Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Bri Muller felt a lot of emotions when Captain Sandy Yawn threatened to fire both her and Ellie Dubaich.
“You don’t understand how much anger and rage I had inside of my body,” Bri exclusively told Us Weekly about nearly being let go due to her issues with Ellie. “I was like, ‘If I’m going down, she’s going down with me.’”
Bri didn’t blame her boss for trying to address the issue, adding, “Captain Sandy also handled that in a really good way. I don’t know what I would’ve done personally in that situation but I think she handled that situation quite well.”
In the trailer for next week’s episode, Aesha Scott clued Sandy in on Bri and Ellie’s ongoing issues. The interior team was subsequently told by Sandy that if they couldn’t work together, she would “have to let go” of both of them.
Viewers know the intervention with Bri and Ellie was a long time coming. After initially forming a friendship, Bri and Ellie developed tension due to their mutual interest in lead deckhand Joe Bradley. Ellie wasn’t thrilled to hear that Bri made out with Joe during a crew night out and the stews never really got back to a pleasant place.
Their personal issues ultimately affected their jobs when Ellie accused Bri of trying to sabotage her. Ellie even saw Bri keeping track of everything going on in the laundry room and told Aesha that it was a “burn book.”
Bri clarified her intentions by keeping detailed notes about the laundry room.
“You don’t understand. When you’re stuck in a small room with four walls and zero windows, you do tend to go crazy. And my memory is also not the best. I’m standing there thinking about all these things and I’m busy ironing everything. So the only way for me to stay sane was to actually write everything that I’d done or that I’d found,” Bri told Us. “So that if something did happen and someone wanted to come to me to ask me about it, I can be like, ‘Look here. This is what I did and what I found.’ Just to get peace of mind for me.”
The third stew clarified that it was “not a book to downplay anyone,” adding, “It’s also not like I was writing down rude things about the crew at all. I was never like, ‘Ellie did this. Ellie did this.’ I was like, This is what happened.’”
After not starting the charter season off on a high note, Bri implemented the notes to help her make more progress. During her interview with Us, she discussed some of the mistakes that inspired the decision — such as not giving Captain Sandy the right garments.
“As soon as she came out [to call me out], I saw her face. She was irritated. She was really annoyed,” Bri recalled. “That was such a horrible feeling. When you let someone down — especially someone like Captain Sandy — you just want to do your best for her and the rest of the crew. But I was scared for my job. I thought I was going to get fired over laundry.”
Bri praised both Sandy and Aesha for being so patient with her.
“I just learned [from them] to not put yourself on a pedestal. Like, yes, Captain Sandy was the captain and Aesha was chief stew. But the vibe that I got from both of them was so nice and relaxing and calming,” she noted. “You just need to create a good work environment and keep that positivity at all times no matter what.”
While watching back season 9, Bri found herself appreciating how Aesha approached her and Ellie’s feud.
“It’s very unprofessional to take a side from the get go. So it’s good that she came to the both of us, heard us both out and tried to work from there. That was the best thing that she could have done. I wouldn’t change anything that Aesha did,” Bri admitted. “She never passed any hectic judgments or anything. She was so calm and collected when she spoke to us. Even if it was a problem, she wouldn’t handle it in a negative demeanor. She’d be very uplifting.”
Bri concluded by mentioning how excited she was for Below Deck fans to see the remaining episodes, teasing, “I’m just going to say it’s going to be a whole load of ups and downs — a really hectic roller-coaster ride. I think everyone should just buckle up and carry on watching.”
Below Deck Mediterranean season 9 airs on Bravo Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
