Joan Vassos Kisses 1 Fan Favorite — and Sends Home Another During First Week of Golden Bachelorette Dates

Joan Vassos’s first week of Golden Bachelorette dates brought tears, kisses and cannonballs.

At the beginning of the Sept. 25 episode, Joan’s 18 remaining suitors moved into Bachelor Mansion. Pascal didn’t like the idea of doing his own laundry, so he offered Gregg $100/load to wash and iron his clothes.

“It’s going to be a little challenging. I’m not a cook and I haven’t done my laundry in over 40 years,” Pascal, 69, said of life in the mansion. “So I offered one of them $100 to do a full load of laundry for me so I hope I stay long enough to make my money’s worth. I’m really, I’m high maintenance.”

FIRST GROUP DATE

Gary, Bob, Jonathan, Charles L., Mark, Jordan, Guy and Keith went on the first ever Golden Bachelorette group date, but before they left, the men needed to pick out outfits to wear to what Joan, 61, called “a senior senior prom.”

Taylor Dayne kicked off the prom with her 1987 hit “Tell It to My Heart,” and each man strutted their stuff on the dance floor. Jordan, 61, revealed to Joan that he went on a date with the pop star five years ago and Gary, 65, shared that he’s Tina Turner’s godson and that she’s “nothing like she is on stage.”

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However, Charles L., 66, said in an on-camera interview that he felt “isolated” at prom because of his wife’s death.

“You have to allow yourself to be happy,” Joan told Charles L. after he shared his feelings with her.

Charles L. wanted to try. “Today is the first happiest day with me since my wife passed away,” he said.

Joan named Jonathan — who didn’t go to his own prom because the girl he asked rejected him — Prom King, and that earned him a private dinner with Joan.

FIRST ONE-ON-ONE

Chock scored the first solo date of the season and headed to Disneyland with Joan, his first visit to the Happiest Place on Earth in 30 years.

“He’s a gentleman. He’s kind and I know family is important to him just like it is to me,” Joan told the cameras of why she invited Chock on the one-on-one date, adding that she wanted to find out whether the 60-year-old insurance agent also had a fun side to him.  

R2-D2 paid Joan and Chock a visit, and the private school administrator recalled coming to Disney for the first time during Fourth of July week in 1976 with her family.

Then, over dinner, Chock recalled meeting someone in his 30s and having a 12-year marriage, which included welcoming two kids. After that marriage ended, Chock told Joan he “dated a little bit, but not much” before meeting his fiancée Kathy. She had a seizure and lived for five months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma.

“I’ve been through some things in my life, but I’ve never had anyone die in my arms,” Chock said to Joan. “It was heartbreaking. It was the only time I really showed vulnerability or broke down.”

Chock shared that Kathy told him before she died that she wanted him to find love again after her, and Joan said her late husband John told her something similar.

“I would go in my closet and cry,” Joan said of how she coped with John’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis.  

Chock told Joan she reminded him of his late fiancée.  

“That was such a compliment,” Joan told the cameras.

Joan gave Chock a rose at the end of their dinner, and the couple ended the night watching fireworks over Magic Kingdom.

SECOND GROUP DATE

The remaining men participated in The 2nd Annual Golden Talent Showcase hosted by comedian and TV personality Loni Love. Kim, 69, anticipated this by preparing an original song before coming on the show, while Jack did a sock puppet reenactment of life in the mansion.

Christopher performed yo-yo tricks, Gregg tried his hand at standup comedy by calling himself the captain of Team USA, which stood for untreated sleep apnea, and Pascal gave a haircut on stage. Michael did a poetry reading and Dan twirled ribbons, a talent he said he chose because of his tremors.

Dan’s ribbon-twirling act won him the top prize: a one-on-one dinner date with Joan.

“It is very, very validating,” Dan, 64, said.

Over dinner, Dan shared with Joan that he has diabetes and reflected on a health scare he faced.

“Every organ in my body was starting to fail,” Dan said.

Dan’s doctor gave him six months to live, and even though he’s made it longer than that, the private investigator told Joan he’d been cautious about dating because he worried that his health concerns make him hard to be with.

“I don’t feel that way,” Joan said to Dan. “I think that as we get older, like, we’re all going to probably have some kind of health issues. Very few people go through life unscathed.”

Joan gave Dan a rose and they followed up dinner by slow dancing to live music from an orchestral trio.

“We kissed a little bit — that’s pretty cool,” Dan told the cameras.

Joan said in an on-camera interview that she “felt comfortable in his arms.” “You don’t meet people like this every day,” she added.

BARBECUE AND ROSE CEREMONY

Joan decided to host a barbecue instead of a cocktail party, so the guys grilled by the pool while taking turns chatting with the reality star.

“Joan’s so hot it made me sweat,” Jack told the cameras.

So hot, apparently, that Jack, 68, forgot how many children he has while talking to Joan. Following their conversation, Jack did a cannonball into the pool to cool down.

Joan took a tour of the mansion with Pascal, hula hooped with first impression rose recipient Keith and spoke with Gil about the 2019 death of his wife.

“I gotta tell you, she loved The Bachelor franchise from the beginning,” Gil, 60, said to Joan. “She just loved the show and she would watch every episode with my daughter and so I’m thinking that she’s pretty happy for me that I’m taking this journey, I’m taking this chance, this leap of faith.”

Joan hoped her late husband John felt similarly. “They want us to be happy, right?” she asked Gil.

The mother of four gave Gary a framed photo of them at prom, which brought the retired finance executive to tears.

“Just the thought that she put into giving this to me as a gift — I said I wasn’t going to cry — but it means a lot to me, it really does,” Gary said in an on-camera interview.

Kelsey Anderson’s dad Mark informed Joan that he’d been stationed in Germany for 11 years while enlisted in the Army and had her guess the meaning of a few German phrases. Then Mark, 57, used one to ask Joan if he could kiss her.

“Yeah, you can,” Joan responded. “You could’ve said it in English, too. I would’ve said, ‘Yes.’”

Mark told the cameras he felt “fantastic” after kissing Joan. “I think I’m going to be wearing this smile for a while,” he gushed.

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Joan said she felt “crappy” going into another rose ceremony where she’d have to send home some of the men.

“I am so grateful, so if you don’t receive a rose tonight, I am so sorry,” Joan told the guys before she started handing out roses. “I care about you deeply. I can’t say that enough.”

Joan gave roses to Mark, Gary, Pascal, Jordan, Charles K., Keith, Gil, Charles L., Kim, Gregg and Guy, which meant Bob, Christopher, Michael and fan favorite Jack went home.

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