Golden Bachelor’s Joan Vassos Almost Returned After ‘Abrupt’ Exit

Golden Bachelor contestant Joan Vassos had a plan to return to the Bachelor Mansion in hopes of finding love with Gerry Turner following her abrupt self-elimination — but “it wasn’t in the cards.”

“I got home, and my plan was to give [my daughter] some care — I needed to get her some mental health care,” Joan, 60, told TheWrap in an interview published on Thursday, November 9. “I was in the process of doing that, and I was approached, and they said, ‘Do you want to come back?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to come back, let me see how I’m doing with my daughter.’”

Joan and Gerry, 72, went on a one-on-one date during the October 12 Golden Bachelor episode. While sparks flew between the two, Joan decided to self-eliminate from the competition after a tear-filled call from her daughter.

“My daughter had a really serious case of postpartum depression, and she needed me. She needed her mom,” Joan revealed when she was in the hot seat during the Golden Bachelor Women Tell All special on Thursday. “I didn’t think twice. I knew I had to be there. I heard it in her voice. I could not get on that plane fast enough.”

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The Golden Bachelor’s debut season has brought out every emotion in Bachelor Nation — including relief that Gerry Turner will find love. Fans watched leading man Gerry begin his journey to find love after loss when the show premiered in September 2023. He kicked things off by opening up about his 43-year marriage to his late […]

Initially, Joan was going to make her return to the Golden Bachelor “maybe four or five days after I left,” she told The Wrap. “The journey that I left, it was so abrupt and I felt I had unfinished business”

But when Joan’s daughter “wasn’t good again,” the plan changed.

“We just hadn’t made it far enough — I hadn’t gotten her a doctor yet,” she explained. “I had calls in but it just couldn’t unfold quick enough.”

Joan shared an update with viewers during Thursday’s Women Tell All, revealing that her daughter and granddaughter are both doing “great” now.

Even though she was unable to make it back to the Bachelor Mansion, Joan did take one major life lesson away from her short stint on the show.

“I left there, for the first time, feeling like I saw a future with somebody,” she told host Jesse Palmer. “Gerry helped make me feel visible. … Gerry opened my heart, and I held out hope for a little while, honestly. I did think a couple times that maybe I would come around the corner coming home from work, and he’d be sitting on my front porch.”

During Thursday’s episode, viewers watched Gerry send home Faith Martin in another shocking elimination. He gave his final two roses to Leslie Fhima and Theresa Nist ahead of their Fantasy Suite dates.

The Golden Bachelor airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.