The Golden Bachelorette is back, and while watching Joan and her 11 remaining suitors effortlessly lift our spirits week after week, Episode 4 reminds us that the show can break our hearts as well.
In an interview with Decider, franchise host Jesse Palmer teased a series of upcoming challenges and “headwinds” on Joan’s season, and Episode 4 gives members of Bachelor Nation their first real taste of tragedy. The poignant episode kicks off by raising money for Stand Up To Cancer, and it concludes with a touching tribute card honoring someone who — like Joan’s late husband — died from the terrible disease.
Though the week starts on a silly, spicy note with a Chippendales group date and the return of former Bachelorette lead Kaitlyn Bristowe, the mood plummets when a contestant receives news of a devastating family emergency. After saying goodbye to one of her favorite Golden Guys, Joan does her best to be present for two romantic group dates, and though she sends four men home at the end of the week, she welcomes a familiar face back to the mansion with open arms.
With the return of Abbott Elementary Season 4, airing Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, The Golden Bachelorette will now have hour and a half episode instead of the typical two-hour runtime we saw the first three weeks. While shorter episodes may mean more succinct storytelling, Episode 4 proves the producers are ready to pack in maximum romance, humor, heartbreak, and hope.
Curious who got a one-on-one date with Joan? How The Golden Bachelorette‘s smokin’ hot group date went? Which contestant mirrored Joan’s Golden Bachelor journey and headed home after a family emergency? And who went home during The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4? We’ve got answers.
The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4 Group Date Recap: The Golden Guys Bare It All
Four weeks in, Joan’s remaining Golden Guys really found their groove in the mansion. The episode opened with Charles L. teaching his pals some tai chi, and Mark teaching Pascal to do his own laundry. When the first date card of the week arrived, Jonathan, Pascal, Dan, Charles, Gary, Mark, Gil, Chock, and Keith were invited to “bare it all for love,” which meant Jordan and Guy would be getting one-on-one dates.
The Group Date Guys hopped a bus to meet Joan on stage in an exhilarating venue where The Bachelorette Season 11 lead, podcast queen, and Dancing With The Stars winner Kaitlyn Bristowe arrived to welcome the OG Chippendales, who’d be teaching the guys a strip routine. Before you groan like every man present, just know the performance was for a cause close to Joan’s heart: Stand Up To Cancer. Joan has been super open about losing her husband John to pancreatic cancer, but several of the group date guys had experiences with the disease as well, so the mood shifted for the better once everyone learned the charitable twist. “I don’t think anyone could keep me from that stage,” Kelsey Anderson’s dad Mark told cameras, explaining that his late wife Denise passed after her own cancer battle.
As the Golden Guys learned body rolls, hip thrusts, and more sexy moves, some like Chock blushed and begged for three glasses of wine to battle stage fright, while others emerged more confident. Pascal admitted he strips at home and has “a few abs to show,” while Keith revealed he’d dreamed of being a Chippendales dancer ever since he was 20 years old. Whether they loved or hated the idea of baring it all, the men all selected costumes and took the stage to let loose to “LoveGame.” (Yes, really.) Gary, aka The Nutty Professor, yanked his shirt open. Jonathan, aka Sergeant Sexy, revealed glitter gold panties. Pascal fired a dollar bill gun at Joan. Fireman Mark got Kaitlyn Bristowe hot and bothered enough to say “DILF.” National Treasure Charles L. popped open a Hawaiian shirt and said, “I performed even better than myself anticipated.” And despite his anxiety, Chock was a serious standout with a bowtie and some booty moves.
That night at the cocktail party, several shared their own experiences with cancer, like Chock, who opened up about his mother battling Stage 4 cancer for the past four years, and Mark, who talked about his late wife and bonded with Joan over the guilt they feel about moving on. With an A+ Pascal Prada joke, another strip tease from Keith, Jonathan gifting Joan his infamous gold panties, and a FaceTime call with Gary’s son, the night wasn’t all serious. But when it came time to hand out the rose, the stem went to the man Joan had “the deepest connection” with.
