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Here’s Why Mzi “Zee” Dempers Arrived Late to Below Deck Med Season 7
The deckhand did eventually board motor yacht Home in the Season 7 premiere, along with someone from his past.
Mzi “Zee” Dempers is back on Below Deck Mediterranean this season, but viewers were filled with anticipation as they awaited the deckhand’s arrival on the Season 7 premiere, which aired on July 11.
That’s because Zee was not present for the official start of the charter season. As Captain Sandy Yawn welcomed her crew aboard the motor yacht Home, Zee was nowhere to be found — until the deckhand appeared on FaceTime with Captain Sandy while she was in the wheelhouse (clip above). “I’m so excited to be coming back again,” Zee told her over the phone.
Captain Sandy then explained in an interview during the episode why she had decided to bring Zee back for Season 7 after he was a bit of a green deckhand on the last season of Below Deck Med. “You know, I saw a lot of potential and growth in Zee,” Captain Sandy said. “To bring him back and to watch him flourish will be an incredible feeling.”
Captain Sandy also thanked Zee for referring new deckhand Storm Smith to join the Below Deck Med crew for Season 7. “He’s definitely more experienced than I am,” Zee said.
However, it would be some time before we got to see Zee and Storm aboard Home. “I’m unfortunately still going to be stuck in quarantine in Malta for another day. Storm too,” Zee told Captain Sandy. “It’s absolutely horrible.”
Zee said that he and Storm wouldn’t be out of quarantine until around 8 o’clock the next night, well after the first charter guests of the season had come aboard the yacht. “Wow, that’s a bummer,” Captain Sandy said to herself after her call with Zee.
After informing the crew that they would initially be down two deckhands, Captain Sandy told the yachties at their first meeting that they were in for a difficult start to the season. “It’s gonna be challenging, because the reality is, we pick up charter tomorrow,” she said. “And provisioning, cleaning the vessel, it’s a disaster.”
New bosun Raygan Tyler knew she was in for a tough time. “We have 24 hours. There’s teaks that need cleaning, there’s chrome that needs shining,” she said in an interview during the episode. “Not having two deckhands, just being me and Jason [Gaskell], this is bad.”
With so much to do and so little help, in addition to a demanding primary, Raygan and Jason seemed to struggle in the first moments of the charter season. So Captain Sandy was “so happy” to see Zee and Storm when they finally arrived on Home to take their positions in the Below Deck Med crew. “Since I worked on Lady Michelle last year, because of the pandemic, it’s just been such a struggle, because South Africa’s been on every country’s red list,” Zee shared in an interview during the episode. “So I think I’m gonna have to step it up and hit it hard from the ground running, just because it would seem like we’ve just been chilling in quarantine, but quarantine ain’t easy, either. I can tell you that much for free.”
Captain Sandy wasted no time putting Zee and Storm to work, tasking the deckhands with clearing out the corridor filled with clutter following their arrival.
Of course, while Below Deck Med fans already know and love Zee, they learned a little bit more about new deckhand Storm in the episode. “I’ve been sailing for the past four years,” Storm said in an interview. “Some people don’t enjoy me. That’s OK. I think if everyone likes you, you’re doing something wrong.”
We also learned that Zee and Storm were childhood friends who used to play water polo against each other. “Obviously, our team f--ked his team up [laughs],” Storm joked in an interview during the episode, where he also noted that Zee is his “f--king homie.”
In all this time, Storm hasn’t aged a day, according to Zee. “And when I was 13, Storm looked like an 18-year-old man, and we were petrified of him. He just had hair everywhere,” Zee revealed in an interview during the Below Deck Med Season 7 premiere. “That same mustache he has today, he’s had since he was 13.”
We know for a fact that Zee and Storm will have even more stories to tell from this season of Below Deck Med. Check out everything coming up in the video below.
Watch Below Deck Med on Bravo Mondays at 8/7c and on the Bravo app. Catch new episodes one week early on Peacock.
