The Golden Bachelorette lead Joan Vassos could tell that something was “off” during her fantasy suite date with Pascal Ibgui.
“On that date [in Tahiti], it just felt off. It didn’t feel off right in the beginning, but then the Tahitian bonding ceremony was kind of uncomfortable,” Joan, 61, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Wednesday, November 6. “We continued to be uncomfortable through the whole thing. I was trying to make it feel more comfortable, but it was a very intimate and deep [ceremony], and it required us to do a lot of talking about feelings.”
While spending time together on their one-on-one date in Tahiti, Joan and Pascal, 69, participated in a heartfelt bonding ceremony. Joan noted that the day was “long and hot,” and she felt by the end of the date that “things were off.”
“He couldn’t get out of there fast enough,” she said. “I felt the same way, honestly. It felt very wedding-y, and that was uncomfortable. Going into that evening date, I pictured the way it was going to actually go down. I was thinking this could be the end of us, that we would end up in Fantasy Suites and we would talk about, ‘Are we good? What is holding us back and are we going to get past it?’ And that one of us was going to make a decision that night that this wasn’t going to work. He came with his mind already made up.”
When the pair sat down together during the evening portion of his date, Pascal self-eliminated after claiming to Joan that he didn’t think he “could get to the place where you want me to be.” While reflecting back on the moment, Joan said she could “appreciate” the decision.
“I know how hard that is. I had to do a rose ceremony every week, and it’s hard saying goodbye to people,” she said. “It makes me feel really bad. I know he felt really bad and I didn’t want him to.”
Joan claimed that she “hadn’t fallen in love” with Pascal at the time of his departure. “I hadn’t gotten there yet. I knew that I needed to be careful with my heart with him,” she explained. “It hurt my feelings a little bit. Rejection isn’t fun, obviously, but I knew what I was signing up for, and I didn’t want him to go away feeling so bad.”
Joan noted that she felt it was “really important” to express those sentiments during the Men Tell All episode of The Golden Bachelorette, which aired on Wednesday.
While Pascal may not have found The One in Joan, he isn’t opposed to returning to the TV screen as the next Golden Bachelor — but he would have one request.
“They will have to lower the age,” he exclusively told Us Weekly at the Men Tell All taping. “The age [has] got to be lower. Yes, I’m old, but I don’t go out with a 72-year-old woman.”
He suggested that the Golden franchise should be adjusted to only have contestants who live in the same city, so as to not have long-distance relationships. Pascal added that he would be interested in following Gerry Turner’s footsteps if there was a “financial reward.”
He concluded, “If I know what time of commitment and what is involved and if it fits my schedule, yes, why not?”
