Dating in 2024 is bad enough, but imagine dating 24 people in the pressure cooker of a reality TV show while millions of people watch!
Glamorous 61-year-old mother of four and grandmother of two, Joan Vassos doesn’t have to. She’s been looking for “The One” on The Golden Bachelorette, currently screening on ThreeNow. A spin-off of the phenomenally popular television show The Bachelor, this version focuses on older people trying to find love again.
Hopefuls include a retired Navy captain, Tina Turner’s godson and a man who’s never dated after marrying his high-school sweetheart. Ranging in age from 57 to 69, the would-be Romeos are all vying to win Joan’s love through challenges and one-on-one dates.
However, with the blokes all put together in a mansion, matters of the heart pale into insignificance in comparison to more mundane issues.
“Who does laundry? Who’s snoring the loudest?” laughs Joan during an exclusive chat to the Weekly.
“I’d heard how supportive they were of each other, but I never got to see it,” she says of watching the edited show along with the public.
“I always pictured they were going to talk about sports and golf! I never thought they’d be so open and really interested in talking each other through things they’d been suffering with for years.”
And suffer they have. From relationships prematurely ended by illness to enduring years of loneliness, these men all share emotional baggage.
They’re not alone – Joan admits she wasn’t immune to misgivings.
She appeared on the show’s first season as a contestant trying to win the heart of 72-year-old Gerry Turner in 2023. However, she left voluntarily in the third week to go and support her daughter Erica, who had postpartum depression.
A self-confessed maths nerd from Maryland, USA, who was shy growing up, Joan says she didn’t really put herself out there when she was younger. That didn’t change when she met her husband John in 1983 when she was 20. They dated for six years before 32 years of marriage. Sadly, John passed away from pancreatic cancer in January 2021. Before he died, he gave her his blessing to find someone.
“When John and I got together, I was looking for somebody to build a family with and to start a life with,” she shares. “It’s a little different now. I have a life I’ve already built and the men all have their own lives. I’m looking for somebody who would possibly fit into this life and me fit into theirs, as opposed to someone to build a life together with.
“Being a couple is joyous for me,” says Joan. “I love being able to share the good things that happen. But I also want somebody to lean on when things aren’t great. Not being part of a couple made me feel a little emptier and not as happy.”
Friends, however, failed her miserably in the search for someone new.
“I said, ‘I’m ready if you have somebody you want to set me up with,’” she laughs. “I thought, ‘People are gonna set me up with some great guys.’ And it was like crickets. Nobody knew anybody!”
Dating apps were also a disaster – “It really wasn’t a great experience for me,” she shares coyly. However, fate changed her romantic path earlier this year.
“When I was presented the opportunity to be the Golden Bachelorette, I thought, ‘This is the biggest, most weird way to date. But, if this doesn’t work, then at least I’ve put myself out there!’”
Joan’s tight-lipped about how the quest for love plays out and which – if any of the men – she picks. But she reveals she’s got an idea of what she would like for any potential second wedding.
“It would be a lot more intimate,” she tells. “Your first marriage is a little bit about your parents – they’re inviting all their friends. At this point in my life, I have some really good friends who’ve been through some tough stuff with me. I’d want them there, and my family too. That may be just enough and would be a really joyous way to do it for me.”
Before she brings anyone new home, she knows she’s got to convince her biggest critics – her children, Nicholas, 34, Erica, 33, Allison, 30, and Luke, 28.
“They do want me to find love. The way I’m going about it may be a little cringey for them, though!” she admits. “Initially, they were a little worried that I was going to be undignified and I was going to look foolish. But now I feel maybe they’re not so embarrassed by it.
“Though one daughter did call me after the last episode aired and she said, ‘Mum, you kissed so many guys!’” she laughs.
“I was like, ‘I don’t think I did, sweetie. I think it was just one or two.’ She said, ‘No, Mum, it was four – four men!’ Then she rolled off their names and I was like, ‘Yeah, I did Erica. Sorry!’”
The Golden Bachelorette streams Sundays on ThreeNow.
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