Joan Vassos turned to the Golden Bachelor himself, Gerry Turner, for some words of wisdom before she began her Golden Bachelorette journey.
“We text all the time. He’s a very, very good friend,” Joan, 61, said of Gerry, 72, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight published on Thursday, June 20. “He did this so well. He kind of created the road map that we have now. There’s no rulebook, and he kind of wrote it a little bit.”
In the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor, Joan competed for Gerry’s heart but left during week 3 due to a family emergency. Gerry ultimately found love with Theresa Nist, and they tied the knot in January. However, the pair called it quits in April. While Gerry ultimately didn’t get a happy ending with Theresa, 70, Joan believes that Gerry’s approach to finding love does work.
“He exemplified somebody who is very open and vulnerable. He said that’s what you need to be from day one because you don’t have a lot of time,” she explained. “This is a quick journey. You can’t leave anything on the table. I feel like day one, starting conversation one, everything you do here is important.”
Joan, who is a widower, was announced as the first-ever Golden Bachelorette last month. She admitted she was surprised to be chosen as the lead, especially since her Golden Bachelor journey came to an end early. On the show, Joan left so she could care for her daughter who had just given birth.
“I so thought that I was gonna be that girl who left that nobody remembers. I truly believed that was gonna be the outcome,” Joan reflected. “I really was sad about that, honestly, because I loved being here. I think the process worked. I was sad when I had to leave, so having the opportunity to come back and [having] people actually remember me a little bit [is amazing].”
As Joan gears up for her journey toward love, she’s hoping her story is similar to the first-ever Bachelorette Trista Sutter, who found love with husband Ryan Sutter.
“She’s an icon. She’s the OG,” she said of Trista. “I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be revered like her. Her love story was perfect. She has a lovely family, she has a beautiful husband, she has adorable kids. She had the perfect end to this journey, so I hope I have an epic end like she did. It’s a lot of pressure.”
Earlier this month, Joan teased that she was off to start filming the spinoff dating series as she gave fans an inside glimpse of her packing.
“Excited, nervous, and overpacked … but, mostly ready to get this golden journey started ✨,” Joan captioned a June Instagram Reel of her organizing her suitcase. “Feeling all the feels as I pack up to start my next chapter at the Bachelor Mansion 🌹.
