Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple got engaged during the finale of The golden bacheloretteand they have already made a major life decision that could spell doom for their relationship. It’s hard to imagine Joan, 61, having to endure another loss after everything she’s been through in recent years. In 2021, Joan lost the love of her life to cancer. She was married to John Vassos, with whom she had four children, for 32 years before he succumbed to illness. With her children grown and out of the house, Joan unexpectedly found herself alone in her golden years.
Joan wasn’t ready to let go of the past, but she also didn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone. She joined the cast of The Golden Bachelor season 1, along with 21 other women who wanted to date 72-year-old Gerry Turner. When Joan left early due to a family emergency, she was cast as The golden bachelorette. She went on to compliment the single 24 Golden men competing for her heart, including 60-year-old Chock. Joan and Chock got engaged at the end of the season, but recently made a troubling decision that could derail their journey.
Joan never intended to get married
She approached the journey with realistic expectations
When Chock knelt during The golden bachelorette season 1 and asked Joan to marry him, it was a big surprise when Joan said yes. The surprise was due to the fact that Joan indicated that she had no intention of getting married at the end of his season. Soon after Joan was announced as the lead, she was interviewed by CNNwhere she said she would not rush into marriage. She explained that she thought people needed more time to get to know each other before making such a serious commitment.
Joan may have been reluctant to get engaged, but that all went out the window. The golden bachelorette The first season ended with Joan enthusiastically accepting Chock’s proposal and letting him put the ring on her finger. Maybe she changed her mind about getting married after meeting Chock, but the excitement may be temporary. As soon as the first wave of new love passes, Joan can come to her senses before she even walks down the aisle.
Joan and Chock made a big life decision
Unique Living Arrangement
After Chock and Joan became engaged during The golden bachelorette season 1 finale, they rode off into the sunset to live happily ever after. At least that was the idea, but life has a way of upending the best laid plans. The day after their engagement, Joan and Chock were interviewed by People, and confessed that they had no intention of living together. “We will be going back and forth between Kansas, Maryland and New York,” Chock said.
“We will have a full-time position in New York and whenever we have the opportunity we will be there.”
Before making their big television debut in The Golden Bachelor and The golden bacheloretteJoan lived in Maryland, while Chock lived in Kansas, and neither of them wanted to move to the other’s home state. From them Commuting plans may seem like a good idea now when the relationship is still new and exciting, but they may find the constant traveling more of a challenge as time goes on. If Joan and Chock love each other enough to get engaged, they should want to live together, and it’s not a good sign that they don’t.
Just like Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist
History repeats itself
News about Joan and Chock’s living arrangement brings back bad memories about each other Golden Bachelor couple. The Golden Bachelor season one ended with Gerry giving his final rose to 70-year-old Theresa Nist. The two got engaged and went quickly married in a lavish televised wedding that aired just weeks after the couple went public with your relationship. The marriage was rushed and so was the divorce.
Gerry and Theresa announced their divorce after just three months of marriage.
Just like Joan and Chock, Gerry and Theresa struggled to live. Before appearing on the show, Theresa lived in New Jersey while Gerry lived in Indiana. They both lived close to family, and Theresa also had her job as a day trader to consider, so they both stayed where they were. Just as Joan and Chock planned to do, they flew back and forth to see each other. From them Long distance marriage was simply unsustainableand Joan and Chock will likely face the same challenges.
Since their divorce, Theresa has confessed that the split was about more than geography.
Theresa was recently interviewed on the popular Almost Famous podcast, confessing that it wasn’t just geography that came between her and Gerry. She revealed that although she fell in love with Gerry during The Golden Bachelor 1st season, she felt led into the ill-advised marriage because the network offered to pay for their wedding. She lamented the fact that she and Gerry simply did not know each other well enough to marry, implying that they were simply not compatible.
Are Joan and Chock still together?
Big hopes and big plans
Since I got engaged The golden bachelorette season 1, Joan and Chock are excited to start enjoying their lives togetherwhich includes mixing their families. Joan has four adult children who are married with children of their own, while Chock has two college-aged children. Since their families are older, they will never have to live together, but Joan and Chock still want everyone to know each other.
To help with the new family bond, Joan and Chock decided to take everyone on a grand vacation to Disneyland.
The Disneyland vacation has symbolic meaning for Joan and Chock because it was the location of their first one-on-one date during The golden bachelorette season 1. In a clip posted to YouTube by Bachelor Nation, Joan and Chock enjoy a romantic day at Magic Kingdom that ends with a romantic kiss under Disneyland’s famous fireworks show. Joan and Chock want to revisit Disneyland and share the love with their families.
The golden bachelorette Season 1 ended with Joan and Chock engaged, but like Gerry and Theresa, they may not end up living happily ever after. Many reality TV contestants find that falling in love with a stranger is easier than maintaining that relationship in the real world. It will probably be even more difficult later in life, when people are more stubborn and have more to lose. Since Joan and Chock have come to symbolize the possibility of finding love later in life, we hope they prove the critics wrong and get a happy ending after all.
Joana Vassos |
61 years |
Private school administrator |
Maryland |
Chapple shim |
60 years |
Insurance executive |
Kansas |
The golden bachelorette the first season can be streamed on Hulu.
Sources: CNN, People, Almost Famous, Bachelor Nation/YouTube