'Below Deck Mediterranean's second stew, Kyle Viljoen, previews the rough seas ahead for the crew of motor yacht Home!
Just a handful of episodes in, season 7 of Bravo's Emmy-nominated Below Deck Mediterranean is proving itself to be one of the strongest outings in franchise history. There's a secret boat romance between chef Dave White and chief stewardess Natasha Webb, a Bosun (Raygan Tyler) who seems completely in over her head, a slight subordinate deckhand in Jason Gaskell and the instantly comedic/chaotic duo of the interior crew's Natalya Scudder and Kyle Viljoen.
"I've watched all the seasons," Kyle teases to ET over video chat. "So that's why I'm literally encouraging people, this is the one you want to watch. It's dynamic."
Episode four, which premieres on Bravo on Monday night but started streaming on Peacock last week, ends with a cryptic cliffhanger for Raygan, with Captain Sandy Yawn calling her up to the bridge for a one-on-one meeting, which feels like the lead-up to a firing.
"If I ever hear Sandy say, 'Kyle, Kyle, come to the bridge,' I've already shat my pants," Kyle cracks. "I've already packed my bag. That's my anticipation. You know what I mean? I'm like, 'OK, hold on one moment. I'm just getting my bag...' That's what you would expect. So I'm just saying there could definitely be a turnout where she can be staying, she could be fired. There could be other opportunities, mainly directions to help. But I know for one, if I go up to the bridge, I would instantly assume I'm in s**t. So we will see and I hope that that's developing something bigger than this."
Raygan's spent her time onboard motor yacht Home so far by smoking instead of working, sort-of delegating to her deckhands (but with little actual instruction) and delivering excuses for failures in her department that don't fly with Sandy, which according to Kyle, says a lot.
"Sandy, she can come across very stern and whatever? Oh my god. She is one of the easiest captains I've ever worked with," the yachting veteran admits. "Genuinely the easiest captain ever worked with. She's never micromanaged me, never micromanaged the interior. She allowed us do our creativity."
Kyle is learning quite a bit of about Raygan's performance, or lack thereof, by watching the episodes along with the audience. He wasn't clued into how many times Sandy encouraged her to step it up, because he was inside working.
"You would like to think so after having multiple warnings and all that, [she'd improve]," she surmises, "but ... these charters are back to back. You know what I mean? There's not a lot of time to really change the whole person, who you are. You can only do minute things. I mean, we do see improvements on the interior. ... But as for the exterior, I personally don't see a change. You're hearing people complain, you're hearing people bring things up. So one can only hope that there is a massive change coming and that you can realize this feedback from captain Sandy, perhaps, and then we'll see."
"There is a lot of dynamic shifts and change," he teases, "and I think it's definitely all for the good, because at the end, you want a really strong unified team to carry you throughout the season. This is going to be the struggle in the beginning for anybody on the vessel, you want to pinch it in the bud and say, 'This needs to change.' So I definitely see improvement throughout the season for the exterior, but I still hold to my gut, and I say the interior is carrying season 7."
From what's aired so far, it seems Sandy is setting the groundwork for lead deckhand Storm Smith to step into the Bosun role.
"Seeing Storm from the outside of the situation -- because I don't spend much time with these deckhands, you know what I mean? --- So seeing from the outside, I never knew he had so much depth than what I really thought he has," Kyle reflects. "I generally feel, watching from the outside, he has such great leadership skills. He's like, 'OK, I see there's a problem. Someone needs to jump in and take over. We can't carry on flying around s**t here, so we need to take charge of this scenario...' And he seems like the person that can step up to it. If I had the opportunity to, I would've definitely promoted him."
As far as Jason's attitude issues go, Kyle chocks that up to not having a strong leader in Raygan. They were the only two exterior crew members during the first day of the first charter, which created a domino effect of issues between them, as Raygan relied on Jason to do all the heavy lifting, both literally and figuratively.
"I feel Jason is very misunderstood," Kyle shares. "What you kind of see with Jason is what you get. He's going to say it as it is. He's going to say what's on his mind, but he works with respect and he works with communication. If those two aren't there, Jason's going to pop off. That's his secret formula. You know what I mean? So he is not bad at all with his work, he requires direct instruction, direct communication, and overall respect to make him a really excellent employee to be with."
And when it comes to the interior, Kyle seems to be a fan of Natasha's management style and of his second stew teammate, Natalya. However, the trailer for the season previewed a blowout fight between the dynamic duo.
"I still sometimes struggle to actually fathom how I even got to that point," he confesses. "Natalya and myself, we're like brother and sister. So, we have that back to back to back and forth banter, but there comes a point where ... enough was just enough,, and it's unfortunate that it came to that point, but I think a lot of these really close-knit relationships, after having so many charters back to back, it's exhausting for you. You don't want to joke around anymore."
Adding to the overall tension among the crew is seemingly the sexual tension between Natasha and Dave. The would-be couple boarded Home as if they were former colleagues; it soon came out that they actually sparked up a romance on their last vessel, a relationship Natasha wanted to keep under wraps because it started while she was still dating her then-boyfriend.
"I never knew how passionate and intense the relationship is between Dave and Natasha," Kyle recalls, "and I only start to get to learn more as you're going to see it coming up. And then I realized in my mind, maybe this isn't a good relationship later on and why the reasons behind that."
"It starts taking toll on the vessel as a whole," he continues. "It's in your face, you can't ignore it. There are sometimes disappearing, Casper moves going on, then he's returning. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like if you bring a lot of emotion on the boat of your personal life, it's going to affect your professional life."
Whether Natasha and Dave are meant to be, Kyle all but outright says... no.
"I genuinely do feel that they can work through it, that they can sustain this working relationship," he says. "They're very mature individuals, but as for the relationship, perhaps not that mature."
There's plenty more season set to play out over the next few months, and Kyle's excited for the audience to learn more about him and see him in action -- even doing some Below Deck firsts! The season sneak peek promises a boat romance for Kyle... with a charter guest!
"Guests are very personable this season," he quips. "I really connect with guests very, very well. ... So I'm excited for the viewers to kind of see myself, how I develop throughout the season. You're like, 'Oh my gosh, we thought we knew Kyle, this is the next level. This is the next level. This is the next level.' I'm excited to see how people appreciate the kind of service skill I bring."
"I'm not a quiet person," Kyle adds. "I think people are generally going to love this."
A longtime fan of the franchise, Kyle's more than ready to step into the chief stew role should he be called for it in the future.
"In a heartbeat!" he exclaims. "Do I think I can snatch chief stew position? No doubt. It is done and dusted. I've really got it all figured out. So one can only hope I develop, and I want to showcase this for the LGBTQA+ community, that introducing this character can come on board, that you can work from the bottom and you can succeed all the way to the top. You won't be judged upon who you are as a person."
Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, with episodes streaming a week early on Peacock.
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