Tumi Mhlongo and Natalya Scudder‘s feud has reached a boiling point and Captain Sandy is officially stepping in.
Bravo offered a glimpse on Monday, October 9, at an upcoming episode of Below Deck Mediterranean where Tumi and Natalya start arguing in front of their boss. Sandy steps in and asks to see both stew in the captain’s bridge.
“You haven’t given her a fair chance. I can’t tolerate this,” Sandy tells Natalya before addressing Tumi, “You’re in a leadership role and you need to rise above because right now I am ready to put you both off the boat.”
The tension between the stews has been at an all time high since Tumi joined the boat ahead of the second charter. She was previously stuck in immigration — with Kyle Viljoen — while Natalya filled in as the chief stew. After Tumi came onboard, she immediately ended up at odds with Natalya.
“Clearly she did a great job on the charter and I would be excited to work with someone like that. But also, how would she like it if someone started going off the way she did in the beginning? I am sure she wouldn’t like it at all,” Tumi told cameras in the beginning of the episode. “Be kind but don’t let them walk all over you.”
Following a tense first meeting, Natalya shocked her coworkers by referring to Tumi as “a f—king bitch.”
“She needs to appreciate the fact that I set up the flow and the boat is in a good place. There is a correct way to step into this role and it is to have a respectful hand over and come in with good energy,” she added.
Viewers have previously seen Natalya get combative with her chief stew Natasha Webb and Kyle during season 7 of Below Deck Med. Kyle, who returned as a second stew, warned Tumi about his past with Natalya. Following her heated conversation with Natalya, Tumi updated Kyle on where they currently stand before he rounded out the interior crew.
“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 to Kyle, who responded, “I’m sorry to hear this — I did tell you she’s something that came for all of us.”
Later in the episode, things got even worse when Kyle repeated to Natalya what Tumi said about letting her go. Their behavior started to bubble up until they got into an argument while there were guests on the Mustique.
“Stop talking back to me. You have been attacking me since day 1,” Tumi told Natalya. “I am a first time chief stew but I do know what I am doing. She has no respect — she reminds me of a chihuahua. Territorial, commutative and speaks all the time. I’ve had it with this, we are done.”
In response, Natalya said she felt that Tumi didn’t want to start off on the right foot. “You stepped on board with the worst attitude. There was no appreciation,” she noted. “So you can come handle it [with me but] don’t talk to Kyle about it. Talk to me about it.”
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
