Below Deck Mediterranean's Courtney Veale has revealed that her on-screen romance with Mzi 'Zee' Dempers was fake.
The pair first met on season six of Below Deck Med and sparked dating rumours after seemingly growing close to one another and even sharing a few kisses onboard the Lady Michelle.
However, while talking to hosts Bobby Norris and Stephen Leng on FURBAR Radio's Access All Areas, Courtney addressed the speculation and claimed producers made their relationship seem more intense than it actually was.
Related: Below Deck: Med star speaks out after 'traumatising' season 7 incident
"With me and Zee, it was just a tequila romance and I knew that, just one night," she said.
"The next day I actually spoke to him and said 'I think we’re just friends', but obviously they didn’t use that bit, they used the bits where we are dancing and flirting whilst we’re working. And by the end of the season, we were in this whole romance!"
Courtney continued: "They had asked Zee when he was drunk, 'I don’t suppose you want to buy Courtney flowers?', and he had drunkenly said, 'Oh yeah, maybe'.
Related: Below Deck star Eddie Lucas on why he wouldn't do crossover season with Below Deck Mediterranean
"Then next minute, two days later, they say, 'When you sit down for your meal tonight, there’s going to be flowers delivered to the table. 12 red roses for Courtney', and he was like 'What?!'"
Discussing the editing techniques used to portray the romance, the reality star claimed: "They definitely love to have a play about with the edits and they’re very clever about what they do. They definitely edit it in a way that if they don’t have a romance going on, then they’ll make one.
"Luckily, me and Zee were quite good friends, so it was fine. I think he probably felt a bit set-up."
Digital Spy has reached out to the show for comment.
Below Deck is available to watch on Hayu.
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After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022. In this role, Iona writes across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. During her time at Digital Spy, she has interviewed multiple Love Island stars, reported from the Black Adam red carpet and, most recently, interviewed the cast of Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid.
