Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple Tell All on Their ‘Golden Bachelorette’ Engagement, Wedding Plans and Who the Next ‘Golden Bachelor’ Should Be
“Golden Bachelorette” Joan Vassos has some new bling on her left hand. The inaugural lead of the ABC show helping seniors find love concluded her season by giving Chock Chapple her final rose, who proposed to her with a Neil Lane ring.
Vassos — a school administrator who has four children and two grandchildren — previously competed for love on Gerry Turner’s first-ever season of “The Golden Bachelor.” Though she seemed like an early frontrunner, she left during the third week to help her daughter who was having a medical emergency.
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In Vassos’ groundbreaking “Golden Bachelorette” season, she narrowed down the field of 24 contestants, all while grappling with her own grief after losing her husband of 32 years, John, in 2021 to pancreatic cancer.
Chapple, Vassos’ final pick, was married for 12 years, and shares two kids with his ex-wife. The insurance executive was later engaged to another woman, Kathy, with whom he spent nearly a decade and who died from a brain tumor in 2022.
While Vassos and Chapple’s chemistry was undeniable, and he even got the first one-on-one date, their journey almost came to a tragic and abrupt conclusion when Chapple’s mother died during filming. Chapple left the mansion and visited his family; however, he soon returned, saying in a confessional, “There was no way I was not coming back… I’ve got a unique opportunity that very few people in the world do with a great woman.”
Their connection remained strong as Vassos reduced her pool of suitors, and Vassos eventually eliminated runner-up Guy Gansert before their final date because she was certain Chapple was the one for her.
“I’ve only been in love with one person, more than one now. I’m in love with Chock, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. He makes me see a future again,” Vassos told producers the day of the proposal.
During the ceremony, Vassos told Chapple that she loves him (Chapple had told Vassos he loved her on their final date, but Vassos wanted to wait to say it back), and Chapple vowed to honor Kathy and John. “I give you my word that I’ll honor him by loving you every day. That is the most important thing to me,” he said.
Vassos and Chapple spoke with Variety about their heartwarming proposal, what their next steps are as a couple and whom they believe the next “Golden Bachelor” should be.
How does it feel to not have to keep your relationship a secret anymore?
Chock Chapple: It feels great. It really does. We’re ready to get on with our lives together, our together lives.
Joan Vassos: It feels great to be with our friends and family, and actually be together with our friends and family — instead of separate, like we’ve been doing for all these months.
Chock, what was going through your head as you were walking up to meet Joan for the proposal, and as you started talking? Were you confident you were her final pick?
Chapple: Something happened the day before. We were at the bungalow, and Joan came over for a visit, and I spent three weeks trying to get this beautiful lady to tell me she loved me, and I just couldn’t get it done. And trust me, I can be convincing at times. And we had a talk on the couch, and then we went outside. I brought Joan in for a kiss, and I wanted — I needed — the “I love you,” but the kiss just took care of everything. It was magical. And I’ve said this, I go, “Somebody doesn’t kiss you like that unless they really, really love you.” That was what I needed.
And you always have butterflies, even a mature guy, but as soon as I rounded the corner, and I saw her standing there in that white dress — she looked absolutely gorgeous — and she smiled at me, [I felt better].
I got a little teary watching the proposal when, Chock, you talked about honoring John and Kathy. Joan, what was it like hearing that from Chock?
Vassos: It’s so important, because I’ll never not have John in my life, and he’ll never not have Kathy in his life. They were just part of us for so many years. If I needed to let go of that or not ever talk of him again, that would be really hard for me. And so the fact that he accepts it so freely and even talks to my kids about it — “I’m not here to replace your dad, and I want to honor his memory” — I feel the same way about Kathy. That makes things a lot easier for us. It takes out that whole element of tension from our relationship and just makes it easy.
Chock’s journey seemed like it could be cut short when his mom died. Joan, what was going through your head at that time, besides obviously feeling incredibly sad for Chock? Were you worried you had lost the person you might be choosing in the end?
