When you think of things that complement each other perfectly, you tend to think along the lines of peanut butter and jelly, pizza and ranch, etc. However, if you’re a Below Deck Mediterranean fan, you know that the combination of Bosun Luka Brunton and Lead Deckhand Lara Du Preez belongs on that list as well. After the Mustique’s initial Bosun Ruan Irving was forced to leave the yacht after forging his Yachtmasters document, Captain Sandy Yawn leaned on Brunton to step up and lead the deck team. And lead he did! Recognizing that Du Preez was a more than competent Deckhand, he wisely promoted her to the Lead Deckhand position. “It was crazy the connection we had,” recalled Brunson.
Along with green Deckhand Haleigh Gorman, the three of them formed an elite deck team that thrived even as the interior crew of Tumi Mhlongo, Kyle Viljoen, Natalya Scudder and Jess Asai struggled to put aside their differences and do their jobs. The only thing that seemed to challenge the deck team’s strong bond was the arrival of “cartoon character” Max Salvador. His boundless energy and heavy French accent threw Brunton and Du Preez initially, “I did not like him at first,” recalled Du Preez. “We were a couple of hours away from chucking that boy overboard,” added Brunton. However, once Brunton discovered that “positive reinforcement” motivated Salvador to work smarter and harder, the deck team came back together in full force.
Decider hopped on a Zoom call with Brunton and Du Preez to talk about their briefly working under Irving, managing the deck team, being blissfully unaware of interior crew drama, and, of course, stirring the pot.
DECIDER: Before we jump in, Luka, I need to know if you’re fully recovered from BravoCon. How was that experience for you?
LUKA BRUNTON: [Laughs] It definitely took a toll. It was pretty hectic. The first day was very intense. It was nothing that I was really expecting. But I loved it. I had so much fun. The second and third days were just incredible.
I was there for the Below Deck panel, which was excellent. I did not expect Kyle and Natalya to get into it with each other on the stage like that…
LARA DU PREEZ: I saw it [laughs]. I wanted to watch my boy, and I wanted to watch Natalya and Kyle. Also, I was just curious to what would happen there. I couldn’t believe they were going at it in front of everyone.
How was the mood backstage afterwards, Luka?
LB: I was trying to avoid the drama [laughs]. I don’t like get too involved in that. I spent a bit of time out with the fans before we went backstage, and then when I got there, everyone had already dispersed. I heard that things were a little bit heated.
Enough about BravoCon. I want to know how it feels to be the new exterior dream team? Why do you two work so well together?
LDP: We hit it off from day one. We had Ru there, and it was a complete shit show. He shouldn’t have been there from the get go. When he asked Luka and me to polish the fucking bow, I was like, “What’s going on here?” I knew something was wrong. After Ru left the yacht and Luka stepped into the leadership role, things just fell into place.
Even though Haleigh didn’t have any yachting experience whatsoever, she obviously knew boats. Luke just made both of us feel comfortable. It’s rare you have two females on deck to one male on deck. I’ve never worked in a team like that before, but I Luka loved it. We followed orders, we listened to him, but we were making jokes too. A great friendship was formed at the same time, which helped us become a great team.
Luka, was there a particular tipping point that made you promote Lara to lead deckhand?
LB: I kind of knew from the start that Lara was going to jump into that position. I just had to see her work and see how she did with the team. It was crazy the connection we had. I didn’t even really have to tell her what to do. It was almost like she could read my mind. She knew exactly what needed to be done from the beginning of the season.
It was good you two were able to step up once Ruan left the yacht.
LB: Like Lara said, it was pretty hectic with Ru in the beginning. Some of the jobs he was asking us to do are things that you would do in the shipyard. He trying to get us to caulk the teak and stuff that you would never do during a season. That’s when I was like, “Ah, who the fuck are you, bro?” When I got offered the position, I was really nervous. I’d never been a bosun before, but I knew that I was going to do a better job than him.
You immediately showed him up by calling the correct distances in the first episode.
LB: Yeah, that’s when it became obvious; he didn’t know what he was doing.
LDP: That was, for me, the tipping point. When Ru said 50 meters, I was like, “Hang on a minute. Where the fuck did we go wrong here? Something is wrong. This guy cannot have been a bosun before if he would say that.”
He would not have been able to mentor Haleigh like you two did. Even though most of her experience comes from tugboats, how quickly did she pick up motor yacht skills?
LB: She picked up the skills pretty quickly. I think she didn’t love parts of working on deck. Obviously, she’s not used to cleaning boats, so she had no idea about that. She’s more into driving the boats. Her bong with Lara and me is what got her through the season.
