Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos Is Where ‘I’m Supposed to Be’ After Season (Exclusive)

“Extra” caught up with Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos after the taping of the “Men Tell All” special. 

She opened up about seeing the guys again, saying, “I’ve missed these guys. You become really good friends, even if you didn’t have, like, a romantic interest in each other, you still have big friendships that you’ve built. We spent months together and then all of a sudden, like, we were separated. I haven’t seen them for so long, so it was like homecoming for us, and I was so happy to see their smiling faces. I felt like I hadn’t left, like we hadn’t skipped a beat.”

One thing that surprised her is that so many of them are now in new relationships!

Vassos said of catching up with the guys, “I got to have little conversations with the guys, and so many of them are in relationships right now. I am so shocked and I’m so excited for them.” She joked, “Apparently they got over me really fast!”

She added, “I’m so happy for them because I think it’s so hard to find somebody at this stage. The dating pool is really small. So many of them are in relationships right now and so quickly!”

As for if she found someone special, Joan teased, “I found a lot of love this season… I can’t obviously tell you how this finished but I feel like I am in exactly the place that I am supposed to be.”

The 61-year-old also spoke about hometown dates, meeting the guys’ kids and grandkids, and how important that was for her decisions. 

She said, “Hometowns are particularly important, I think, for the Golden series because, you know, we’ve established these big lives. You know, we’ve worked our whole lives to build, you know, a place to live and have our family with us. I’m not leaving my family. I have my mom and mother-in-law. I have kids, I have grandkids. And I don’t expect somebody to leave their life for me. I think that’s asking them to give up too much.”

Joan went on, “So, I had to picture myself being in their lives for part of the time, you know, maybe you spend two weeks or a month or you figure out how you’re gonna see each other. But I certainly believed I would have to be spending time in their hometowns and with their families, so the hometowns are really, really, really important.”

“And I’ll tell you, I fell in love with these people’s families,” she said. “Obviously, I couldn’t pick all four, so I’m gonna not be part of these families, some of these families that I really like felt like I had a close bond with.”

Plus, who does Joan think should be the next Golden Bachelor? 

Joan insisted, “There are so many guys, you saw them tonight, I mean they are an amazing group of men. I don’t think there’s a single one out there that wouldn’t be great at it. I couldn’t possibly pick one. I’m not trying to be evasive, I honestly could not pick one. They’re all really good.”