5 Questions With Mzi ‘Zee’ Dempers of Bravo’s ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’

Below Deck Mediterranean Mzi 'Zee' Dempers Laurent Basset/Bravo

Capt. Sandy Yawn is back at the helm for Season 7 of Below Deck Mediterranean, which airs Mondays at 8pm ET/PT on Bravo (new episodes drop one week early on Peacock).

Joining her crew for another season is fan favorite Mzi “Zee” Dempers. Despite being held up in quarantine, Zee is back as a deckhand on a new boat and new charter along the Malta coast, helping manage character guests, dealing with roller-coaster “boatmances” and having to decide what is most important: old friend allegiances or his career growth. We caught up with him while on break at his South Africa home.

1. What is the best perk about being on the show and just having a yachting career in general?
The best sort of perk about being within yachting is you get to travel the world; you get to experience different cultures and meet different people. And I think to me personally, I’ve always placed learning about other people as one of my main priorities in education. So that sort of education, you won’t get it in school and it really helps you grow as a person. That’s what’s been super, super beautiful, just in terms of seeing the places that you never thought you’d be able to see and experience the different cultures that you never thought you’d be able to experience.

2. What was the most difficult part of this season?
One of the most difficult things was adjusting to a new crew, just because obviously last year we had such an amazing relationship and such an amazing team — minus here and there. So I think you place everything sort of on a pedestal going into it in terms of what you’ve experienced before. Obviously, some things are never going to be exactly the same. And just getting into that sort of groove of things, I think, was probably one of the more difficult parts.

3. Capt. Sandy always stresses the safety aspects of her guests and the boat. Are there ever moments where you’re scared?
Yeah, there definitely were moments where I was scared, but not in terms of the onus of responsibility, but just the actual boat itself. There were lots of difficulties with the boat this season. It was a new build and very electronic. So yeah, a lot of issues.

4. When you’re not working on a charter, what do you do in your off time?
For the past couple of months, I’ve been back in Cape Town, starting courses and sort of trying to get back into going overseas, as I’m doing that next month. Downtime is hanging with friends, playing some golf and just taking life for what it is and appreciating where you are right now. Being at home really is special to me.

5. If you could pick your three favorite movies of all time, what would those be?
Django Unchained. Definitely up there. Step Brothers is up there. And I think Top Gun. I haven’t seen the new one yet, but I absolutely loved the old one.