Bachelor Nation fans got to know and love Joan Vassos on Season 1 of “The Golden Bachelor.”
Since her time on the show, Joan has been busy spending time with her family, hanging with the other Golden gals, and going viral on TikTok.
Now, the fan favorite stopped by the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” podcast where she opened up about her dating life.
Co-host Susan Noles asked Joan and her fellow co-host Kathy Swarts how they knew they were ready to love again after losing their husbands.
Joan got vulnerable about her experience, saying, “Year one came and I wasn’t even close to ready. There was no chance I was dating anybody. Year two came around and I felt like I wasn’t getting any younger and it’s been two years, so I felt like I wasn’t getting any prettier or any less wrinkles. I felt like I was wasting good, valuable time and really felt like I needed to start dating. I was at a restaurant at a friend of mine having dinner and looked around the place and everyone there was a couple. It had been two years since John passed away and I had no idea how to meet somebody.”
She explained, “I felt like it was time and I didn’t know how to do it. I so didn’t want to go on a dating app, and we all know it is. I came home that night and was in a mood because every single person at this restaurant was a couple. I sat down on my sofa and I turned on ‘The Bachelor’ and it was like the universe was talking to me. There was an ad for a new show ‘The Golden Bachelor’ and it said to fill out the form, so I picked up my phone and filled out the form and here I am. I got to the mansion and I still wasn’t super ready. I was nervous and wanted to be open to love, but wasn’t really sure if I was. And my heart opened up. In that seven-day period of the first week there was when the switch flipped for me.”
But while Joan has been ready to find love again, dating hasn’t been easy. She shared how one recent online dating experience went wrong.
She said, “Dating is still hard! I haven’t figured out the formula yet. I don’t love the online dating. I don’t think people are super truthful. I had an online date where I walked into the restaurant to meet this man for a drink. I looked around and thought he wasn’t there yet, so I sat down at the bar and I see this man waving from across the bar at me. I look at him and he doesn’t look anything like his picture, he looks completely different. I just feel like that is kind of typical of what happens when you do online dating. What else do you do?”
Joan continued, sharing, “I say yes to social things, I go out a lot, but in the normal everyday interactions out with friends, I haven’t met anybody. Dating apps are also a full time job and I have a full time job. Staying on top of those messages and being witty and having a good repertoire with somebody takes a lot of time and a lot of thought. If you don’t answer you feel like you’re being rude.”
Kathy asked Joan if there are any ways that she feels she’s better at dating now in this chapter than she was before she was married.
Joan revealed, “I am probably better at judging a person now than I was back before I was married. I can probably go on one date and not be lured by attractiveness or driving a nice car. Those are things that would have mattered way more to me when I was younger. Those things can be important, but I know I will give someone a lot more time and spend more energy getting to know them than I would’ve in the past.”
We love hearing from Joan, check out more of her conversation with Kathy and Susan on the full podcast episode below.
