Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo

Season eight of Below Deck: Mediterranean is in full swing, and fans have quite a few opinions about the crew members. Many viewers are now voicing their opinions of Jessika Asai and the various encounters she has had with fellow Below Deck Med cast members.

So far, the narrative about Jessica has been somewhat negative. However, some fans on Reddit now feel that she’s misunderstood and that maybe the work environment on the ship is just plain toxic. Namely, fans are taking issue with how Kyle Viljoen treated her during an argument after she talked to Tumi Mhlongo, the chief stew. Of course, she also had drama with Nat Scudder. 

Jessika is new to Below Deck Med for the season, but she’s already a fan favorite. This is despite how some of her co-stars on the show may feel about her. 

Now, Below Deck Med fans are coming to her defense on Reddit. According to one post, they believe she may be “more intelligent than people give her credit for.”

The biggest incident that fans are defending Jessika over is the drama with Kyle. Essentially, Jessika disagreed with something Kyle told her to do, and she spoke to Tumi about it. Unfortunately, Tumi then told Kyle what she said. Instead of discussing why Jessika felt belittled, Kyle rushed off and then yelled in Jessika’s face. This was an intense situation, which Kyle later apologized for.

However, Below Deck Med fans also see how this makes Jessika one of the most intelligent crew members. No, Kyle’s apology was not nearly enough, and he should have been reprimanded for his actions. The problem is that Jessika has no other choice. It backfired when she tried to speak to a superior, and so the only thing she could do was hope for peace moving forward.

One Redditor had the following to say:

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byu/HavocAffinity from discussion
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Then someone replied and said, “I agree with this. I think she realized that just accepting the apology and moving on was the easiest way to go about things and not stir anything else up. She might have figured that a conversation with him would either end up blowing up or just going nowhere.”

Other commenters went on to discuss how Tumi had ultimately created a toxic work environment for Jessika and the other Below Deck Med stars. Unfortunately, they don’t have anyone to talk to when drama such as this arises. 

Fans are also defending Jessika over the response to Luka deciding to be with her instead of Nat, despite Nat having feelings for him for quite a while. Of course, Nat quit Below Deck Med shortly after this. However, Luka and Jessika didn’t remain together. 

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