Eddie & Kate Tease 'Below Deck' Early Departures

One of the highlights of every season of Below Deck is when stern Captain Lee takes aside an annoying deckhand or steward and sends them packing with a plane ticket and their share of the tip. And according to stars Eddie Lucas and Kate Chastain, crew members will be leaving throughout Below Deck Season 3. "Oh, oh there’s some unexpected departures," Eddie says. "Pretty wild things happen, we were going through them like hotcakes this time." So not just one, but multiple people will be heading home over the course of the season? According to Kate, absolutely: "Captain Lee loves to hand out plane tickets as he sees fit, and he handed out quite a few plane tickets this season," she confirms. Since this doesn't even qualify as a spoiler, whenBelow Deck premieres on Bravo on Aug. 25 at 9 p.m., it will probably be pretty evident which crew members are keepers and which are landlubbers.

But before the season really gets started, why not jump in and use Kate and Eddie's hints and suggestions to form some first impressions about the new crew? As the chief stew and the bosun, they are the bosses below the captain, and so their word holds a lot of water on the Below Deck yacht.

Connie, Deckhand

Connie is the show's second female deckhand, and just like Jennice, it seems like she was very enthusiastic to tackle what's traditionally considered a guy's job. And her boss, Eddie, raves about her, saying "Connie was brand new to this industry but she was really excited to learn and worked very hard ... she turned out to be a really great, great crew member, [and] I’m sure the viewers would agree with me as they’re watching the season." Does that sound like someone who would be sent packing to you?

Chance of Plane Ticket: 0

Don, Engineer/Deckhand

Don's remained something of a mystery. Neither Kate nor Eddie have anything say about Don, and he's not mentioned very frequently in the eventful Season 3 trailer. That could be a good thing, if he keeps quiet and sticks to his work. But it could also mean he only lasts about half of an episode, any everyone forgot that he's in the cast.

Chance of Plane Ticket: 50 Percent

Emile, Deckhand

Eddie is a little more reserved when talking about Emile. He says "Emile is a workhorse, he’s a great, great worker. He has been in this industry for a while and so he knew what he was doing, but that also caused his ego to get in the way a little bit sometimes when it came to doing certain tasks or taking orders." Insubordination is a serious offense on Captain Lee's ship, and I don't think he'll take it lightly if Emile thinks he knows better than the bosun and captain. If he wants to last, his work ethic must be incredible.

Chance of Plane Ticket: 60 Percent

Leon, Chef

Kate's fight with Leon is also all over the preseason trailers. Eddie sees both sides, as he explains "I’ve known Kate for a while, and I know how she works ... She probably tried instigating a lot of whatever happened between them." But Kate goes even deeper into their feud. "I tried my best with Leon, but I think he’s more used to working in restaurants where that’s the only thing going on and he’s the head person," she says. "He kind of saw it as Leon’s floating restaurant, and that’s not the case."

Chance of Plane Ticket: 75 Percent

Rocky, Third Stew

Kate explains that Rocky's drama wasn't always a bad thing, saying, "Rocky was great because she was so difficult to work with that she made Amy and I bond. So that, I would say is Rocky’s biggest strength." And she gets into some kind of disagreement with Eddie about an alleged hookup between them. With strengths like those, it sounds like Rocky is not going to fit in with the Below Deck crew. Kate puts it perfectly. "I’ve never worked with someone quite so difficult on a boat."

Chance of Plane Ticket: 99 Percent

A season of Below Deck without Captain Lee's plane tickets is no season at all. But it doesn't seem like that will be a problem, because based on what Eddie and Kate have to say, the Below Deck cast will look very different by the end of the season.

Image: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo (3)