After three tough goodbyes before hometowns, Joan Vassos introduced the families of her final four men during the show’s Oct. 23 episode. The Golden Bachelor.
“I don’t think I’m in a place of love yet because I’m very protective of my heart, but I’m moving in that direction,” Joan, 61, said before the hometown dates. “I hope this is a transformative week.”
GUY’S HOMETOWN
First, Joan traveled to Lake Tahoe, Nev. to meet Guy’s family.
“Sometimes I’m afraid to tell Joan how I feel because, you know, it could be over in the blink of an eye,” 66-year-old Guy admitted to the cameras. “I have to guard my heart, or at least I feel like it.”
The ER doctor started the day by taking Joan to his boat. They made a wish at the lake — a Tahoe tradition, according to Guy — before enjoying lakeside snacks and champagne.
“I’ll admit that I didn’t think I’d be sitting here today and have the feelings I have,” Guy Joan said. “But I get a little nervous and I get a little … I follow my heart because, am I going to be prepared for disappointment? But you know what? The reward in the end is worth the risk.”
The Golden Bachelor Joan with Guy.
Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Joan admitted to Guy that she still feels a little guilty about leaving her late husband John.
“I deserve to have love, but I have to let John go a little bit to do it,” she said. “But it’s still kind of hard for me.”
Guy assured Joan that he did not want to replace John.
“I feel very happy for us,” Joan said of Guy in an on-camera interview. “He’s a great listener and a very, very caring person.”
Golden Bachelorette Joan Doesn’t Want To ‘Replace’ Her Late Husband But Hopes To ‘Be Whole Again’ (Exclusive)
Guy introduced Joan to a large group of people, including his children, siblings and grandchildren. Joan began by telling Guy’s family how he comforted Charles L. when the retired financial analyst, 66, felt guilty about his wife’s death.
“He’s good, I know that,” Joan said.
Speaking to Guy’s sons Glenn and Hank, she described their relationship as a “slow burn”.
“He was just always so sweet and always so thoughtful and that’s what I need in my life right now,” Joan told Glenn and Hank.
Glenn told the cameras what he thought: “She seemed to like it, it kind of fit together. They really hit it off.”
Guy told his siblings that he had “fallen in love” with Joan, and after the family meeting was over, he informed Joan of the same thing.
“I fell very much in love with you, I really fell in love with you,” Joan said. “I can imagine time together in the future.”
Joan told the cameras she felt “a lot closer” to Guy after the hometown date. “I feel like our relationship is better than ever,” she continued. “It was a perfect day.”
PASCAL’S HOMETOWN
Pascal started the hometown meeting by bringing Joan into his salon.
“I’m happy to be where we are now,” said 69-year-old Pascal Joan. “I think it’s moving in the right direction. I feel confident.”
Joan replied, “You should, you’re here.”
Pascal took Joan for a drive in his sports car and then she met his loved ones. His family asked Joan about her first impression of Pascal when she saw him get out of the limo.
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The Golden Bachelor Joan Vassos with Pascal.
Gilles Mingasson/Disney
“I thought, okay, he’s hot,” Joan admitted.
The couple had the support of Pascal’s children. “I actually really like them together,” his son Maxim said, and his daughter Natalie added, “They’re the cutest couple I’ve ever seen.”
When Joan and Natalie spoke privately, the mother-of-four expressed her concerns about Pascal, saying: “My biggest fear is that I’ll choose him and he won’t choose me.”
Natalie quelled Joan’s fears. “I really don’t think he’s going to choose you,” she told the Golden Bachelor. “I just don’t feel it. To be honest, I really hope he’s at the end because I feel like you’re family already.”
“I feel the same way,” Joan replied.
Pascal appreciated the support of his family.
“She was accepted into my family and my friends,” he said in an on-camera interview. “I am happy for their confirmation. My wall is still up a little bit, but it’s nice to feel that sense of vulnerability, because of emotion, because of love and, you know, it’s like a good feeling.”
The fact that Pascal still had the wall worried Joan.
“I have stronger feelings for him now than I did yesterday,” she said to the cameras. “The fact that his walls are up makes me a little hesitant because I have strong feelings for him, so I don’t want to get my heart broken. I’m not sure if he’s ready. I don’t know if it will ever get there. This is all getting really real, and I’m scared.”
