‘Golden Bachelorette’ Finale Episode Recap

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!

The time has finally come: After weeks of tears and hugs, Joan Vassos, 61, star of ABC’s The Golden Bachelorettehas chosen the man she wants to marry. The big reveal happened during the reality dating show’s finale on November 13 (it aired live from Los Angeles on ABC, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM ET and streams on Hulu starting November 14). He is Chock, 60, an insurance executive from Wichita, Kansas. He may be more loving and sincere than wildly exciting. But what if Joan is happy? We are happy.

Joan, a widowed mother and grandmother from Rockville, Maryland, had already winnowed a field of 24 to two, with much crying (by Joan and the boys, many of them widowers) along the way.

Are we shocked?

Not really, but after the drama in episode 7, she sounded so ambivalent that we started to wonder if she might just pack her bags and go home alone, thank you very much.

First, the man Joan really seemed to have fallen for was the one who got away: Frenchman Pascal left Tahiti, the setting for the penultimate episode, because he said to her as kindly as he could, “I care about you as much as I can.” a friend, but I’m not in love. Our hearts broke for her.

So her final choice was between Chock and Guy, 66, a doctor from Reno, Nevada. Both seemed in love, but Chock especially seemed to bombard her with love. “I felt like we were the right couple from day one,” he told her in a recent episode.

Joan, meanwhile, seemed barely over the death of her adored late husband of 32 years, John, who passed away in 2021 from pancreatic cancer. “I will always love him,” she said repeatedly.

And the experience of her male predecessor on ABC’s new adult dating franchise, 2023’s Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner, 72, would dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for the process. Turner and his pick, Theresa Nist, 71, divorced less than four months after their hasty, made-for-TV wedding, which surprised no one but the most diehard romantic. You hope for more happiness for Joan’s marriage.

Here’s how it all went down in the season finale:

A tearful Joan received a pep talk from her friend Nancy

Joan told Nancy, her good friend and fellow participant, last year Golden bachelorthat Pascal’s rejection made her feel “that if he couldn’t love me, how could anyone love me?” Nancy hugged her and replied, “That’s right So Love deserves, and I know you had it before, and you can have it again.

Joan still wasn’t sure if she was going to leave with a proposal

About the exotic Bora Bora, she said to the camera: “I just have to trust that this will end in an engagement.” We won’t ask the obvious question. Okay, we will: Why Should this end in an engagement? Never mind.