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The Daily Dish Below Deck Mediterranean

You'll Never Guess How João Franco Met His Girlfriend

The Below Deck Mediterranean bosun proves you can find your match in the most unexpected places.

By Hannah Fusaro
Joao Franco

Every Thursday, Bravo Digital’s Megan Segura and Erik J. Mac bring you exclusive interviews with Bravolebs like Vicki GunvalsonNene Leakes, and Stassi Schroeder, plus expert commentary and behind-the-scenes secrets straight from Bravo execs. Listen, like, and subscribe to The Daily Dish on Apple PodcastsSpotify, and Google Play, and make yourself part of the conversation by tweeting us @Bravotv with the hashtag #BravoDailyDish.

How to Watch

Watch Below Deck Mediterranean on Peacock and the Bravo app

João Franco came into Season 4 of Below Deck Mediterranean still reeling from his breakup with Brooke Laughton. The two had started dating when they worked together in Season 3, but by the time João boarded the Sirocco, things were over and he claimed she had cheated on him.

However, João seems to have found love again, this time with a woman named Michelle Dicu. She has made several appearances on João's Instagram feed, doing everything from paddle boarding in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to cozying up in Central Park this winter. In an interview with The Daily Dish Podcast, he revealed more information about his new love.

"My girlfriend lives in New York," João said. "We spend as much as we can together. It's worked out well so far in terms of getting a break and coming down; it's almost every second or third weekend that I make plans to try to come up."

And the way the two met was pretty surprising. "I met her the day I did the reunion. A dentist got a hold of me to bleach my teeth before the reunion. I accepted and when I got there, she couldn't do it, so my girlfriend now reluctantly took it on because she wanted to leave to do yoga or something so she was rather upset that I had took her time up. She fed me a lot of happy gas [so I couldn't] talk anymore."

João shared that it wasn't like they were exactly inseparable after that dentist appointment, and that it took awhile for the two to couple up. "I went to the reunion and myself and Brooke had issues that the reunion show. I hadn't spoken to [Michelle] for many months after that and I had seen that she was coming up to Fort Lauderdale when I was around. Yeah, we got together. She said that she wanted to go paddle boarding and I had taken her out and it was very mutual, very mutual to start off with. Things grew from there."

Catch João on Below Deck Mediterranean every Monday at 9/8c. Preview, below.

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