Captain Sandy Yawn is embarking on season eight of Below Deck Mediterranean, but she has hinted that it will not be an easy voyage.
The 59-year-old will be joined on board by some familiar names, like Kyle Viljoen and Natalya Scudder, as he leads another ensemble of yachties across the Med for the new season.
Below Deck, Down Under icon Tumi Mhlongo will serve as head stewardess, with Australia’s Luka Brunton also joining the deck crew.
Captain Sandy said ahead of the debut that she had a rare outburst at one point when someone on the squad managed to irritate her.
‘Honestly, I don’t see the drama until I watched the TV show,’ she told us of what to expect from the new episodes. ‘So, I’m going to learn as you learn when you watch the season.
‘It makes sense when I watch the TV show. I think, “Oh my goodness, that’s why that one was acting that way, or moody or emotional.” I get it. When I watch the show back, I see why.
‘But you see me course correcting someone in the trailer – I can’t give that away, but I am upset. Someone upset me, I will tell you that. That’s rare for me, to get mad, but I was mad. So, you’re going to see me mad. You’re going to see me angry.’
Captain Sandy has been in command of the ship in the Below Deck spin-off since season two, succeeding Mark Howard in the helm.
During that time, she has faced outrage from fans for some of her actions, such as firing chief stew Hannah Ferrier in season five and labelling Fraser Olender a ‘cancer’ in the most current series of the OG show.
Discussing the rough moments and whether she takes the comments personally, she continued: ‘I think it’s easy to judge others when you’re sitting at home. But the reality is, I don’t really take it personally because I know I was there.
‘There are other parts of the story [viewers] don’t see. The other thing is, at least they’re watching. Keep watching!’
Viewers who saw last year’s series will recall that there were some tense moments within the inside staff, with Kyle and Natalya sparring over their responsibilities.
Captain Sandy, on the other hand, said that she had no wish to meddle with their working relationship this time around, preferring to allow them the freedom to work out their difficulties on their own.
‘Honestly, I believe that human beings can work out their differences if they have the emotional intelligence, and also the willingness to want to work it out,’ she said. ‘I don’t really interfere. I don’t really go, “Let me keep an eye on this.” I just figure that they’re adults, they can figure it out.
‘I’m not there to fix their relationship, I’m not that person. I’m the captain of a yacht that is here to do a service for the client. So, let’s all get on board and stay focused. That’s my brain.’
While she described Tumi as ‘pure awesome sauce’ and vowed to ‘take her back’ any day, she remained very coy on whether the rest of the crew would get the same invite, adding: ‘I don’t know, you’ve got to watch. Tell me after you watch it, who do you think I would take back?’
We can’t wait to find out…
Below Deck Mediterranean airs on Bravo in the US on Mondays at 9pm and is available to stream on on the same day in the UK.
Source My Celebrity Life.
