Rockville resident Joan Vassos is returning to ABC’s hit Bachelor franchise.
Vassos made history last month when she was named the first ever Golden Bachelorette. This time, she’ll be the one handing out the roses and heartbreak.
The previous season had featured a “Golden Bachelor,” Gerry Turner, with whom Vassos pursued in hopes of finding love after the loss of her husband John in 2021.
In a surprising turn of events, Vassos prematurely left last season to help her daughter through postpartum. Her decision surprised many but earned the respect of Bachelor nation.
Now, Vassos is looking to find her golden guy this season. The cast features 24 men, including Season 28 Bachelor winner Kelsey Anderson’s father, Mark Anderson.
An exclusive preview for the first episode, which is set to air on Sept. 18, was shown on Tuesday night at the Season 29 finale of “The Bachelorette.” The snippet showed Anderson introducing her father to Vassos at the same California mansion where she found love with her fiancé and former Bachelor Joey Graziadei.
“We got to go to amazing places. We did dates that Bachelor Nation has never seen. But it was really about finding love and that the journey for us Golden Bachelor and Bachelorettes is a little different. There’s a lot of emotion that we bring into this because we have a lot of life experiences. So I think that you’re going to see a really emotional journey,” Vassos told host Jesse Palmer during Tuesday night’s finale of “The Bachelorette”
The first episode of Season 1 of the Golden Bachelorette is set to premiere on Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. All episodes will be available on Hulu the next day.
