lee made it clear it would be a temporary move during the new episode this week.
“My mind’s there, my heart’s there, my body just won’t cooperate,” he said.
“I’ve never quit, and this time, I have to.”
“I finally gave myself a plane ticket home, but it’s round trip,” Lee said to the crew.
“I’m going to go back to the States, get this straightened out and as soon as I do I’ll be on the first plane back here and tell whoever’s on board to get the f— off my boat.”
Rosbach told People that he intends to keep that promise.
“I made a promise to the crew before I left that I would be back before they were done, before the season was over, and I would walk on board by myself unassisted,” Rosbach shared with the outlet.
“I’m happy to say that I was able to fulfill the promise.”
“That was a very proud moment for me,” he continued.
“I wanted to be able to finish what I started.”
Rosbach also shed light on how difficult it was to depart temporarily midseason.
“That’s something I’ve never done in my life,” he shared.
“I’ve never quit. I’ve never had to say I quit. And it was really, really hard to admit, especially to myself, that there’s something out there that kicked my ass.”
“That was a hard pill to swallow.”
Rosbach said he was able to return to work after working on his health.
“The outpouring of sympathy was just overwhelming,” Rosbach added.
“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.”
“But I’m still here,” he confirmed.
“It’s going to take more than that to stop me.”
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.