New crew, new drama.
Captain Sandy Yawn and deckhand Mzi "Zee" Dempers will be the only familiar faces boarding this year's Below Deck Mediterranean vessel when season seven of the Bravo series premieres Monday, July 11. Rest assured, though—everyone new is plenty entertaining, from chief stew Natasha to chef Dave (who, based on the trailer, may or may not find themselves in a romantic entanglement!).
As Captain Sandy exclusively told E! News, "I'm excited for the fans to see how fun the crew are. Yes, of course we have issues like every other boat—I'm going to deal with them and they have their drama—but overall, they're hilarious."
Mzi echoed this sentiment, calling the crew "a really good bunch of people."
This is Below Deck Med we're talking about, though. Past seasons have featured dramatic firings, guest relations that went against yachtie code and more fights than you can count.
Does that mean fans can look forward to a bit of drama? According to Mzi, yes.
"Generally, our season had a lot of different personalities, and in terms of that, people are always gonna clash," he told E! News, adding that he himself was at odds with others "more so this season than last season."
All in all, season seven has "a lot of ups and downs," Mzi said. He remained tightlipped about the specifics, but he did tease a "traumatic" incident with the boat itself, adding, "It was something very, very unexpected."
Captain Sandy gave an ominous response too, simply telling viewers to "stay tuned" to see if any big scares occur.
On the other hand, one thing fans should count on is an appearance from Mzi's famous alter-ego, Maverick. "I feel like brother Mav, he's always within me," the deckhand joked. "He's always there, he's just waiting for his time to shine."
Below Deck Mediterranean premieres Monday at 8pm ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes will drop one week early on Mondays on Peacock.
(E!, Bravo and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)