Mzi "Zee" Dempers on the Below Deck Med Crew Mess Drama: "That Was Quite Frustrating"

A tense night off for the Below Deck Mediterranean crew came to a head in the crew mess in the August 2 episode as things got heated between Lexi Wilson and Mzi "Zee" Dempers when the deckhand came to Malia White's defense.

That was not at all how the deck team envisioned the night ending as they hung out in the crew mess hoping to decompress from the drama in the hot tub moments earlier, according to Zee, who spoke to The Daily Dish prior to the August 2 episode airing. "I think Lexi had walked away and then had come back to sort of stir more drama, if I'm not mistaken," Zee recalled. "We had removed ourselves from the situation and went to the crew mess just to just go and sort of chill a bit."

Zee said that he felt like at that point Lexi was "just wanting to have a go at everybody." "I mean, we're not instigating anything. Like, we've removed ourselves from the situation. So that's quite frustrating, because I think if you walk away from something and then somebody keeps on trying and trying and trying, then obviously I think you, rightly so, you would like to defend yourself and will defend your team if you're all doing this through together," Zee said. "So I think that was quite frustrating that she continued to carry on with what had happened [in] the hot tub. Like, we could have just left it at the hot tub, and it would have been done then."

As everything unfolded with Lexi that night, Zee said that it seemed like the second stew was really directing her frustrations at the deck team, "which was very unnecessary," according to the deckhand. "So I think at the time, I'm completely, completely, obviously, very, very irritated with Lexi and the way that things were going," he said. "So I think just at the time, there were, I mean, so many emotions flowing. Obviously, we were all quite drunk and boozed. So it was huge amounts of emotion flowing. But I don't think that any of us were in the wrong in terms of what we had said or necessarily done. I think, if anything, we were trying to calm down the situation, but that obviously wasn't seen from her end."

Watching the episode back has given Zee a new perspective on the events of the night, such as seeing Lexi and Malia argue in their cabin just before they joined the rest of the crew in the hot tub. "It's super, super interesting to be able to watch it back and actually see, just because, obviously, there's certain parts of the night where we may have necessarily not been [there]," he shared. "But then obviously now watching back to the actual episode, you see a different side of when [Lexi] and Malia were in the room. But obviously, I mean, I wouldn't say that justifies [Lexi's] behavior because she was still being quite offsides then."

Seeing that moment between the roommates actually helped explain Lexi's attitude toward the entire deck team that night for Zee. "I thought it was quite surprising because we, I mean, we had no beef with Lexi before that. Yeah, I didn't think anything of it at the time," Zee said. "But obviously now watching back, it's because of the situation previously with Malia. And then at the same time, I think the fact that we were defending Malia almost just put us into a group for [Lexi]. So I guess it sort of makes sense in that way. But it was quite surprising in general."

Reliving that night through the episode has been difficult for Zee in other ways. "It's quite frustrating to watch back and sort of see the no remorse, and you can almost see that the apologies were not genuine. Like, very much so not genuine, actually, which is almost more frustrating," he said. "But at the same time, I mean, everyone has their day. And you can't really go back and change anything about it now."

Looking back, Zee said that things could have been different if Lexi had taken some time away from the rest of the crew that night. "I think the only way we could have really had a different sort of result was probably by removing Lexi from the situation," he said. "I mean, we all kept relatively level heads in terms of what was going on and what was dealt with in front of us. I don't think anybody acted out of turn [or] in a directly rude way towards Lexi. Like, I think everything that came out from people was because of what they were getting given."

As Lexi attempted to make amends during a crew meeting the next day, Zee said that he felt like the stew could have done a better job of taking accountability for her actions. "I mean, in all honesty, I wasn't too impressed with her apology. Nothing about it seemed very sincere, nothing thoughtful or sincere in any sense. Like, I know you can obviously have a blackout night where you can't remember, but you definitely know if you've done something wrong, and I think she knew that she had done something wrong. I mean, she didn't apologize to me in that meeting. Or, she didn't apologize to Lloyd [Spencer], 'cause she claims that she hadn't responded to anybody or anything like that. So I think that was quite frustrating," Zee said. "I can understand if you don't remember anything, but if people are telling you what you did, and everyone's saying exactly the same thing, I think then you should actually take a step up and be like, 'OK, actually, I am sorry.' Or just try and sort of be genuine about it."

Still, Zee said that he and the rest of the deck crew were willing to keep things professional with Lexi as the charter season continued. "I mean, at that time, I felt like this is the first sort of slip-up that's come up, so I was more than happy to move on from that and actually just make the season work. Yeah, I think collectively as a deck team we're like, OK, cool, this happened. This happened, but we can still be work colleagues and keep it as that. And just make the season work because we had a good thing going. So we don't want to try and ruin that or, like, upset what was going on," he explained. "So I was very comfortable in terms of looking past it and just carrying on with what we needed to do in that sense, in like a working sense, and just leaving it at that."

Zee said that he was "most definitely" willing to give Lexi a second chance, noting, "I feel like we all make mistakes — myself, too — and I'd always love the second opportunity to redeem myself."

Working in a different department as Lexi also helped the deck crew move forward with the stew. "I think we were all just thinking at that time, like, it's fine. We do what we need to do, and we don't necessarily have to interact with her that much. So it's gonna be fine at the end of the day," Zee continued. "And, I mean, people can redeem themselves. And I think that was also, like, one of our thoughts. That like [Lexi slipped] up when she was drunk, had a huge night, and we all have those nights. So maybe things could change in a positive way."

Want more Below Deck Med? Season 6 airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo with early access to new episodes on Peacock.