Below Deck Med’s Joe Bradley Maintains He Wasn’t Trying to Be Malicious in Ellie and Bri Love Triangle

Below Deck Mediterranean's Joe Bradley is willing to take accountability for the issues that came from his love triangle with Ellie Dubaich and Bri Muller — but he isn't shouldering all the blame.

"I could have played it a bit differently. But, obviously, my intention wasn't to be disrespectful in any way, shape or form," Joe exclusively told Us Weekly about his individual connections with Ellie and Bri. "And I don't believe that I was disrespectful."

Joe pointed out that his priority was always his job, adding, "I communicate on a very serious and very professional level because I don't want to disrupt [on] my end my work. If this is going to ruin my end of the job — I've got to protect my position on both. I'm not going to let no woman, no man disrupt my work ethics."

Season 9 started out with Joe and Ellie expressing interest in each other. The lead deckhand also found himself flirting — and later making out — with Bri, which created issues with the interior team. Despite Ellie pointing the blame at Joe since filming wrapped, he has a different take on the situation.

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"I do disagree [that I was fully to blame]. No chance. Was it me that was chasing and having a talk to both of them? Of course. But I'm just exploring. We're [in the] very early days," he explained. "I've got to know who you are. I'm only having a conversation. It's flirting. And where I'm from [in] Liverpool, the flirting game is up here. Maybe [Ellie] is not used to an intense environment, but I disagree."

Joe's fellow deckhand Nathan Gallagher sided with him during their joint interview, telling Us, "I'll disagree as well. The reason I won't say that Joe is at fault is because Bri and Ellie had a conversation in the laundry room where they had the opportunity to tell each other that they were both into Joe and that could have potentially ruled something out."

Nathan questioned why Bri and Ellie weren't more honest about who they liked on the boat.

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"Me and Joe, we had a conversation. He told me he was interested in Ellie when we first met each other. I told him I was interested in Gael [Cameron] and that was set in stone," he noted. "So we made our intentions clear to each other and there was no love triangle with our situation. But if the girls would've had that conversation, that could have went differently, possibly."

Last month, Ellie opened up to Us about why she felt Joe was to blame for the drama.

"Yes 100 percent [he is at fault]," Ellie claimed. "After a while, I realized that it might've been Joe who was playing both parties. Because even watching just episode 2 where he was kind of going back and forth, I didn't really realize the extent to which he was leading her on."

The second stew added: "Because all the stories that came back to me was more like, 'Oh, Bri is interested in Joe. He's not really interested in her. He wants you.' It was more like, 'Oh, she was throwing herself at him.' But then I realized actually it might've been him who was instigating it as well."

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According to Joe, however, the issues between Ellie and Bri went beyond their mutual interest in him. He specifically pointed out how they argued over Ellie telling Bri what to do later in the season, which created even more tension between the stews.

"You've got to understand that Ellie and Bri, obviously, they butt heads and I'm the cherry on top. Unfortunately, they butt heads because they have a personality clash and that's nothing to do with me," he explained. "I'm just unfortunately the guy that they're interested in. But I could have played it very differently knowing this. But we're on a yacht and this is yachting at the end of the day. ... I'm not doing it in a malicious way."

Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.