The Bachelor alum Kelsey Anderson has reacted to her father Mark Anderson's casting on Joan Vassos' upcoming season of The Golden Bachelorette.
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"Welllllll, would you look at that," Kelsey, 26, wrote, adding three star-struck emojis.
Kelsey went on to share a clip of her father sharing his outlook on love, and The Bachelor Season 28 alum called him "the sweetest" man.
"To be in love, it feels very warm, like, you just feel it," Mark says in the clip.
"Everything just, like, travels out of your heart -- fills your body, makes you warm, makes you fuzzy -- and it brings a lot of joy and happiness to life."
Bachelor Nation fell in love with the New Orleans-based father during Joey Graziadei's season of The Bachelor, which wrapped in March on ABC.
Kelsey quipped on TikTok while Joey's season was airing, "I would just like to thank everyone for the nightmares that I will have tonight in regards to the posts y'all have made about my dad. It is frightful indeed -- very!"
"Why are there thirst traps of my father on TikTok?" she added. "I don't even have thirst traps y'all!"
Shortly after Joan was announced as The Golden Bachelorette star in May, Joan told Entertainment Tonight in June that Kelsey -- who got engaged to Joey on The Bachelor's 28th season -- made a "funny" joke about how Joan could end up being her "stepmom."
And before filming began, Joan was asked how she'd feel if Mark, an army veteran, just so happened to step out of a limo on Night 1 of her journey.
"I think he was a really sweet man. He was handsome, he was a family kind of guy, he lost his spouse, and I think we have a lot in common!" Joan gushed to ET.
"I don't doubt that we could have maybe a little spark! I'm hoping so. If he steps out of a limo, I'm going to be happy."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOWWhile Mark is the youngest bachelor in Joan's The Golden Bachelorette cast at age 57, he certainly appears to be a catch.
Even The Golden Bachelor alum Susan Noles revealed on her "Golden Hour" podcast in June that she had her eye on Mark, to which co-host Kathy Swarts joked, "When we met him at [The Bachelor: After the Final Rose] finale, of course Susan elbowed her way in to see if she could maybe date the guy!"
Kelsey previously opened up about how she wanted her father to find love again, even if that meant going on a reality TV show, during a June appearance on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
"I want my dad to get out there; I want my dad to date. I think that my mom really would want him to," Kelsey confirmed.
Both Joan and Mark lost their spouses to cancer.
Mark had taken care of Kelsey's mother Denise until she passed away from breast cancer in 2018, which was a tragic event for Kelsey's whole family. And Joan's late husband John Vassos passed away at age 59 in 2021.
"My mom, before she passed, always said, 'I want you to find somebody else. I want you to find another love,'" Kelsey shared on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
"Before she even was sick, she would always say this. She just knew that she was going to pass before him."
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"Are you going to be the next the Golden Bachelor?" Kelsey asked Mark, who would be following in 72-year-old Gerry Tuner's footsteps.
"No," Mark responded.
"Maybe," Kelsey insisted.
"I'm too young!" Mark concluded.
On The Bachelor's 28th season, when Kelsey brought Joey home to Louisiana to meet her family, Mark spoke to his beloved daughter in private, and Denise was brought up in the conversation.
"I told [Joey] about mom and how you took care of mom through how sick she got and everything that you did for her," Kelsey told Mark, breaking down into tears.
"You were such a good husband to her, and I feel like that's what I really look for -- is, you know, someone that would be there through the hard times and the good times... After you saw the love of your life pass away and knowing that you had to take care of all of us and be there for all of us, I can't imagine."
Mark flashed his daughter a sweet smile and tried not to cry right along with her.
"I want somebody like that for me, and mom and you always told us that's what we deserve -- and not to settle for someone that doesn't give us everything that we deserve," Kelsey noted.
Mark explained to Kelsey that the way Joey acted around her and treated her was very reassuring to him.
"I want you to feel that feeling I had with your mom," Mark said, "because it's the best feeling in the world."
Mark told The Bachelor cameras at the end of Kelsey's hometown date, "I feel very, very happy... and it was wonderful to see Kelsey and Joey and the connection that they have. I do hope she is engaged when she gets home."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
