Below Deck star Courtney Veale has accused producers of "manipulating" the show in order to "fake" an on-screen romance with her co-star.
The 28-year-old crew member has been the subject of fan speculation after instantly hitting it off with Mzi 'Zee' Dempers when they met on season six of Below Deck Mediterranean.
Zee and Courtney seemed to be super close and even shared a couple of kisses while aboard the Lady Michelle, but Courtney has now said they're "just friends".
The reality star said they shared "a tequila romance", but claimed show bosses were keen to "fabricate" scenes to make their relationship seem more intense.
"With me and Zee, it was just a tequila romance and I knew that, just one night.
"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," Courtney said in a new interview.
She said by the end of the season, producers had made it seem like they were "in this whole romance".
During an interview on Access All Areas, Courtney added: "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."
She told hosts Bobby Norris and Stephen Leng that producers had asked Zee if he wanted to buy Courtney flowers while he was drunk.
"He had drunkenly said, 'Oh yeah maybe'. 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. Twelve red roses for Courtney'."
The TV personality said she felt "lucky" to be such good friends with Zee because it made the "set up" easier to deal with.
Courtney previously said she wanted to steer clear of romantic relationships while working in a professional environment.
She told Decider : "I thought Zee was great.
"I’ve been in sticky situations on boats before with boatmances and I didn’t really want to get into that. So I was just trying to see them all as friends."
She added: "Zee was a great guy, and I knew he was from the get-go."
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