Bachelor Nation will be re-introduced to a brand new star when The Golden Bachelorette debuts tonight.
Joan Vassos is the leading lady over 24 suitors will be vying for on the very-first season of The Golden Bachelorette, a spin-off of wildly popular dating show The Bachelor that focuses on a senior citizens finding love.
Fans first met Vassos, 61, on last year’s debut season of The Golden Bachelor, where she competed for the heart of leading man Gerry Turner.
Despite forging a connection with Turner, she ultimately left on her own accord in week three to care for her daughter, who had just given birth.
But now it’s Vassos’ time for her own shot at lasting love as this year’s leading star.
Meet Joann Vassos, the very-first Golden Bachelorette looking for love on the show
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A private school administrator from Rockville, Maryland, Joann was married for 32 years to her husband John until his death in 2021 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
They had four children together and Joan is now a grandmother of three.
In her free time, she enjoys listening to Elton John music, cooking, and being with her dog.
Now 24 eligible bachelors will be competing for her heart – which includes a rancher, an emergency room doctor, and a familiar face who appeared on last season of The Bachelor – the father of final rose choice Kelsey Anderson, Mark.
Mark went viral as ‘Kelsey’s Hot Dad’ last year after he appeared on his daughter’s hometown date.
As for what Vassos is looking for in a partner, she’s looking for an outgoing and kind man who will lend a hand with her least-favorite chores, yardwork and grocery shopping, according to WSJ.
‘I grew up with a father that was the ultimate gentleman,’ she told the publication.
‘He never let my mom carry the heavy groceries in. He always hopped up when somebody walked in the room. He always opened doors.’
Fans first met Vassos on the debut season of The Golden Bachelor, where she competed for the heart of leading man Gerry Turner
Joann was married for 32 years to her husband John until his death in 2021 following a battle with pancreatic cancer; Joann and John pictured with their grandson in a 2020 snap
Joan is now a grandmother of three; pictured with her grandsons
She previously competed for Gerry Turner’s heart on The Golden Bachelor but left on her own accord to care for her daughter
In terms of red flags, Joann won’t be giving second chances to men who are rude to servers – she has experience in the service industry, having worked as a waitress while in college.
The first Golden Bachelor, Gerry, had a long-distance relationship and marriage with his final rose choice and eventual wife, Theresa Nist. They eventually filed for divorce just three months after tying the knot on television.
While Gerry and Theresa struggled to find a place to move to together, Joan, on the other hand, does not intend on relocating.
Asked how she broached the topic of location with suitors, who come from all over the country, she told WSJ: ‘I think it’s fine to want to stay where you ar. I’m not going to move. Most people this age have multigenerational responsibilities. I have a 92-year-old mother. I have an 86-year-old mother-in-law. I have kids and I have grandkids. So me moving would be very selfish and also very hard for me.
As for what Vassos is looking for in a partner, she’s looking for an outgoing and kind man who will lend a hand with her least-favorite chores, yardwork and grocery shopping
Vassos wowed in a bright pink dress and gold peep-toe heels while out in NYC ahead of the premiere on Wednesday
‘They are my support system as much as I’m their support system. So I don’t want to leave them. I love my family. I love being able to see my grandkids all the time. And I worked hard to build great friendships, and I love where I live.’
She elaborated of a potential long-distance relationship: ‘I want a guy exactly like that. I want a guy who loves his family, puts them first, has a lot of friends, has worked hard to build a really great life.
‘And I think we could have a lot of fun living in each other’s lives instead of trying to merge those lives. If I get to go to wherever he lives and do the fun things that he has planned and meet his fun friends, and he does the same thing in mine, we get to have the best of both worlds.
‘I get to have two fun lives, and then eventually, if they merge at some time when it’s right for both families, then you do. But if you don’t, you don’t. You still get to be with the person — you just do it in a different way. It requires effort, but I don’t think it’s a negative. I think it’s a positive, honestly.’
When Vassos first began filming The Golden Bachelorette, she initially struggled to overcome feelings of ‘guilt’ as she began developing feelings for new men following her husband’s passing.
The Golden Bachelorette airs Wednesdays on ABC
‘I’ve never had a really good romantic connection with anybody after John’s passing, so when I started feeling connected to some of the men on the show, I all of a sudden started feeling guilty,’ she told E! News, adding it felt ‘like I wasn’t honoring his memory or that I had to let go of him in some way to allow somebody else into my heart.’
But words of wisdom from the show’s psychiatrist gave her new perspective.
‘They said, “You can have two balloons in your hand,”‘ she remembered. ‘He said, “John could be this balloon, and the person that you’re having a connection with could be this balloon. And you don’t have to let go of this one to hold on to this one.’
‘It was such good advice to know that he could always have a place in my heart and in my mind,’ she added.
‘I have a big heart, and I could have another person in another part of my heart and that was OK. It made the journey possible for me.’
The Golden Bachelorette airs Wednesdays on ABC.