Mzi Dempers Gets Candid On This Below Deck Mediterranean Secret - Exclusive
It's always interesting when, at the end of a charter on "Below Deck Mediterranean," after the final, formal muster and the latest group of guests' farewell to the captain and crew, they gather in the crew mess for the doling out of that sweet, sweet tip money. Of course, before that scene happens, we've watched these deckhands, bosuns, stewards, stewardesses, chefs, and captains navigate the close quarters, long hours, perpetual boat-mance drama, and occasional nightmare guest scenario to provide the level of elite service a superyacht charter group expects. That's why it's with such relish that the cash appears. At the end of the day, these people earned it.
Lucky for this crew, the nightmare guests weren't too much of an issue. "I felt like all the guests we had were, they behaved like normal people," deckhand Mzi "Zee" Dempers recalled of his experience joining the crew of the Lady Michelle for Season 6 of "Below Deck Med." In an exclusive interview with Nicki Swift, the newly-minted yachtie shared with us his thoughts on serving high-end guests on the high seas, and some hard numbers on that end-of-charter tipping situation.
This crew likes big tips and they cannot lie
If you're shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a luxury stay aboard a superyacht, you'd better have your tip calculator handy. It's usually a pretty fat envelope that a primary guest hands the captain upon completion of a charter, and it's up to her to distribute the cash (in euros, most often) to each crew member. Captain Sandy Yawn, who deckhand Mzi "Zee" Dempers describes as "tough, but fair," was at the helm for "Below Deck Med" Season 6. "I thought that at times it was difficult to read her emotions and gauge as to where you stood with her," Dempers told Nicki Swift in an exclusive interview. "But at the same time, she was very understanding and gave opportunity."
For Dempers and his fellow crew members, that opportunity also came in the form of hard cash returns. "The money is definitely, I think, one of the big attractions to people," he said of the often hefty tips "Below Deck" crews receive. "It's because a lot of the time it's tax-free, so you're making silly amounts [of] money tax-free that you wouldn't necessarily be able to make in your nine-to-five job. And you're traveling the world, seeing different cultures. And I think all of it coming together is all part of wanting to be in that experience."
"Below Deck Mediterranean" airs Mondays on Bravo. All-new episodes will be available on Peacock one week early, starting June 21.