It didn’t take long for Below Deck Mediterranean viewers to take notice of deckhand Joe Bradley after he revealed a very NSFW sex fact about himself.
During the season 9 premiere on Monday, June 3, Joe and fellow deckhand Nathan Gallager got to know each other before sharing a cabin.
“So my night routine before I go to bed: I love finger-blasting me bumhole,” Joe told a surprised Nathan and Gael Cameron. “Just a quick one before I go to sleep.”
Nathan didn’t seem put off by Joe’s sense of humor, joking, “I might join you. As soon as I hear that pop, I’m in.”
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Meanwhile, Gael pointed out Joe and Nathan’s quick “bromance” before saying she wasn’t going to visit their cabin anytime soon. Gael made it clear on screen that she had a boyfriend, which is why she wasn’t interested in any of her coworkers — despite their interest in her.
The trailer for the season, however, told another story. After Nathan previously hinted that he would like to explore his feelings for Gael, she seemed to reciprocate.
“Maybe I like him a little tiny bit,” she admitted to the cameras. In a separate scene, Nathan said he and Gael needed to “lose these cameras.” He texted her a similar message before she told him they had the “all clear” and they seemingly met somewhere on the boat where they wouldn’t be filmed.
Before the season 9 premiere, chief stew Aesha Scott teased plenty of drama between Nathan and Gael.
“Gael comes on, but there is this instant chemistry she has with Nathan. I think one of her real challenges of the season is what she does with that chemistry and where it goes,” Aesha told TV Insider last month. “There is a bit of a love triangle as well. It really interferes with my stews and how they show up to work each day. I found that situation very challenging and hard to manage. I have to lean on [Captain] Sandy [Yawn] in the end because I just throw up my hands and don’t know what to do.”
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Aesha, for her part, didn’t have to work about her own love life after Us Weekly broke the news in May that she was engaged to longtime boyfriend Scott “Scotty” Dobson.
“I really do believe it’s just the fact we are so stable and trusting. I’m just so grateful for Scott in that he is so secure within himself. He is more than happy for me to go off for weeks or months at a time,” she gushed to TV Insider. “He is waiting for me when I get back. He is so supportive. I feel grateful to have such a loving, normal human supporting me amidst all this craziness.”
Below Deck Med fans will also see Captain Sandy take a major step in her relationship. The official trailer for the season showed the cast looking on as Sandy proposed to girlfriend — and now wife — Leah Shafer.
The duo, who dated for years before getting engaged, got married in May with several Below Deck franchise stars in attendance. Sandy and Leah opened up to Us about their plans for the future shortly after their wedding ceremony.
“At this stage of our lives … every moment we have together, we make it into a honeymoon,” Leah gushed. “Like, it doesn’t have to be set days. Even yesterday, we’re walking around Tampa and we just saw this little green two-seater boat and we’re like, ‘Let’s take it out.’ You know, every second is a honeymoon for us.”
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She continued, “We’re just to find this kind of love at this stage in our lives and to have the acceptance by our family and friends. It really is a beautiful love story and celebration, and that’s the truth.”
Leah also discussed her plans to change her last name after the nuptials. “For me, [getting married] was so surreal,” she added. “Sandy was telling everybody that she didn’t realize how in marriage felt so amazing [and] to know that I’m actually going to take her name — and I’m in the midst of changing my name to Leah Rae Yawn — [and] to not be a girlfriend anymore, it just feels good to be like, ‘Wow, I’m her wife.’ When we check into a hotel, it’s like, ‘It’s the Yawn party.’ It’s a really good feeling.”
Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
