Golden Bachelorette fans share sad theory about Joan Vassos' future as she picks final three

After saying three tough goodbyes ahead of hometowns, Joan Vassos met the families of her final four men during the Oct. 23 episode of The Golden Bachelorette.

“I don’t think I’m at the love place yet because I’m very protective of my heart, but I’m moving in that direction,” Joan, 61, said before her hometown dates. “I hope this is a transformative week.”

GUY'S HOMETOWN
First, Joan traveled to Lake Tahoe, Nev. to meet Guy’s family.

“At times I’m afraid to tell Joan the feelings that I’m having because, you know, it could all be over in a flash,” Guy, 66, admitted to the cameras. “I need to guard my heart or at least I feel like I need to.”

The ER doctor started the day by taking Joan out on his boat. They made a wish on the lake — a Tahoe tradition, according to Guy — before enjoying some lakeside bites and champagne.

“I’m gonna admit that I did not think I would be where I am sitting here today and that I would be having the feelings that I’m having,” Guy said to Joan. “But I get a little bit nervous and I get a little bit … I guide my heart because, am I going to be set up for a letdown? But you know what? The prize at the end is worth taking any risk.”

Pascal took Joan for a ride 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 step out of the limo.

Golden Bachelorette Joan with Guy.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Joan admitted to Guy that she still felt a bit guilty moving on from her late husband John.

“I deserve to have love, but I have to let go of a John a little bit to do this,” she said. “But that is still kind of hard for me.”

Guy assured Joan that he didn’t want to replace John.

“I feel very joyful about us,” Joan said of Guy in an on-camera interview. “He’s a great listener and he’s a very, very caring person.”

Guy proceeded to introduce Joan to a big group of people, including his kids, siblings and grandson. Joan started off by tell Guy’s family about how he comforted Charles L. when the retired financial analyst, 66, felt guilty about his wife’s death.

“He’s a good one, I know that,” Joan said.

While speaking to Guy’s sons Glenn and Hank, she described their relationship as a “slow burn.”

“He just was always so sweet and always so considerate and that’s what I need in my life now,” Joan said to Glenn and Hank.

Glenn told the cameras he thought, “She seemed to like, kind of fit right in. They really hit it off.”

Guy told his siblings he’d “fallen for” Joan, and after the family meeting ended, he informed Joan of the same thing.

“I’ve fallen for you big time, really fallen for you”, he said to Joan. “I can envision time together in the future.”

Joan told the cameras she felt “way closer” to Guy after their hometown date. “I feel like our relationship is better than ever,” she continued. “It was a perfect day.”

PASCAL’S HOMETOWN
Pascal began his hometown date by bringing Joan to his salon.

“I’m happy to be where we are right now,” Pascal, 69, said to Joan. “I think it’s moving in a right direction. I feel confident.”

Joan responded, “You should, you’re here.”

Pascal took Joan for a ride 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 step out of the limo.

Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos with Pascal.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
“I was like, okay, he is sexy,” Joan confessed.

The couple had the support of Pascal’s kids. “I actually really like them together,” his son Maxim said and his daughter Natalie added, “They are the hottest couple I think I’ve ever seen.”

When Joan and Natalie chatted privately, the mother of four expressed some concerns about Pascal, saying, “My biggest fear is that I will pick him, and he won’t pick me too."

Natalie quelled Joan’s fears. “I truly don’t think that he’s not going to pick you,” she told the Golden Bachelorette. “I just don’t feel that. To be honest, I do really hope that it’s him at the end because I feel like you’re already family.”

“I feel the same way,” Joan replied.

Pascal appreciated his family’s support.

“She’s been accepted into my family and my friends,” he said in an on-camera interview. “I feel every happy of their validation. My wall’s still up a little bit, but it’s nice to feel that feeling of vulnerability, out of emotion, out of love and, you know, it's as a good feeling.”

The fact that Pascal still had a wall up worried Joan.

“I have stronger feelings for him now than I did yesterday,” she told 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 my heart to be broken. I’m not sure if he’s ready. I don’t know if he’ll ever get there. All this is getting really real, and I’m getting scared.”

