'Below Deck' Is Saying Bye to Two Season 8 Crew Members

Season 8 of Below Deck has been cruising along with relatively little drama — until now. Although Captain Lee seems to have finally hit a stride with his new bosun, Eddie Lucas, and new chief stew, Francesca Rubi, other crew members are starting to slack off. 

And it’s getting to the point where Captain Lee may have to step in.

Anytime Below Deck loses a crew member, the rest of the crew scrambles to keep guests satisfied and ensure that everything on the charter runs smoothly. Potentially losing two members is going to put the team in a really tough position. 

But is it better to be short-staffed or keep working with messy crew members who can’t seem to shape up? Keep scrolling to find out who gets fired on Season 8 of Below Deck.

Captain Lee was recently on Watch What Happens Live! when Andy Cohen asked him his opinion about crew hookups. “Boatmances are those things that you hope don’t happen and you are powerless to prevent them,” the captain told Andy before adding, “Sometimes you gotta get rid of two people.” 

Now fans are speculating about which two crew members will be getting fired.

The first and most obvious guess is deckhand Shane Coopersmith, or “Sunshine,” as bosun Eddie has nicknamed him. The writing has been on the wall for a while about Shane’s possible firing as he’s been in hot water with his superiors since day one on the boat. 

Shane lacks a lot of yachting experience, but while many deckhands before him have been eager to learn and make up for their inexperience, Shane appears to march to the beat of his own drum. 

He’s overslept and missed the start of his shift multiple times, often forgets his radio, talks back to Eddie, takes unsanctioned breaks, journals while he’s supposed to be on-duty, and one time, he left the lazarette door open overnight, risking the loss of thousands of dollars worth of yacht toys.

Shane’s surfer bro attitude has continuously gotten him in trouble with Eddie and the captain. But despite them taking Shane aside to talk to him about his performance, he hasn’t managed to clean up his act, which makes him ripe for a firing.

The other crew member most likely to get fired in Season 8 is Elizabeth Frankini. After her lackluster work performance on a past episode, Lee took to his blog to express his disappointment. 

“Snap out of the dream world you’re in, we operate in the real world," he wrote. "You are better than this I believe. I too hope you can pull it together.”

This wasn’t the first time Lee has expressed his displeasure with Elizabeth. In a previous episode, the captain was increasingly annoyed when bosun Eddie had to make multiple trips for a beach picnic because Elizabeth had forgotten sunscreen, pitchers for drinks, and didn’t set the table correctly.

To make matters worse for Elizabeth, it turns out she also might have been poisoning the crew. Unknowingly, of course! 

In a preview for the Dec. 14 episode, nearly all the crew members are complaining about feeling dizzy, all thinking it's a bad hangover. But they soon discover that Elizabeth has been mixing bleach with soap to do laundry, unintentionally creating a mustard gas-like substance and making everyone sick.

Anyone who remembers high school chemistry could tell you that you must never mix bleach with other household cleaners. This is because most cleaners contain ammonia or acids. When these are mixed with bleach, a toxic gas is released called chloramine, which is quite like mustard gas in its effects. 

Exposure to chloramine can cause a number of symptoms like nausea, dizziness, difficulty breathing, and more.

It seems that a stewardess in charge of the laundry on a superyacht should know the basic dangers of mixing bleach with practically anything, but on Below Deck, anything is possible. 

Tune in to see who gets fired from Below Deck on Bravo, Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.