'Total Chaos' Unfolds During Joan Vassos' First Night as Golden Bachelorette: 'Balls Flying Everywhere'

Pickleball continues to be a cast favorite for the stars of The Golden Bachelorette.

Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner loved the sport, and in a PEOPLE exclusive clip from the Sept. 18 premiere of The Golden Bachelorette, it looks like Joan Vassos will be playing more of it, too.

“I can play, yeah, yeah,” Joan, 61, tells suitor Jordan after he asks her if she likes pickleball. “I’m not sure how I am in an evening gown.”

After meeting Joan, Jordan, 61, says in an on-camera interview, “She’s genuine. I feel like a giant gorilla’s off my back.”

Joan and Jordan proceed to play a game of pickleball before the rest of the men notice and join in.

“Okay, grab the paddles,” Joan instructs them.

But the other guys’ skills don’t impress Gregg. “Now, I live in Florida where pickleball is almost a religion,” the retired university vice president, 64, tells the cameras. “What was going on on the driveway was not pickleball.”

Joan agreed. “It was total chaos,” she says. “There were balls flying everywhere!”

Joan Vassos with suitor Jordan H. on 'The Golden Bachelorette' season 1.Disney/Gilles Mingasson
One man’s lack of pickleball proficiency might’ve put his fate on the show at risk. “I almost hit Joan,” Keith confesses. “Smoked one right by her face.”

Joan says, “That is not how you get a rose!”  

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The private school administrator tells PEOPLE that “the first rose ceremony was very difficult” for her.

“It's very hard to decide who to send home,” she says. “You don't know them all that well, and if there's not a red flag, everybody is somewhat on even ground.”

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Joan says she relied on how the conversation flowed with each man on the first night to determine who would go home.

“Maybe if it didn't flow easily, that was maybe a sign sometimes,” she says. “You're almost looking for something to help you make the decision and you're looking for a red flag, and it's too early in the relationship to see red flags generally. It's more like a feeling, like if you're really comfortable talking to each other, if you connect, that initial first date kind of connection. It's really hard to figure out.”

The Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos.Disney/Gilles Mingasson
After exiting 73-year-old Gerry’s season early to be with her daughter, who was experiencing postpartum depression, Joan says it “was an easy ‘yes’” to become the first Golden Bachelorette.

“But I wanted to make sure it was okay with my family,” the mom of four says. “So I talked to my kids about it and my mother-in-law and my mom, the most important people in my life. I didn't want to do anything that would hurt my mother-in-law. She obviously lost her son and I didn't want to do anything that would add to her pain. She actually loved the idea and loves the show, so was good with it.”

However, “my kids were a little cringing about maybe me kissing on TV,” Joan continues. “But they got over it. I got everybody's blessing, so the decision was easy after that.”

Joan’s husband of 32 years, John, died of pancreatic cancer in January 2021. In a promo for her season, Joan told her family she didn’t want to find a substitute for John.

“Thank you so much for all your support,” Joan said to her family gathered around the table. “I’m not here to replace Dad, I just want our family to be whole again.”

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The Golden Bachelorette premieres Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.