Pressure from Gerry Turner’s season weighs on Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos | Lifestyle & Relationships

LOS ANGELES – We have already got one thing of a mendacity scenario, even earlier than Joan Vassos steps as much as star within the TV history-making “The Golden Bachelorette” Wednesday (8 EDT/PDT). 

Vassos, 61, says her 4 grown kids had been supportive after they realized the personal faculty administrator from Rockville, Maryland, could be ABC's Golden Bachelorette – the primary senior girl to hunt love with 24 equally aged male candidates, following final yr's hit inaugural season of “The Golden Bachelor.”

However, the Vassos clan collectively (and unfairly) demanded the grandmother of three couldn't kiss anybody on TV, they usually vetoed Fantasy Suites nights, a franchise staple.

“You have to kiss some frogs to find your prince,” Vassos tells USA TODAY. “So I promised them I wouldn't, knowing that I was lying the whole time. They don't know, and I'm not telling them.”

‘Golden Bachelorette' premiere: Joan Vassos to fulfill Kelsey Anderson's ‘Hot Dad' Mark, who's already a star

That's a particular cross for Vassos, who was a quick ray of sunshine amongst 22 candidates on “Golden Bachelor.” Vassos, whose husband of 32 years died in 2021, bonded with widower Gerry Turner over the lack of their respective longtime spouses throughout an emotional however romantic Episode 3 dinner. Then she tearfully withdrew (or “self-eliminated”) from the truth present the subsequent morning as a consequence of a household emergency.

While painful on the time, Vassos believes that Bachelor Nation applauded her transfer to go away the Bachelor mansion to deal with her daughter, who was recovering from a tough childbirth.

“You have a lot of responsibilities at this age – my kids, my mother is 92, my mother-in-law,” says Vassos. “Self-eliminating from the show really resonated with people.”

Vassos believes that her unhappy early TV departure was a giant purpose she acquired a shocking name from three present producers asking her to take a second shot at TV love in “Golden Bachelorette.”

“There were people that made it far longer in the show that maybe were more deserving,” says Vassos. “But that was a good call to get.”

‘Golden Bachelorette' Vassos felt ‘stress' after ‘Golden Bachelor' cut up

There had been downsides to agreeing to the high-profile TV relationship expertise. As followers know, the wheels fell off the initially exuberant “Golden Bachelor” season, exacerbated by the Nov. 29 Hollywood Reporter exposé of Turner's “not-so-golden past,” which claimed the Indiana-based widower had misled viewers about his romantic life {and professional} {qualifications}. Turner, who declined to debate the report, married Theresa Nist in a Jan. 4 wedding ceremony, which aired reside from Palm Spring, California. However, the couple introduced their divorce throughout an April 12 “GMA” interview simply three months later. The expertise left the “Golden” model tarnished.

Vassos stays respectful to Turner and the couple's “journey,” as such romances are unfailingly recognized.

“We all saw that it didn't work out,” she says. “And I applaud them for saying it's over now, and that we're young enough to still find love in our life.”

Still, Vassos admits the disappointing actuality present aftermath raises the stakes for her “Golden Bachelorette” season.

“I feel like it put a little pressure on me; I'm not going to lie,” says Vassos. “I wish I could say that I thought, ‘No, I'm going on my own journey.' But there was a part of me that thought, ‘I need to be the redemption.' And that if this season doesn't go as everybody wants, this may be the end of the ‘Golden' franchise.”

She relaxed upon assembly the brand new crop of 24 eclectic males, which incorporates Mark Anderson, the hunky father of “Bachelor” alum Kelsey Anderson.

“Yeah, I felt pressure, but once I met the guys, I was like, ‘This is all gonna be fine,'” says Vassos, who's protecting her already taped ending prime secret. “I'm dying to tell you because the journey was so incredible. People will love the show, and love the men.”

One clue she's going to volunteer: Vassos, who professes to be “on the serious side,” wants an outgoing man, like her late husband John Vassos. He lit up each room earlier than dying after a two-year battle with pancreatic most cancers.

Vassos admits she struggled with guilt about showing on a TV relationship present after shedding her beloved husband. “I was a little worried that I won't be honoring his memory,” she says. “And I know that people will be like, ‘Well, if you were so in love, how in the world could you go on that show?'”

But she says she discovered the expertise emotionally therapeutic. She talked concerning the loss with different widows within the “Golden Bachelor” home which was “the group therapy I needed. And when I got out I was good afterward.”

She's moved previous the notion that “Golden Bachelorette” would in any manner disrespect John's reminiscence. After all, he was the most important actuality present fan of the 2, watching “Real Housewives” and “The Bachelor.”

“When I told a friend I felt guilty, she was like, ‘Oh, that's so stupid!'” says Vassos. “She said that John is going to be looking down from heaven saying, ‘That's my wife down there.' He will be celebrating this and loving it, I still do believe. I feel like he's with me, honestly.”