The Golden Bachelorette star Joan Vassos has revealed what rule she had set for herself when it came to saying "I love you" while filming her season.
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And according to the 61-year-old private school administrator and mother, she was also careful not to drop more than one love bomb during her season.
"People throw the word 'love' around a lot on this show, especially the younger people," Joan explained to the magazine.
"I think they feel it quicker. I was careful not to do that. It backfires a lot."
On many past seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the show's leads have fallen for -- or thought they were completely "in love" with -- multiple contestants.
Gerry Turner, for example, had said he loved Faith Martin, Leslie Fhima, and Theresa Nist on The Golden Bachelor last year.
Charity Lawson had said, "I love you," to both her runner-up Joey Graziadei and winner Dotun Olubeko, and Ben Higgins had memorably professed his love to both runner-up JoJo Fletcher and winner Lauren Bushnell.
Clayton Echard had also professed his love to more than one woman after being intimate with both Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia during the Fantasy-Suite round of dates.
Saying "I love you" to more than one person has become known as a disastrous decision in The Bachelor franchise considering it crushes the people who don't end up getting chosen.
Joan therefore made an effort to save those important three words until the end -- and for only one man.
"I thought, 'Even if I feel it, I'm not going to say it because things change,'" Joan explained.
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"[I thought], 'I still have a little bit of time that I need to use to make sure there aren't any red flags I haven't seen.'"
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Joan confirmed to Us that although it may have been difficult to keep her feelings under wraps, she committed to her decision.
"I needed to get to the end of the journey to make sure I've made the right decision," Joan confirmed.
But Joan previously shared on the "Trading Secrets" podcast how she had fallen "in love quickly" on The Golden Bachelorette.
When asked if she had fallen in love with more than one bachelor during filming, Joan told Jason Tartick, "I honestly fell in love with a lot of people!"
"To be truly honest with you," she continued, "I formed connections with most of these men. There is a thing about older men when they're vulnerable and you just want to take care of them!"
Joan said she had formed "amazing friendships" with her The Golden Bachelorette cast of senior guys.
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"So I fell in love with probably 24 men, to be honest. They were just such great men, and it was such a privilege to be with them and to have them share their lives with me. And I shared mine back!"
Joan laughed about how she had truly went through "stuff with these guys."
She elaborated, "It's crazy being on this show. You reveal a lot of stuff to total strangers really soon, but you form these really strong bonds because you do that."
Joan therefore reiterated that she "fell in love a lot" during her journey, and she added of her season's ending: "I left the show exactly where I think I need to be."
Joan concluded that "life has a way of unfolding the way it's supposed to" and she believes that her journey on The Golden Bachelorette "really did."
After losing her late husband John Vassos to cancer in 2021 after 32 years of marriage, Joan shared that she hoped to find a partner with whom she can spend the rest of her life.
But Joan wasn't necessarily banking on an engagement and returning home to her family in Maryland with a diamond engagement ring on her finger.
"I said all along I didn't need to leave engaged," Joan recently told People, noting, however, that she really wanted to leave the show "in a committed relationship."
Now that Joan has finished filming the show and is hopefully in love, or maybe even engaged, she revealed that The Golden Bachelorette "cured" her immense grief and feelings of guilt about dating again.
"This journey made me open to love. And I figured it out partway through the journey that I really wasn't there when I came, but I got there," Joan concluded.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski