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'Below Deck': Who is Rob Phillips? Meet the new deckhand who feels Francesca Rubi is a 'hot nun' he cannot touch

Rob and Francesca share an interesting friendship on the show

'Below Deck' Season 8 saw quite a few changes. Some unexpected, others planned. Avery Russell's exit left Eddie Lucas high and dry. For the longest time, he struggled to get his team to work in tandem because Shane Coopersmith was too inexperienced and had a rhythm of his own, which didn't sit well with how things work on a yacht. Eddie and Captain Lee Rosbach had to make a hard call and let Shane go. 

Rob Phillips replaced him immediately and Eddie has been happy since. "I'm really happy to have Rob on the team. It seems like he has the experience, which is definitely gonna be a change of pace," Eddie said during his confessional and added: "Anything's better than Shane."

Rob is originally from Canada and comes from a "long line of sailors." His ancestors were in the navy and therefore, anything to do with the sea comes naturally to him. Even though he has not worked on yachts as big as My Seanna but he's got "intuition" and therefore, a "good fit."

"I'm an exploration geologist, which means, in a nutshell, I'm like a nerdy Indiana Jones," he explained in his green-room and added: "I look for gold, but as soon as the markets crash, I lose my job, which is why super yachting's kind of like the fallback sometimes."

Rob has everyone intrigued on the team, especially chief stewardess Francesca Rubi. While she may be friendly with him, Rob feels she is more of a "hot nun" whom he can only look at but not touch. 

Meanwhile, fans have weighed in with their two cents about Rob and his hot nun comment. 

"He just said, “Franchesca is like a hot nun?” That’s a new one. #BelowDeck," a fan commented, while another shared: "Wow, is being a hot nun a compliment? #BelowDeck." "Francesca is like a hot nun?! Oh man, I’ve heard it all," a user tweeted. "She's like a hot nun...You can look but you can't touch," a fan expressed.

Catch all the new episodes of 'Below Deck' Season 8 on Bravo every Monday at 9/8c. For more information, check your local listings.