LDP: When I got promoted, I knew I wanted to motivate Haleigh. We shared a cabin, and I would constantly ask her, “How are you feeling? Are you okay?” I knew it can be rough for someone who comes from doing dirty work on a tugboat. She didn’t know a lot about hospitality or how a luxury yacht works. We clean. It’s got to be spic and span. But on her boat, it was all down and dirty. This experience threw her off a bit. I did ask her a few times, “Would you be a deckhand again?” and she was like, “Fuck no.” She’s going straight back to the tug.
LB: It’s a totally different world.
Once you two figured out that positive affirmations were key to managing Max, how much easier was it to work with him?
LB: That was definitely the challenge of the season. We love Max, though. He’s such a nice guy. He means no harm. Like we always say, he’s like a cartoon character. He’s just living his life, having the best time. Once we figured out that he responded to positive reinforcement, he did a lot better on the team.
LDP: Luka had to be the one to figure out how to manage him because… I did not like him at first.
LB: We were a couple of hours away from chucking that boy overboard.
LDP: A hundred percent. I would have done it if Luka hadn’t. I was ready to fucking kill the guy, but Luka was so calm. I really needed him to be. When I would get frustrated and snap at Max, Luka told me: “This is not how we’re going to do it. Let’s go about it another way. Let’s be nice to the guy.” And it worked like a bomb.
Given the drama of the interior team, it’s been a breath of fresh air to watch the deck crew work so well together. Did you realize how toxic their team had become?
LDP: When I was watching the episodes, I’m like, “Whoa.” I did not even know about the screaming or the going to the bridge. I didn’t know about any of those things, and I’m someone that likes to know what’s going on.
LB: That’s the weird thing about watching the season back and seeing how much stuff actually goes on that you were totally unaware of. My team, we’re absolutely smashing it. We’re really enjoying ourselves. We’re all laughing, having fun. I did see there was a bit of tension in the interior, but I had no idea it was like that. I thought they were at least friends.
It’s clear that both Kyle and Natalya stir the pot, but Lara, you dip your spoon in as well. Do you have any regrets about sharing with Natalya what Tumi said about her?
LDP: To be honest, I don’t take anything back that I said. Natalya and I got along really well. You wouldn’t see it because there’s so much being filmed that they can’t put everything in. When I heard Tumi say something like, “we don’t really need her here,” I knew I had to tell her because I would want to know if the same thing was being said about me. I know I’m a shit-stirrer. I have that in me. [laughs]. It’s not that I wanted to harm Tumi or Natalya. I was looking out for Natalya. I probably shouldn’t have done it, but I do not regret it.
Moving on to last night’s episode, Luka, what made you pump the brakes on pursuing Natalya romantically? Was it the constant texting with her boyfriend?
LB: I don’t think I saw anything specific that made me pull the handbrake on it. There was too much back and forth between us. I was playing the game from the beginning. You play a game and you keep going and going, and it gets boring after a while. I was at the stage where I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to stop playing this game. I’m going to give it a break.” That’s what happened at that dinner. I was just over it. Nothing was happening. We weren’t getting anywhere. It was clear that we were meant to be friends.
Luka, what drew you to Jess?
LDP: She was giving you more attention than Nat was.
LB: That’s definitely got to be part of it. It’s a game. It’s the chase. When you’re getting that attention, why not give it a go and see what happens?
Which one of you is the bigger kissing bandit? Lara, you kissed like 10 girls in tonight’s episode!
LDP: I told Luka, brother, I’ve got the charm [laughs]. I did not know I was going to get that rowdy. During the charter, I was pulling myself back, I was being respectful, but obviously they were a gorgeous group of women. I am a fool for a beautiful woman. When we went out and all of the guys had their dicks in their hands and not doing anything, and I was like, “Let me see what I can get.”
LB: [laughs] You make it seem easy.
LDP: I asked the first girl, “Do you have a boyfriend,” and she said, “Yeah, but it’s okay, if I hook up with you.” From there, it was just like, stand in a line and let’s go ladies! One, two, three, four, five. It just didn’t stop.
You both were in the line of fire when Kyle and Natalya got into it in the crew mess. Had you realized how toxic things had become with the interior team?
LB: Yeah, I didn’t realize it was that hectic until then. Obviously, I’d had a few drinks by that point so I was just in shock. I’m just sitting there [laughs]. I didn’t know what’s going on. I didn’t know what to do.
LDP: It was a bit much. All the tensions from the previous charters finally boiled over. They both had been bottling things up.
LB: It was a lot of bottled-up emotions and they just popped the top off then and there. That’s what happens after you have a few drinks. People don’t care what happens. There’s zero filter. It was inevitable, unfortunately.