Who Got The Group Date Rose? After showing vulnerability, heart, and humor, Chock got the group date rose and Joan told cameras he was the first person he could picture a future with since John passed away. Feeling all warm and fuzzy after reading that? Good. Sit in that feeling for a moment before reading on…
Chock Chapple’s Heartbreaking Family Emergency
Following a phenomenal group date and a pre-rose ceremony rose high, cameras caught Chock outside the mansion crying on the phone to his mom’s caregiver, Crystal, who told him that his mother passed away at 4:45 a.m. after a long battle with Stage 4 cancer.
“My mother was a great woman. She was a great mother, a great wife, she loved her husband to death. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better mother,” he sobbed. “We knew it was coming, but it never makes it any easier. From the high last night of getting the rose and really connecting with Joan, I mean. I just felt it was off the charts. I was really happy, and that’s just not gonna happen now. I don’t want to go home, but I’ve got to take care of a lot of stuff.”
On top of the heartbreaking news and the cruel irony of Chock’s loss following his Stand Up To Cancer benefit date, those who watched Joan leave her season of The Golden Bachelor for a family emergency will notice history repeating itself. After Chock told his fellow contestants he planned to leave, he met Joan outside and embraced her for a long hug. “I’m gonna need you,” he said, before leading her to a bench just like she’d done with Gerry. “This morning producers came and got me and said my mother passed away,” he explained, adding that even though he knew it was inevitable, expecting it didn’t make the reality easier. Joan expressed her sincere sympathies and the two bonded over a shared sense of guilt. While Chock was on his Golden Bachelorette journey when his mom passed, Joan told him she was getting sleep in another room when her husband died.
There was no doubt in Chock’s mind that he needed to go home to check on his family and get some affairs in order, and Joan supported him without question. “That’s one of the reasons I care for you. You’re a caregiver. You won’t feel good unless you’re giving care,” she said. “So you go and check on all those people, but remember you’ve got to do this too for yourself. You have to honor your mother and you have to take care of your family. That’s exactly what I would think you would do.”
“I left Gerry to be with my family, very similar. I left when things were looking really positive for us. It makes me really sad, because I know he and I had a really intimate conversation yesterday about the future. It’s just what happens in life,” Joan told cameras. “My heart goes out Chock. My heart’s breaking for him.” The two said an emotional goodbye, but they didn’t talk about Chock’s possible return. By the looks of their parting and the lack of finality — especially compared to Joan and Gerry’s tearful farewell — it felt like Chock would eventually return. We’ll touch on this more later, but in a heartwarming show of support to Chock, the episode ends with a tribute card to his mom: “In loving memory of Jill Cobb, MD – 1943-2024.”
Joan Vassos And Jordan Heller’s One-On-One Date Recap: Falling In Love (And On Ice)
Despite her distressing conversation with Chock, Joan had a one-on-one date to get to and vowed to put her concerns on the back burner. She walked into the mansion to grab Jordan Heller, a 61-year-old sales manager from Chicago, Illinois, and whisk him away to a winter wonderland where he was forced to face his fear of ice skating.
After admitting, “I can’t imagine anything I’m worse at than ice skating” and strapping on a helmet, Jordan made it about five feet into the rink before falling on his butt so hard that Joan couldn’t suppress her laughter. The struggle was real as Joan spent the remainder of the skating time pulling Jordan around the mini rink, but the day was saved when the two got cozy together on a couch, sipped hot chocolate, and dove from the silly portion of the date to the depths of Jordan’s divorce.
Jordan explained that he got married, had three amazing kids, and had a good marriage for years, but following some “serious breaches of marital trust,” he got divorced and did everything he could to keep his kids happy and psychologically healthy. “The kids all left the house, and the four of us were living in a two bedroom apartment in Wicker Park. And it was we were puppies, healing each other,” he said. “Everybody needed the closeness…” To lift the mood, Joan revealed a surprise: an intimate concert by REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin and Dave Amato, one of Jordan’s favorite childhood bands. The two slow danced on the ice (with protective footwear), sang, laughed in the fake snow, and did lots of kissing.
Did Jordan Get The One-On-One Rose? You bet. Joan said the date revealed a lot about Jordan and though she thought she’d have Chock on her mind, her and Jordan laughed more than any of the other dates she’d been on.
