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Grocery Store Joe sure didn't seem to appreciate being called a bitch on "Bachelor in Paradise" -- but you might not be able to tell by how he defends himself here.

We got Joe Amabile Monday at LAX ahead of this week's first 'BiP' episode, which got teased with Leo Dottavio ﻿calling America's new favorite nice guy a "grocery store bitch." Normally, those would be fighting words, especially coming from someone as controversial as Leo ... but not so much with GSJ.

Sounds like our camera guy's more riled up about it than he was. Then again, Joe filmed that scene a while ago ... plus, he's a super sweet dude. And he's just as bashful as he is on TV ... like, seriously.