Tumi Mhlongo is at the center of Below Deck Mediterranean season 8 — but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have questions as she watches the show back.
“It’s so interesting watching the show back, because I don’t see or hear everything and I’m like ‘hold on that happened?!’ 👀👀👀,” the chief stew wrote via X on Monday, October 30, after watching the most recent episode of the hit Bravo series.
Tumi took over as chief stew on the Mustique after Natalya Scudder temporarily filled in for her amid immigration issues. Kyle Viljoen, who was given the role of second stew, joined the group later on in the season as well.
Once Tumi took over, she quickly ended up at odds with Natalya. Tumi subsequently warned Kyle that she wasn’t afraid to put her foot down.
“Giving you a heads up b/w us. I know you’re mates with her, but Nat needs to stay in her lane bc Tumi losing her s—t will end up in her walking off bc she had a diva moment,” Tumi wrote in a text during the October 9 episode, to which Kyle responded, “I’m sorry to hear this — I did tell you she’s something that came for all of us.”
The text message came up again when Kyle warned Natalya that her job might be in danger. In response, Natalya told Captain Sandy that Tumi allegedly threatened to fire her while speaking with Kyle — which the Below Deck Down Under alum denied.
Kyle later said he regretted getting in the middle of the feud.
“I love [some] good gossip. But I am realizing that my involvement has made the situation worse. I shared with Tumi how my time went with Natalya [during season 7]. And Tumi’s response was, ‘I know you’re mates with her, but she needs to stay in her lane. Tumi losing her s—t will end in her walking off because she had a diva moment,'” he told the cameras. “I am really good at getting information. My biggest problem? I am not good at keeping the information. It’s not good. Trust me, I know.”
Tumi and Natalya were able to come to an understanding after Sandy steered them in the right direction.
“You have to respect each other in the workplace. You can’t do this. This is behavior that can’t happen. In this situation I need to defuse it but then you need to step away and let the leader handle it,” the captain explained. “Because if I draw the line for them, they are never going to respect each other. Having said that, if I hear Natalya screaming at Tumi again and Tumi can’t defuse it, then I need to step in and make a decision.”
Tumi and Natalya may have moved on from the drama but that didn’t stop Kyle from sharing his thoughts on their reconciliation.
“Although I love a good tea and I am glad that Natalya and Tumi made up about the text message — I am just not happy with Natalya,” he said. “Informing Sandy and using my name in that … Me revealing Tumi’s message to Natalya was an act of friendship. It wasn’t for Natalya to weaponize me against other people.”
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Kyle concluded: “There’s only room for one gossip on this boat right now and that’s me. I am the tea queen. Self-proclaimed.”
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
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