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Below Deck Mediterranean season 8 finally brought the drama in episode 3 with the return of the franchise villain, Kyle. Tumi and Kyle's arrival was delayed due to visa issues, and the latest episode finally had them hop on board. Although grossly understaffed before this, the crew pushed through the first charter and performed harmoniously, kicking off the season with massive success.
Kyle and Tumi have appeared on the show previously, and while Tumi made a positive impression, Kyle...not so much. The episode, which aired on October 10, sent the interior team up in flames, with Kyle stirring the pot even before he arrived by filling Tumi's ears about Natalya. A feud broke out between the two, which simmered down quickly, then turned into peak hostility and ended with yet another explosion at the end.
Luka and Natalya went from flirting to gossiping about Tumi. Natalya also discussed this with Kyle and Jack on separate occasions. Tumi formed an early alliance with Kyle. Additionally, Tumi and Jack got into an altercation, Kyle threw her under the bus, and a new deckhand was welcomed.
Below Deck Mediterranean: Battle of the Stews
Below Deck Mediterranean, season 8, has brought back a few old faces across the crew, especially for the interior team, who have all featured on the franchise before. Naturally, being onboard with yachties from their messy past was only going to make this charter season that much dirtier.
In episodes 1 and 2, Natalya was given the position of temporary Chief Stew until Tumi arrived. Tumi made her way onto M/Y Mustique at the end of the last episode and confessed that Kyle had already badmouthed Natalya to her, which began the clash of the Stews. Tumi entered with preconceived notions about Natalya.
Below Deck Mediterranean, episode 3, reintroduced Kyle to the audience. He wasted no time stirring the pot and causing utter chaos by pitting Tumi and Natalya against each other. Natalya was disappointed that she would have to give up her post because of Tumi's arrival, even though she blew it out of the park on the first charter as Chief Stew.
The final interior crew comprised Tumi, Kyle, Natalya, and Jessika. Tumi made it clear in one of her first confessionals this season that she would not let anyone "walk over" her because of her past related to bullying. They had an altercation about laundry minutes into their first meeting, and when it settled down, they took the opportunity to tell every other crew member what had happened.
"She's a f**king b**ch," Natalya told Jessika and Luka.
Tumi then demoted the previous Chief Stew by two positions, naming Kyle 2nd Stew and Natalya 3rd Stew for the Below Deck Mediterranean season. This instigated Natalya, who vented to Chef Jack, another addition to the gossip group. He, however, chose to keep himself away from the mess.
Following this, since Bosun Ruan Irving had been left at the dock and Luka had taken over his position, a new deckhand was hired to fill the empty spot. Max made a grand entrance, turning heads with his attractiveness as soon as he stepped in. Natalya helped him settle in.
Afterwards, she went to Kyle, the person who had turned Tumi against her, to badmouth Tumi. Tumi was team Kyle from the start, and in their previous Below Deck Mediterranean season, Kyle and Natalya did not get along at all. However, during this gossip session with her, potentially as a way of getting pitched as Chief Stew, he agreed with Natalya's opinion.
The next Below Deck Mediterranean guests were already feeling blue owing to the terrible weather; they also weren't the most friendly, putting the crew up to an incredibly challenging charter.
"This is gonna be a rough charter... I can feel it," Chef Jack said.
The Below Deck Mediterranean Chef entered the new day nervous about disappointing the elite guests. He served them a cheeseboard for snacks to kick it off, but they wanted a heavy meal, which he hadn't prepared. He whipped something up quickly but did not get raving reviews from the guests. Tumi also commented on how he was "so bad" when interacting with Kyle.
To add more fuel to this quickly spreading wildfire, Kyle relayed the news to Natalya, and she told Chef Jack everything. Jack then took to a confessional to express his anger upon hearing about this. During the dinner, one meal was sent back since the guest wanted lobster instead of the meat they'd been served. Kyle relayed the message incorrectly to Chef Jack, stating they just wanted other meat.
Being the Below Deck Mediterranean Chief Stew, the blame for this was put on Tumi. Kyle did not own up to his mistake and let Tumi take the fall for him. Tumi and Jack then resolved the issue. Simultaneously, Natalya was conspiring with Luka to get Tumi fired.
The next morning, Below Deck Mediterranean's Tumi and Natalya got into another explosive argument when Natalya told her she was frustrated that Kyle did not clean up after the party, adding to her work. Tumi defended Kyle, and Natalya kept snapping back. After the back and forth, Tumi said in a confessional:
"She reminds me of a chihuahua... Territorial, combative, speaks all the time, and I've just had it. We're done."
The preview of episode 4 shows the crew embarking on a long hike for a picnic, Jessika telling Kyle she gets "mean girl" energy from Natalya, Kyle warning her to stay away from Natalya for her own safety, and Haileigh calling out the deck team for being "lazy." Captain Sandy is also seen intervening in the Natalya-Tumi mess, threatening to kick them both off the boat.
Below Deck Mediterranean, season 8, episode 4, will be aired on October 16 at 9 PM ET on Bravo.
