Shortly after his divorce from Gayle in 1989, Mitch entered into a relationship with visiting lifeguard Stephanie Holden. The two quickly became serious but the relationship ended abruptly when Stephanie left both Mitch and Baywatch. Three years later, when Stephanie returned to Baywatch full-time as a Lieutenant, Mitch discovered that she was still married when he was pursuing her, and that she broke off her relationship with Mitch in order to work things out with her husband. Though Stephanie was officially divorced by the time of her 1992 return, it was decided by both Mitch and Stephanie to maintain a platonic relationship from that point onward. However, due to inconsistent plotlines that would later appear, the nature of this relationship would occasionally go from platonic to flirtatious to unrequited on either side, depending upon how it fit the story of each episode. Additionally, the hierarchy of their roles as lifeguards remained inconsistent. In some episodes, Stephanie was of a higher rank than Mitch, and in others, Mitch was her direct supervisor.