Credit: Fred Jagueneau/Bravo
It is safe to say that Tumi and Natalya are not off to a great start… both ladies want to be in charge, and the communication is lacking terribly. They butt heads enough to get Captain Sandy involved (which is never a good thing), but the stews are not the only ones rocked on this episode of Below Deck Med. The new deckhand, Max, is doing his best to do the least, and Luka is stuck trying to navigate this before Max messes up the entire vibe of the boat…
In better news, the yacht can finally leave the dock considering there is no wind, but there is certainly drama brewing on board. Natalya keeps thinking about the text Kyle told her about. According to Kyle, Tumi was talking mad smack about Natalya, going as far as telling him she has no problem firing people. This battle between Tumi and Natalya is starting to infect the rest of the crew.
As happy as Luka was with his understaffed crew, he is grateful to finally have a full staff under him now that the boat is on the move. He is really vibing with Lara, and she is doing a great job of knowing what her job is. Whereas Max, the new deckhand, is having a hard time keeping up with the fast-paced vibe of the boat… which seems like an excuse for laziness.
Kyle pops into laundry and takes Natalya’s temperature on the Tumi situation. Kyle admits that he “lives for a good gossip,” and he realizes that although he is good at getting information, he is not so great at keeping his lips sealed. It’s getting harder and harder to play both sides of this argument, and Kyle is guilty of pumping up both sides.
Tumi spills to Captain Sandy and lets her know that things with Natalya have been going less than well. The captain decides to let Tumi handle this, and perhaps she suggests that Tumi should approach Natalya more with kindness than authority. Sandy realizes that the ladies need to work through their problems, but she promises to step in if the issues continue to surface.
The primary wants to surprise her friend at the Santa Margherita castle, which is a fab picnic spot, but it requires a whole lotta work on the crew’s end. Chef Jack is just trying to keep his head down and work since too many people are in his ear.
Natalya wastes no time sh*t talking Tumi to Jessika, and she just rambles on and on about how much she essentially dislikes Tumi and her bad attitude. Luckily for Natalya, Tumi is off the boat to help prep the picnic lunch at the castle. Unfortunately, it is a HIKE to get up to the top with all the provisions and chairs and tables and…. you get the idea. Max is useless and does a great job complaining… but that’s about it. Lara is annoyed by Max and his laziness — she wants to make sure he is putting in the same amount of work as everyone else.
The guests are on their way to their hike… I mean, their picnic. Kyle holds down service while Natalya “cleans” the guest cabins. Cleans is in quotes because according to Tumi, Natalya did a sh*t job. To make matters worse, not only are the cabins a wreck, but Natalya is now off the boat, enjoying the scenery and hanging out with the guests. Tumi does not feel like Natalya has been honest about the quality of work she is claiming to have accomplished.
Once Natalya comes back on board, she outright asks Tumi what the issue is now. They begin bickering right away about what it means to say a cabin is cleaned. Tumi yells that she is the chief stew, and to that, Natalya gets loud with her. You know it’s bad when Chief Sandy must step in. She lets Natalya know that she cannot tolerate this type of behavior, and Tumi laughs while Natalya rambles on about the infamous text and what Kyle claims it said about her. When Tumi makes fun of Natalya in front of Captain Sandy, the captain puts her foot down and lets them know, “Right now, I’m ready to put you both off the boat.” She sends them away to figure it out by themselves.
Tumi confronts Kyle, who is slimy, and really, he is the one twisting and sharing the information with both parties. Kyle talks Tumi into talking to Natalya to try and squash the beef, and so the duo goes off to try and confront her. Tumi and her henchman Kyle don’t get very far in their plan because Natalya shuts them down when she says she prefers to communicate with Kyle and vice versa, bypassing Tumi altogether.
Captain Sandy calls Tumi to the bridge. Tumi states it is difficult to have a conversation with Natalya and claims that this type of fighting is unusual for her. Later, Jessika finds Tumi and makes it clear that she is just stuck in the crossfire. She feels like Natalya didn’t want to give up her role, hence her explosive behavior towards Tumi. Jessika goes to talk to Kyle, and he commiserates with her over Natalya’s “mean girl” behavior. There’s certainly a whole lot of sh*t talking (and very little communication) going on around this yacht…
Speaking of a lack of communication, Chef Jack has a rough dinner service. He does not knock his vegan dish out of the park, and Tumi has the hard job of breaking this news to the chef. He quickly whips up the requested dish of fried tofu, but once again, it is not to the vegan guest’s standards. Chef Jack throws Tumi under the bus and lets the guests know that she never clarified that it needed to be breaded and fried. After the second time, everyone seems satisfied… but Tumi is frustrated. She thought she was making positive strides with Jack, and now she is back to square one.
The next morning, Tumi and Natalya continue to dance around each other. Tumi realizes that she has to change something on her part, and she needs to do it ASAP before someone is forced to leave. The deck crew is busy working and Max is… doing pull-ups and pushups. Totally helpful.
Tumi knows that this situation has gone on for too long, so she is “willing to take the L for peace.” Tumi lets Natalya know that she respects her enthusiasm and wonders if she is too like Natalya in behavior, which may explain why they are butting heads. Natalya doesn’t feel appreciated for her work and believes that Tumi never gave her a fair shot from day one. Tumi is trying hard to de-escalate the situation, but Natalya is like a dog with a bone… she just won’t let go of it.
Natalya feels like she is running around like a chicken without a head, and she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to be Tumi’s friend. However, she would like to continue working on the boat. Speaking of working on the boat, Luka now has his hands full. It seems like green Haleigh isn’t working well with Max during docking, and it is mind-blowing that now that all departments are fully staffed, there are more problems NOW than there were before. To be continued…
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