Francesca Rubi and Elizabeth Frankini have sounded off on the now third stew’s demotion on Below Deck.
It became clear to Francesca that firing Elizabeth wasn’t going to be as easy as the chief stew wanted or hoped. Francesca decided something needed to be done, and stripping Elizabeth of her second stew title was the option.
To be honest, fans weren’t convinced Elizabeth earned the promotion after Izzy Wouters vacated the position to join the deck crew. Francesca had only worked with Elizabeth for one charter before just handing out stripes.
Now that Elizabeth has been bumped back down to third stew, she and Francesca shared their thoughts on the new development.
Francesca was relieved
Elizabeth and Francesca opened up about the demotion during the Below Deck Season 8 After Show. The chief stew’s initial course of action, firing, was denied, so Francesca came up with a new plan.
“I need to do something about this because she’s got this entitled situation going on, and I can’t have this,” Francesca spilled. “I have an expectation of how [second stews] work, and when I took those two stripes away from Elizabeth, all of a sudden the expectation was like nil, which relieved a lot of the weight off my shoulders.”
Yes, the Australian native was relieved after demoting Elizabeth. Francesca has no regrets about her decision. She was quite happy with her choice.
The demotion didn’t matter to Elizabeth
One good thing about being demoted was Elizabeth had less responsibility, and she was okay with that.
“It’s just a name for something,” Elizabeth admitted. “Being demoted didn’t matter to me. I was gonna work just as hard, obviously harder, like never-ending, of course, to prove myself. Throw a dog a bone. If that’s what makes her feel better about me and more confident in her job, she needs to demote me. That’s fine, demote me. I’m still here.”
The third stew was also extremely happy to have not been given her walking papers, like Shane Coopersmith.
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It doesn’t mean Elizabeth doesn’t need to step up. Captain Lee Rosbach expressed in his latest blog he wasn’t sure Elizabeth would make it the entire season.
The battle lines between Francesca Rubi and Elizabeth Frankini have been drawn, with other crew members taking sides.
James Hough and Izzy showed support for Elizabeth during the after show. Ashling Lorger and bosun Eddie Lucas continue to align with Francesca.
Fans have serious doubts regarding Elizabeth’s future on Below Deck. One thing is for sure. Like chef Rachel and Eddie, these two are adding some entertaining crew dramatics to the Bravo show.
Below Deck airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.