JORDAN’S HOMETOWN
In Chicago, Jordan took Joan to his favorite deep-dish restaurant, after which they shared a piece of “the best cake in the country,” according to the senior sales executive, 61. They then went to the Chicago River for a glass of Jeppson’s Malört, a liqueur native to Chicago.
“Just because we’re both in our 60s doesn’t mean we went to bed at 9:00 at night,” Joan said on camera. “Like, I wasn’t someone who was going to live life.”
From there, Joan went to meet Jordan’s family. She began by telling them about her and Jordan’s one-on-one skating.
“We literally gain five feet and he has the most epic fall,” Joan told her family. “It was a cartoonish fall.”
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The Golden Bachelor Joan Vassos with Jordan.
Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Jordan didn’t mind Joan sharing that anecdote with his family. “Making fun of me is family fun, so she fit in perfectly,” he said to the cameras. “She was laughing along with everyone’s stories.”
When Jordan sat with his daughter Jamie, he admitted, “I’m not there yet,” regarding his impending proposal to Joan.
Jordan’s second daughter Ali asked Joan if her other suitors were “more open than my dad” in terms of being ready to be engaged.
“Two of them are very open, ready to commit,” she said. “And then I have your dad and another man who are both little, oh man, and honestly, I’m worried about your dad, maybe he wouldn’t have chosen me.”
But she suspected her father’s hesitation came from a “place of fear.”
When Jordan spoke to Joan at the end of the date, he told her, “I hope we can make more big strides.”
“I just want to make sure you think it’s worth a try,” Joan told Jordan.
While Jordan assured that he wanted to continue working on his relationship with Joan, the private school principal was not reassured.
“I feel confused,” she said to the cameras. “I don’t think Jordan knows where he’s going to be, but right now he’s open to continuing this.”
Jordan and Joan shared a kiss before parting ways, but she left wondering, “Will I accept faith with Jordan?”
COK’S HOMETOWN
Joan finished the week in Wichita, Kan. with Chock.
“Obviously he must see something in her that he really likes,” Chock’s daughter Taylor told the cameras.
Chock’s son Tyler agreed. “He had no doubt it was him,” he said. “That he’s so sure of who he loves, I love to see that.”
Chock’s friend Roger paid tribute to Chock’s mum Jill who passed away earlier in the season.
“She would be happy to see this journey you’re on,” Jill’s caregiver Crystal Chock, 60, said.
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The Golden Bachelor Joan Vassos with Chock.
Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Chock replied, “This is a celebration of life, so I’m so happy that my friends and my family are here for this.”
After the ceremony, Roger told Chock that he seemed “really smitten” with Joan.
“I’m crazy about the girl, honestly,” Chock said.
Joan spoke to Chock’s late wife’s father, and Tom Sr. told her, “You’re family if you want to be.”
Chock’s dad saw the connection too. “It’s in your eyes and I don’t think you can avoid it much longer,” he told the insurance director.
Chock called his hometown visit “one of the best days of my life.”
“There’s something real here,” Joan told Chock at the end of the day. “Now I see the future. A big black hole… doesn’t look like a big black hole anymore.”
And Chock saw the future there. “I’m falling. I am,” said Joan. “Promise you won’t break my heart? That’s my vulnerability. The big difficulty is just, you know… but I have to take the risk.”
ROSE CEREMONY
Joan felt uneasy walking into the rose ceremony held after her hometowns.
“For some reason today I feel like I’m in a frenzy and I’m not very confident in some relationships,” she said in an on-camera interview.
Joan told host Jesse Palmer that she had the “deepest connection” with Chock.
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Golden Bachelor Joan Vassos with (from left) Jordan, Pascal, Guy and Chock.
Gilles Mingasson/Disney
But when it comes to Jordan, “I felt like we’ve made great strides in our bonding, but he never says things like, ‘I see maybe the future,’ and I don’t want to invite anyone to this next part of this journey if they’re never going to get there with me,” Joan told Jesse, 46. “I’m kind of in the same place as Pascal. He said he has to take it easy.”
At the rose ceremony, Joan decided to keep Pascal, as well as Guy and Chock, which meant Jordan would go home to Chicago.
Golden Bachelor Joan Vassos Reveals ‘Goal’ for Her Season, Why ‘Engagement’ Wasn’t a ‘Need’ (Exclusive)
“Time is not our friend, is it?” Joan said to Jordan as she saw him off.
He agreed: “Time is not our friend.”
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