Joan Vassos reacts to Chock Chapple's "aggressive" dating approach

The Golden Bachelorette star Joan Vassos has dished about her connection with Charles "Chock" Chapple and how she feels about his "aggressive" pursuit of her heart.


Chock, a 60-year-old insurance executive from Wichita, KS, is one of Joan's Final 3 bachelors on her The Golden Bachelorette season.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

While most of Joan's bachelors appeared to become best friends in the mansion, Chock ruffled feathers by monopolizing Joan's time during a bowling group date.

Guy Gansert even asked Chock to let the other guys have time with The Golden Bachelorette star, but Chock didn't seem to care because Joan was his focus.


"Over the years, I do notice about certain The Bachelor series or journeys, is that every once in a while, one guy or one girl pops out that is just more aggressive -- just tries a little harder to have random interactions," Joan told Nick Viall on a recent episode of his "The Viall Files" podcast.

"You see them every once in a while, that they came there for a reason. They're fine having found friends, and that's a good part of [this]. It's like a bonus to this journey."

Joan continued, "But they are there for a reason, and I think... it's evident that Chock is one of those people."

Joan acknowledged how she and Chock certainly had a connection, which is apparent to all The Golden Bachelorette viewers.

"There was a fear before this whole thing started that these men who are cast [aren't right for me]," Joan shared.


Joan said while she had explained to producers what type of guy she'd be interested in, she had no idea if any of the bachelors would end up being a match for her.

"I didn't even know how many people were going to apply for this. When I think about men putting themselves out there in this big way, I'm thinking, 'No one is going to want to do this. They're going to have, like, 12 applicants," Joan joked.

"But they got a lot, and I got a really great group of men."

Joan recalled hoping she'd like at least a few of her suitors on Night 1 of The Golden Bachelorette process.

"You never know if you're going to be attracted to them. You don't know if you can see your lives meshing. There are so many factors when you're older -- maybe even more than when you're younger," Joan explained.


"When you're younger, you have more mobility and freedom. When you're this age, you don't have that any more. You have an established life. You worked really hard to make a good life for yourself and you're not going to up and leave it, like, 'I'm done! I'm going to go move in with this person!'"

But Joan said once the limos started rolling in, she became very optimistic about potentially finding true love for the second time in her life.

"Every once in a while, one would roll in and I was like, 'Ohh, he's good. I like that one,' or, 'I could see a life with that one. He's good looking and I'm attracted to him,'" Joan recalled.

"And Chock was one of those people. I immediately loved what he did. The Chock-O-Noodle soup was hilarious."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  


Joan said Chock's entrance involving food was "such a good thing to do" because he had made an effort to figure out who she is.

"[He figured out] what's important to me, and I do like some cooking videos," Joan quipped.

"But cooking, for me, is all about my family. I want everyone to come. I do a Sunday-night dinner every single Sunday night since the day my son was born -- so for 34 years... It brings everybody together aunts, uncles, [etc]."

Joan said she has 20 to 30 people eating dinner at her place every single Sunday night.

"So that was really important, and [Chock] saw that. He saw that I cook meals and that my family is important," Joan explained.


"He knew the names of all four of my kids! Some people might call that creepy, but some people, like me, thought, 'Wow, he is really interested.'"

However, Chock's mother passed away during filming, and so Chock had to return home for the funeral arrangements and to make sure that his family was going to be okay.

Joan understood and was completely supportive of Chock leaving, but at the same time, she felt very upset.

Joan admitted there would "always be a question" in the back of her mind about what could have been with Chock if he chose not to come back.

"He told me that he was going to try to come back," Joan told Nick on "The Viall Files."

Joan said the family emergency was "very similar" to her situation last year when she had to leave Gerry Turner's The Golden Bachelor season to help her postpartum daughter back in Maryland.


"In my mind, I thought, 'I'm going to go home. I'm going to get my daughter in a better place, and I might come back,'" Joan said. "The producers were open to that; they wanted that also."

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Chock also apparently told Joan before leaving the show, "I'm going to try to be back. I'm coming back."

Joan admitted that while she believed Chock at the time, she didn't want to fully give her hopes up.

"But as I went through the rest of the day, he was on my mind," Joan confessed.

"I kept thinking, 'He thinks he's coming back, but he has no idea what's going to be waiting for him at home and how much his family is going to need him.' And I was really worried that he wasn't going to make it back."


Nick pointed out, however, that Chock was "clearly in love" with Joan and so he returned to continue wooing her.

Joan giggled and noted, "He did come back, and again, it was another reason why he made the Final 4. I knew that I was important to him. He made me a priority, just like he did in the beginning."

Joan added, "He showed me that he knew me and he wanted me."

Joan was ecstatic when Chock resumed filming The Golden Bachelorette after his mother's death, and she noted in a confessional on the show, "I feel safe and I feel comfortable again, like I have a future and there's hope. I can see it now."

The Golden Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer recently told Us Weekly how there was an obvious "chemistry" between Chock and Joan.

"Chock was someone right away, when I was talking to him off camera, [I could tell] he's a man's man and he is an alpha -- that's just kind of how I put it," Jesse shared.


Jesse added how Chock is "a leader of men."

"[He's] someone who's wildly successful professionally and also has a really touching and unique personal story to him as well," Jesse said.

And Joan told Us earlier this month that Chock reminded her of her late husband, John Vassos, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2021. Joan called Chock "a fixer," just like John, who was able to make her feel safe.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!







About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski