Eddie Lucas. Laurent Bassett/Bravo
We say goodbye again. After confirming that he won’t be joining Captain LeeSeason 10 Below Deck’s Eddie LucasOn his way out, he questioned his Bravo paychecks.
“I was not invited back to do another season,” Lucas, 37, told the New York PostWednesday, May 11th. “I actually didn’t even get a phone call from them saying they hired someone else — which kind of goes to show what the production entails. Everyone on Below Deck is expendable.”
The former bosun also discussed his issues with how the Below DeckCast members were paid for their work. “There is somebody monetizing off of the show, but it’s definitely not us,” he claimed. “Below Deck — regardless of it being the most popular show on Bravo — we are the lowest-paid cast members.”
The Bravo personality continued: “While we do get paid better than a normal yachtie, of course, we are still not getting paid what people like the Housewives are making, which is a little frustrating, because they’re not really working — they’re just going out to dinner and fighting.”
Lucas noted in the interview that despite his frustrations, he would be willing to return to Below DeckIn the future.
The first officer’s surprising departure comes after he joined Captain Lee, 71, for seasons 8 and 9. He was previously a member of the cast on the hit reality show from 2013 to 2015.
In August 2020, Executive producer Courtland Cox weighed in on Lucas’ ability to offer support to his boss with his onscreen return. Captain Lee also announced that his only child had passed away in the same year.
“On the heels of this incredibly awful tragedy that Lee and Mary Anne suffered to be able to have someone familiar like Eddie come back, when he has been like a son to Lee, it got magnified into this kind of amazing but awful coincidence,” Cox said during an interview with Vanity FairAt the time. “While you’re seeing what Lee went through and seeing what Eddie meant to him, it really puts it in perspective how you’re making a TV show with real human stakes.”
Things took a shocking turn in season 9, when Lucas was caught up in the middle of chief stew Heather ChaseOn screen, Chase used the N-word. Chase, 27, made headlines after he used the N-word during a crew outing. Rayna Lindsey. Despite the apology of the newcomer, the subject was brought up again throughout season.
Lucas, who was told about the incident by Lindsey, denied that he would “brush racism under the rug” after seemingly not addressing the situation on screen. “I mean, I was told on numerous occasions to not talk about it and not bring it up anymore,” he claimed during a virtual YourEncore event in December 2021. “It was actually a really good conversation that we were having. And it’s just gotten spun into something different.”
Lucas and Lindsey raised eyebrows in February when Lindsey claimed her superior tried to silence their concerns. Lindsey accused Lindsey of falsely accusing the Maryland native that she claimed she said a homophobic phrase to stop her talking about her issues while filming the reunion episode in February.
Lucas, for his part, said that he couldn’t recall what they discussed but noted that he was trying to point out to Lindsey that she was also engaging in offensive behavior. At the time, host Andy CohenBravo did not have any footage of Lindsey using a slur.
Us WeeklyBravo was contacted for comment.