Vassos: That’s exactly how I felt. My first feeling was, “What a horrible thing to happen to anybody while they were filming, who didn’t have the ability to be there.” And I learned later that this had been a long journey for them with her cancer, and that he’d spent a lot of time with her right before he left. And so that was such a gift that he actually got to spend time with her when she was alive, instead of just going back after she had passed. But when he told me that [she had died], I knew he had to leave, because I knew that he had loved ones. He needed to go see how they were doing.
I was really worried that he wasn’t going to make it back, because I didn’t know what he was going to find when he got there, even though he thought everything was good, and he kept saying, “I’m coming back. I’m coming back.” I knew that you couldn’t know that 100% for sure. And that’s when I figured out how important he was to me. I knew it anyway, but when I thought that possibly he wasn’t coming back, my thought was really that I don’t know if I can continue this journey, because he’s my frontrunner, he’s the guy that I really care about, he’s one that I’ve already established such a connection with, and that will always be this big question mark in my mind if he doesn’t come back.
Chock, was there ever a question for you of whether you were coming back to the show?
Chapple: It’s interesting how people in your lives impact your future. And when I went back, I went back to see my stepdad, and Joan really encouraged me to go. And my brother flew in. But three days into it, George, my stepdad, goes, “You need to go back.” And if he wouldn’t have said that, I probably wouldn’t have gone back. You don’t know what to do in a situation like that. But George was like, “Go back,” because I told him how important [Joan is and] how I bonded with Joan. He goes, “You need to go back.” He goes, “We’ve got everything here.” I was very fortunate that he helped me make that decision.
Chock, you live in Kansas, and Joan, you live in Maryland. How are you two going to divide up spending time together? Is it true you’re going to find a place in New York City in the meantime?
Chapple: I can confirm that part of the gift [I gave Vassos during the show] was, they call it, the “Chock Lock.” It was a key, a fictitious key to a place in New York. We had discovered that we both wanted to spend time there. And I hadn’t thought about it for two decades. And every young business guy goes, “New York, the Mecca, the World Trade Center,” everything that you used to think of back in the day about New York. Joan had said she really wanted to spend some time there, so it was just natural. It was really a gift to her, but also to me.
[Vassos had wanted a situation that was] my place, their place, and then a place together. We know we’re going to blend it at some period of time, but we’ve got to have some things fall into place. But we’re very happy with that. We leave tomorrow for New York, we’re going to spend the weekend there. My two kids are going to meet us, and then on Monday, we have the whole day really slotted with the realtor to start looking at places.
Are you thinking about a wedding in the future? Would you make it televised like Gerry and Theresa Nist?
Vassos: We talk about it. In fact, he asks me about once a day, “So, when are you gonna marry me?” I absolutely am gonna marry him. We both feel like, for the next couple months, with the holidays and all that happening, and us being a new couple out in the world, that we’re gonna have some fun just being those people during the holidays. After the first of the year, maybe end of January, when things are settling down, we can start talking about when we’re gonna do the wedding and then what that looks like.
Originally, I felt like maybe I wanted something small and intimate. I’ve done a big wedding before, and so has he, so maybe friends and family or destination. But as I’ve thought about that, I love that this journey is about people our age going on this journey and finding love, even though it’s scary and it’s hard and it’s kind of a leap of faith when you do it. And I feel like showing that in a televised wedding, the conclusion of that journey, would be the nice thing for people to see. So we’re open for that.
Who should be our next “Golden Bachelor”?
Chapple: We think there’s at least eight great guys — and we’re not dodging the question — they all have unique personalities, and every one of them could do great. And there was a couple of guys I’d put in contention, but they have already come out that they have significant others now, so you need to take them off. So eight guys, and I’d put them in a pot and pull the one out, and it could be anyone from Charles Ling to Jordan [Heller] to Keith [Gordon] to Dan [Roemer] to Jack [Lencioni]. Jack would be entertaining, Charles would be loving…
I made an announcement last night that I’ve endorsed Charles to run for president in 2028, so either he’s going to be the “Golden Bachelor,” or he’s going to be president in 2028. The crowd went wild. It was really a fun time. Everybody supports and loves the guy.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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