Below Deck Med Crew Is Rocked By a Death & a Shocking Departure

Below Deck Mediterranean’s new season is starting out on rough waters.

On the dramatic season eight premiere of the Bravo series, two of the yachties—Chief Stew Tumi Mhlongo and Stew Kyle Viljoen—were missing from the episode because of visa problems entering Italy. And in addition to Captain Sandy Yawn’s crew issues, one new teammate made a shockingly unexpected exit from the M/Y Mustique before the first charter guests even arrived.

While trying to verify Bosun Ruan Irving’s yachtmaster credentials, Sandy was shocked to learn the papers allegedly belonged to someone else. Explaining that the entire ship could get detained over one crewmember’s falsified documents, the captain immediately called Ruan to her office.

“The officer just had me scan this,” she told him on the Sept. 25 episode. “Is this really you?”

After someone else’s photo appeared in the database, Sandy told the bosun, “Whoever issued this, it’s not yours. Where did you go to school?”

While a hesitating Ruan claimed he got his yachting credentials in Monaco, the Captain was quick to fact check him. “No, you can’t get your yachmasters on a boat in Monaco,” she responded. “They don’t have a school in Monaco.”