The 61-year-old Golden Bachelorette also explains why she gave the First Impression Rose to Keith.
(And no, it was not when she said “There were balls flying everywhere!")
ABC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congrats on a great premiere.
Joan Vassos (right) addresses her suitors on ‘The Golden Bachelorette’.ABC
Watching it back, what was your favorite moment to see that you didnt see that night?
JOAN VASSOS:I don’t get to see anything that happens in the mansion at all.
Every person who walked in, they welcomed him with open arms.
Christopher and Joan do a shot of prune juice on ‘The Golden Bachelorette’.ABC
Chock arrived with homemade soup that he wanted you to taste.
Well, eating soup on a first meeting is just weird.
You would never order soup at a restaurant on the first date.
Keith and Joan on ‘The Golden Bachelorette’.ABC
I didn’t know how to eat it.
It’s not that bad, actually.
So the prune juice sat ok with you?
Yeah, I could have a bad result.
But it was really prune juice.
So how important are cooking skills for you in a mate?
He either needs to be able to make good reservations or cook one of the two.
I’m also not big on the cleanup, and it always seems to be my job anyway.
I like eating at home, honestly, at least a couple nights a week.
I do like going out, but I love to eat at home.
So, cooking is important.
Somebody needs to be able to do it a couple nights a week.
How was Jacks beef dish?
That man can cook.
The sauce was incredible.
It smelled so good.
And they’re like, Yeah.
And I was like, “oh my God, I’m so happy.”
It smelled so good, and I was starving.
It had been a long night by that point.
I bet I only got to eat a few bites because then the next guy comes and steals you.
But the man is a good cook, and he has a great voice, too.
You mentioned the pickleball game.
I need to know what was going through your head when that pickleball free-for-all broke out.
It looked like pandemonium!
Whose idea was that?
[Laughs] Just playing pickleball in a evening gown in high heels is very hard.
Luckily Jordan is really good, and he hit the ball pretty close to me at all times.
I was like, I’m going to get hit by one of these balls.
How did you decide to give it to Keith?
Well, I love that they all made efforts to differentiate themselves because it’s really important.
What they did was a little more ingrained in my memory than their names a lot of times.
It was a little nostalgic.
Then we sat on the hood of it and we talked, and that just felt really natural.
And I just kind of felt like them when I was sitting there, weirdly.
And I was like, Oh my God, that would feel so good right now.
I really want to do that.
It was way more about the feeling I got when I was with him, how I felt safe.
Hes this big guy, he was kind of like a teddy bear.
It was more about the feeling that made me want to give him the first impression rose.
When I went in to grab the rose, some of them were like, What is she doing?
Some people didn’t even know what it was.
And then I walked out in front of all those people outside and they all are like, Joan!
like Im coming out to talk to them.
Im like, I’m just passing through.
It felt very awkward.
I felt really bad.
Obviously then all of those people knew that they weren’t getting it.
I was like, Oh, she’s getting that First Impression Rose.
So you kind of know before they do.
Every one of those men knew before poor Keith.
Like you’re breaking bad news to somebody without actually telling them.
After you gave Keith the First Impression Rose, you two shared a very chaste smooch.
Like you said, it wasn’t some big epic kiss, but it felt right.
It felt right in the moment, and I was never going to stop something that felt right.
So if it felt right, I was going to let it happen.
It felt right to me.
The Golden Bacheloretteairs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.