JORDAN’S HOMETOWN
Over in Chicago, Jordan took Joan to his favorite deep dish restaurant and afterwards, they shared a slice of “the best cake in the country,” according to the senior sales executive, 61. Then they headed to the Chicago River for a shot of Jeppson’s Malört, a liqueur native to Chicago.

“Just like because we’re both in our 60s doesn’t mean were going to bed at 9:00 at night,” Joan told the cameras. “Like, I wasn’t somebody that’s going to live life.”

From there, Joan went to meet Jordan’s family. She began by telling them about her and Jordan’s ice skating one-on-one.

“We literally get five feet and he has the most epic fall,” Joan told his family. “It was like a cartoon fall.”

Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos with Jordan.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Jordan didn’t mind Joan sharing that anecdote with his family. “Making fun of me is the pastime of the family so she fit in perfectly,” he told the cameras. “She was laughing along with all the stories from everybody.”

When Jordan sat down with his daughter Jamie, he admitted, “I’m not there yet,” in regards to proposing to Joan soon.

Jordan’s second daughter Ali asked Joan if her other suitors were “more open than my dad” in terms of being ready for an engagement.

“Two of them are very open, are ready to commit,” she said. “And then I have your dad and another man that are both like, a little, oh boy, and honestly your father is the one that I worry about maybe he wouldn’t pick me.”

Ali suspected her dad’s hesitancy comes 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 steps.”

“I just want to make sure you think it’s worth trying,” Joan said to Jordan.

While Jordan assured that he did want to keep working at his relationship with Joan, the private school administrator didn’t feel reassured.

“I feel confused,” she told the cameras. “I don’t think Jordan knows where he’s gonna be, but he’s currently opening to continuing this on.”

Jordan and Joan kissed before parting ways, but she left wondering, “Do I take a leap of faith with Jordan?”

CHOCK’S HOMETOWN
Joan ended the week in Wichita, Kan. with Chock.

“Obviously he must see something in her he really likes,” Chock’s daughter Taylor said to the cameras.

Chock’s son Tyler agreed. “He had no doubt in his mind that this was the one,” he said. “Having him be that confident in who he loves, I love to see that.”

Chock’s friend Roger paid tribute to Chock’s mom Jill who died earlier in the season.

“She would be happy to see this journey that you are on,” Jill’s caregiver Crystal said to Chock, 60.

Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos with Chock.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
Chock replied, “This a celebration of life, so I’m just so happy that my friends and my family are here for this.”

After the ceremony, Roger told Chock he looked “really smitten” with Joan.

“I’m crazy about the girl, honestly,” Chock said.

Joan spoke to the father of Chock’s late wife, 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 dodge it much longer,” he said to the insurance executive.

Chock called his hometown visit “one of the best days of my life.”

“There is something real here,” Joan said to Chock at the end of the day. “I see a future now. Big black hole ... it doesn’t look like a big black hole anymore.”

Chock saw a future there, too. “I’m falling. I am,” he said to Joan. “Promise not to break my heart? That’s my vulnerability. The big tough just is just, you know ... but I’ve got to risk.”

ROSE CEREMONY
Joan felt uneasy going into the rose ceremony that took place after hometowns.

“For some reason I just feel like I’m in a funk today and I’m not like, very confident with some of the relationships,” she said in an on-camera interview.

Joan told host Jesse Palmer that she had the “deepest connection” with Chock.

Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos with (from left) Jordan, Pascal, Guy and Chock.Gilles Mingasson/Disney
But when it came to Jordan, “I felt like we made big strides in our connection, but he never says things like, ‘I see maybe a future,’ and I don’t want to invite somebody on this next part of this journey if they’re never going to get there with me,” Joan told Jesse, 46. “I’m at kind of the same place with Pascal. He said that he needed to move slowly.”

At the rose ceremony, Joan decided to keep Pascal as well as Guy and Chock, which meant Jordan would go home to Chicago.

“Time is not our friend, right?” Joan said to Jordan when she walked him out.

He agreed, “Time is not our friend.”

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The Golden Bachelorette airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.