During a September 2020 chat with Decider, Kate Chastain admitted that watching the Season 8 trailer for the first time was "like seeing my ex." As the Below Deck alum explained, "Even when you break up with somebody, even if you don't want to be with them anymore — you still don't want them to like their new girlfriend better. You want them to always be like, the one that got away!" She's wishing everybody the best, however, and is excited to see how everything pans out. In particular, "I can't wait to see how Captain Lee handled it in my absence. I need to know who brought him his Cheerios and how his pants were ironed."

The feeling is clearly mutual. Captain Lee has been frank about crew members he'd never invite onboard again — and Chastain isn't one of them. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Captain Lee admitted, "Kate is always going to have a very, very sweet spot in my heart, because we worked together for a long period of time. And she was my right hand." The Below Deck stalwart also reminisced, "There was nothing I couldn't delegate to Kate that I could just pass it off and walk away from it, and know it was gonna get done."