Joan Vassos got ready Wednesday night for her second chance at finding true love.
The first Golden Bachelorette called herself “the luckiest person in the world” on the show’s Sept. 18 premiere as she accepted the lead role. three years after her husband’s death of pancreatic cancer.
Among the more memorable suitors… Chock brought some chicken soup; Kim arrived in her Navy uniform; and Jack serenaded his potential future wife with a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
“This is a crazy journey, but people find love in so many different ways,” Joan told her group of contestants inside the mansion. “Like, I don’t know if I’m being naive, but I think it could really work, so I can’t wait to start this journey.”
(Joan, of course, is being naive. That never works. Just ask the last Bachelorette, Jenn Tran.)
The men then went ahead and made their pitch for The Golden Bachelorette.
“When I found out it was you, I was 100 percent in,” Pascal told her, for example. “If it wasn’t for you, Joan, I wouldn’t be here today. I just want you to know that.”
Meanwhile, Gregg and Joan wore Hawaiian shirts and drank tropical cocktails, while Gil played tee ball with her and Charles K. and Joan raced around in motorized chairs.
“I just want to talk to her all night,” Charles K. told the camera.
Another suitor said he was struck by lightning and needed 12 minutes of CPR to be revived, while another cooked dinner for Joan and another wrote her a poem.
Joan Vassos played cornhole with Keith and felt an immediate connection.
“We have a lot in common,” she said. “It’s exciting. I can imagine being with him.”
She then gave this would-be husband his first impression rose.
“This journey is scary and you just made me feel safe,” Joan told Keith. “You have this calming voice and you’re like a big teddy bear. I don’t know, it was good for me.”
Cut to the rose ceremony, where Joan told her friends that she was “dreading this moment.”
“If you leave, you’ve already won,” she said. “You’re here and you’ve shown the world that you have heart and a sense of adventure and that you’re looking for love and you’re doing it in your golden years. And you’re a great example for everyone.”
In the end, Vassos extended roses to Dan, Jonathan, Mark, Guy, Charles K., Gil, Gary, Pascal, Chock, Kim, Christopher, Gregg, Charles L., Jordan, Bob, Michael and Jack.
From there, a preview for the rest of the season featured Joan saying “I love you” to Mark, just like Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner coming back to ask him:
“Have you ever considered the possibility that your guy isn’t here?”