Joan Vassos And Guy Gansert’s One-On-One Date Recap: Is Anything Cooking?
Last up? Joan’s one-on-one with Guy, a 66-year-old ER doctor from Reno, Nevada who’s newly divorced. For the intimate alone time, Joan invited Guy over to her house for a cooking date where the two attempted to cook lemon baked ziti together. In the end, Joan did it herself and because Guy was largely useless. (Shoutout to Joan for roasting his inability to zest a lemon by saying, “Guy’s an ER doctor…I’m a little worried.)
While in the kitchen, the two chatted about their kids, family dinners, and personal routines. After decorating cupcakes and sharing a meal together, Guy got real about his marriage of 34 years ending. “We fell in love, we got married, and when our youngest went away, all of a sudden, we were like semi-empty nesters. I thought we had a really good marriage for about 30 years. But when we would talk, I think we didn’t have open, honest communication,” Guy explained. “Sometimes I felt like we spent 30 years trying not to hurt each other’s feelings… and I just wasn’t feeling I wasn’t happy. We went to some couples’ counseling, and she just said, ‘OK, I’m done.”
Guy said he didn’t really want to socialize after his marriage ended, but his kids came to him and said they wanted him to be happy. “I’m as happy as I’ve been in several years. I didn’t know I could actually feel this good again,” he said. “I just want to let you know that a lot has to do with you.”
Did Guy Get The One-On-One Rose? You bet. After spending the day with Guy Joan felt “very hopeful” about them and said she could picture him walking around her house and being a part of her life. As for Guy, he was starting to fall for Joan and got really jazzed about his “dopamine surge!”
The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4 Cocktail Party Recap: CHOCK It Up To Good Timing
Ahead of Episode 4’s rose ceremony, the guys were feeling good and really falling hard for Joan. Mark Anderson even put Kelsey and Joey on speakerphone to tell them The Golden Bachelorette has been his best time in the past six and a half years and the mansion is “better than therapy.” Sobbing.
At the cocktail party, Joan had crucial conversations with Pascal (who assured her he wasn’t uninterested, he’s just French), Jonathan (who gifted her a personalized Cheerios box for more spon con), and Keith (who was admittedly super nervous and awkward despite organizing a cute driveway beach date). Though Joan felt great about her remaining guys, she was admittedly worried that Chock wouldn’t be able to return. If he didn’t, she said he’d always be a question in the back of her mind, which is why it was great that he walked back up to the mansion looking spiffy as ever with his rose on his chest.
For the next few minutes of the episode, anyone watching Joan and Chock’s passionate reunion, palpable chemistry, and genuine care for each other would likely tell the Golden Gal to call the whole show off and run away with him. Once Chock caught Joan up on his time at home, he told her he’s crazy about her, can’t keep his hands off her, and wants to work hard to let down his armor. He also asked her about a ring she wore, which she revealed John gave her and she wears it sometimes to feel safe. It was a small detail, but the fact that Chock noticed it only set him further apart from the rest of the guys.
By the end of the episode, I can’t imagine Bachelor Nation not being aboard the Joan and Chock ship, especially after she said, “I feel like he came back so quickly for me. I feel safe again, comfortable again. I can imagine it now.”
Who Goes Home On The Golden Bachelorette Tonight? The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4 Rose Ceremony Recap:
With Jordan, Guy, and Chock heading into the rose ceremony with roses on their chests, who went home on The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4? Joan said goodbye to four of her 11 men at the rose ceremony, including two fan-favorite men and her most controversial contestant.
Here’s who went home on The Golden Bachelorette Episode 4:
Charles L., 66, a retired data analyst from Malvern, Pa.
Dan, 64, a private investor from Naples, Fla.
Gary, 65, a retired finance executive from Palm Desert, Calif.
Gil, 60, an educator from Mission Viejo, Calif.
Bachelor Nation can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Gil, the man who had a restraining order filed against him just days before production started, is gone. But wholesome hearts everywhere will break when Tina Turner’s spirited godson Gary and National Treasure Charles say their goodbyes.
“It’s a successful journey for me, hanging out with my friends. It’s a different form of love,” Charles said outside the mansion. “I did find it.” BRB SOBBING UNTIL NEXT WEDNESDAY.
