‘Below Deck’ Star Captain Lee Says He Won’t Work With Ashton Pienaar Again
It’s been a rough season for bosun Ashton Pienaar on Season 7 of Below Deck. Not only did his managerial style come into question from fellow crew members and viewers, but his treatment of women has had him on blast in the last several weeks.
The two-season Bravo star was mostly well-liked for his first appearance on the show, where he almost lost his life after being dragged into the sea by a rope. His Season 2 promotion saw him in charge of the deck crew which included Brian de Saint Pern, Rhylee Gerber, Tanner Sterback, and Abbi Murphy.
Ashton’s behavior has been so abhorrent that even the “Stud of the Sea,” Captain Lee Rosbach, is admitting he will never work with the bosun again. Captain Lee and Chief Stew Kate Chastain appeared on SiriusXM’s The Jenny McCarthy Show to discuss the season’s events, and a lot of the discussion revolved around Ashton’s actions towards women, most notably Kate.
“Do you give him another chance?” Jenny asked the duo.
“I wouldn’t, no,” Captain Lee responded. “I wouldn’t give him another chance.”
Kate added on to her captain’s sentiments by saying she didn’t feel like Ashton is really sorry for any of his actions this season.
Ashton did post an apology video on his Instagram story two weeks ago but came under fire for not putting a more permanent clip out there on social media, opting for something that would disappear after 24 hours. His sincerity was further called into question online when he began deleting negative comments from his Instagram posts, and when he liked several tweets from viewers who supported his negative actions this season. Ashton also didn’t appear to be remorseful in After Show episodes of Below Deck, which perturbed Kate even further.
“it’s very easy to kind of fall into a depressed state when people are so aggressively negative towards you," Ashton said
OH REALLY Ashton, YOU DONT SAY #BelowDeck
I’m Incandescent with LOL https://t.co/D3CSDOvkuE
— Kate Chastain (@Kate_Chastain) January 11, 2020
Captain Lee also admitted that he has not had any one-on-one conversations with Ashton since he witnessed his behavior on television. Captain Lee wasn’t privy to Ashton’s aggressive drunken behavior towards Kate until the episodes aired. With the boat’s captain claiming he won’t work with the bosun anymore, this might mean the end of Bravo reality television for Ashton. Normally, most deck crew members don’t stick around for too many seasons on the hit Bravo show, so time is probably up for the former stripper.
For now, it’s unknown if there will be a Below Deck Season 7 reunion since several past seasons have gone without one before.
Below Deck airs every Monday night at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
