Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Captain Sandy Yawn really left an impression as a boss on Joe Bradley and Nathan Gallagher.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Joe and Nathan couldn’t help but gush while discussing their time working for the captain.
“It was an absolutely amazing and fantastic experience,” Joe shared. “I’m going to go on a boat in three days and I’m going to take what she’s taught me onto this boat. What a powerful woman this woman is.”
The lead deckhand was thankful for the mentorship that Sandy showed him, adding, “If anything, she’s taught me very well and she’s such a good leader.”
Nathan felt exactly the same way about reporting to Sandy. “She had to deal with a lot [during season 9]. And the way that Sandy handled it so far was absolutely amazing,” he told Us. “The patience that she showed us was amazing. So I’m taking that into my new and future roles.”
According to Joe, he and Nathan will only develop more as people because they got “such a good leader” who set an example for them.
“We aspire to be a good leader like that,” Joe said before Nathan joked, “Even though we’re cheeky — we do actually take ourselves seriously sometimes. We’re halfway there.”
Season 9 of Below Deck Mediterranean marked Sandy’s eighth year on the show. In addition to familiar faces such as chief stew Aesha Scott and stew Ellie Dubaich, Sandy was joined by newcomers including Joe and Nathan. The crew was in for a special surprise when Sandy got engaged to now-wife Leah Shafer.
Joe called the moment very “special,” noting, “What an honor to be in that timeline and experience this with her.” Nathan, meanwhile, admitted that seeing Sandy and Leah take the next step in their relationship got to him.
“I might have even shed a tear. It was quite emotional,” the deckhand recalled. “It was beautiful to see. It was so good. God, we got love with Captain Sandy. We used to watch [her] on the TV and then we were at their engagement. It’s crazy.”
While Joe and Nathan were always on the same page with Sandy, the same couldn’t be said for bosun Iain Maclean.
“All we knew is that we could get the job done,” Joe explained about the rocky boss-employee relationship between Iain and his crew. “So the message that he’s relaying, we will listen to every single word that he says.”
Nathan, however, quipped that sometimes they might “alter” their instructions a bit, to which Joe added, “We might alter to get the job done. But that’s OK. Regardless, the job’s going to get done on a professional level.”
The pressure was definitely on for Joe to follow Iain’s orders — even when he didn’t agree with them — as lead deckhand.
“It was difficult. But at the end of the day as an inexperienced lead deckhand, this is my new position to fulfill. So I’m going to listen because he’s got the most experience,” Joe concluded. “I want to make not only him happy but Captain Sandy happy. And most of all I want to know that I’m true to myself.”
Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
