For the first time in Bachelor-franchise history, Joan Vassos is the “Golden Bachelorette.”
“I’ve been anticipating this for honestly months, but now that it is finally here, I’m a little terrified,” Vassos told Entertainment Tonight shortly before her season premiered.
During her interview with ET, Vassos opened up about how her kids felt with her decision to find love again via a popular dating show. She admits parts of it have been hard.
“I watched a little bit with my daughters,” Vassos said. “And it was really hard, the beginning part of it. I got the privilege of talking about John. You know, one of the thing I’ve wanted to do in this journey is make sure his memory isn’t lost in my journey.”
John is Vassos’ late husband who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in 2021, E! News reported.
In an interview with E! News, Vassos admitted she felt “guilty” about moving on after John’s death.
“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.”
But despite missing their father, Vassos told ET that her kids want her to find love again. However, they had two rules for their mom as the cameras followed her on this journey.
“They do not want me to kiss any men on TV,” Vassos revealed. “They are like terrified that I will do fantasy suites.”
Fantasy suites often take place once the show has been narrowed down to three contestants. The fantasy suites allow the bachelor or bachelorette to have camera-free time alone with each of the final contestants.
What happens in the fantasy suites often stays in the fantasy suites.
Vassos told ET that while she didn’t want kissing to “become the story,” it was important for her to make sure she had a physical connection with the men, as well as an emotional one.
“I’m just gonna have to tell them, ‘Just close your eyes this could get bad for you,’” Vassos joked.
But she did make good on her promise not to have fantasy suite dates.
“I do want to say out in front that my kids really didn’t want me to fantasy suites and I actually didn’t feel comfortable doing them either, so my version of fantasy suites is way different than what’s happened in previous seasons.”