The Golden Bachelorette featured Pascal Ibgui breaking Joan Vassos' heart during Fantasy Suites, making Joan "afraid" for the future and feeling "unlovable," during the episode that aired Wednesday night on ABC.
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Joan's Final 2 bachelors by default are Charles "Chock" Chapple, a 60-year-old insurance executive from Wichita, KS, and Guy Gansert, a 66-year-old ER doctor from Reno, NV.
The Golden Bachelorette broadcast began with Joan and her Final 3 bachelors traveling to Tahiti for her overnight Fantasy Suite dates.
Joan said she was hopeful that she was going to find somebody with whom to spend the rest of her life and that the process might end in an engagement for her in a couple of weeks.
Joan kicked off her week by catching up with her The Golden Bachelor girlfriend, Nancy Hulkower. Joan explained how she and Guy had a similar lifestyle and she thought he was very handsome and fun.
"It's been a slow smolder. He makes me feel wonderful and I can picture a life with him... But I think Guy might be a little further along than me," Joan explained to The Golden Bachelorette cameras.
Joan shared how Pascal was spontaneous, fun-loving and confidence. She found his swagger "sexy," but she noted how he was the "most guarded" of the group.
Joan said Chock made her feel safe and sexy and that he was a good kisser. Chock had told Joan that he was falling in love with her, but she wondered if he was "too good to be true."
Joan felt guilty about having strong feelings for men who weren't her late husband, John Vassos, but Nancy asked her pal to put herself first because she didn't deserve to be lonely.
Joan's first The Golden Bachelorette Fantasy Suite date was with Guy.
Guy said he missed Joan and thought he was falling in love with her. He was hoping their relationship could reach a whole new level.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW"My feelings are really strong... I could see this going all the way. I forgot what it's like -- that crazy, can't get enough of them, sweaty palms. It's those feelings you have when you're young that I thought I was never going to have again," Guy gushed of his dynamic with Joan.
For their date, Joan and Guy explored Tahiti by water and went snorkeling. Joan was hoping her feelings could catch up to where Guy was at, and it helped that Guy shared how his family had adored her.
Joan could tell that Guy was there for her and he was not wavering, and so after a very romantic date, Joan said she was "there now" with the bachelor.
Meanwhile, Chock opened up to The Golden Bachelorette host Jesse Palmer that he was "in love" with Joan and he's not the type of guy who just throws out a declaration like that.
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Chock acknowledged he had "tough competition" in Pascal and Guy but he wasn't sure they were right for Joan. Chock also said he'd be devastated if Joan chose another man.
When Jesse asked Chock how he hoped the process was going to end, Chock said, "Hopefully an engagement. It's going to be an engagement or I'm going to get my heart broken."
At Joan and Guy's dinner date that night, Joan said she was surprised how well the date went and how much they progressed that day. She knew Guy was "all in," and she noted, "It's making me feel the same way!"
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Joan said she was making her eventual The Golden Bachelorette winner her highest priority, and Guy said he respected Joan so much for that. Joan and Guy looked forward to building emotional intimacy and diving deeper into conversation.
The next day, Guy gushed about how he felt "absolutely great" and he and Joan definitely achieved intimacy on an emotional level.
Joan then embarked on her Fantasy Suite date with Chock, who had an open heart despite fearing heartbreak.
Joan realized she missed the kind, considerate and driven Chock, but she was admittedly guarding her heart a bit with him. Things were getting real for Joan, and that worried her a little.
Joan and Chock enjoyed a fun ATV ride, and she said how the bachelor made her feel wanted, love and cherished. Joan said it was fun to picture a life with the bachelor, and Chock agreed that they simply "clicked" and had fun together.
That night, Joan gushed, "Chock is everything I want in a person, but maybe Chock is too good to be true."
During the dinner portion of the evening, The Golden Bachelorette star said fate was playing a role in her journey, but Chock wanted more specifics about what was going on inside of her mind.
Chock told Joan that he didn't have any doubts about her, and maybe he was overconfident, but he was definitely "falling in love" with her and she's "the best thing to ever happen" to him.
"Chock makes me feel seen," Joan shared in a confessional, before telling Chock, "You make me feel safe and you make me feel like you would never hurt me."
When Joan shared her Fantasy Suite rules with Chock, he said he was "perfectly okay with that" and this was hopefully going to be his first overnight with Joan out of 10,000.
"I want to live life to the fullest, and I am ready for the next adventure with this beautiful lady," Chock said in a confessional.
"I feel like I'm 25-years-old again, that I'm in love and I've got this great, beautiful woman who is so full of love. I'm getting closer to having that life with Joan. It would make me the happiest man in the world."
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The next day, Chock said his lips were sealed but the night was everything he had expected and more. Chock said he could "absolutely" see himself getting engaged to Joan on The Golden Bachelorette.
Joan said she was actually the "most excited" for her date with Pascal because she had strong feelings for him and he reminded her of John since he made everything a fun adventure.
"But I was concerned because I felt maybe, of all the men, he was the only one that maybe I was further along than he was," Joan admitted in a confessional.
But Pascal had told Joan that his walls were starting to come down.
Before Pascal met Joan for their date, he talked to Jesse about how he was with a woman about a year prior and he was in love with her and they almost got engaged.
"We had that fire in us. We looked at each other and we knew we had what it takes. We had two years of a wonderful experience, and then things started changing," Pascal explained to The Golden Bachelorette host.
Pascal said they broke up and made up several times and so he decided it wasn't a healthy relationship and he needed to move on. Pascal admitted that woman would always be in his heart, just like John will always have a place in Joan's heart.
"I want to move on, but I'm having a tough time. I'm in the stage where I'm trying to rebuild. I am fun and I look happy, but deep down, I am hurting... and my childhood was very difficult," Pascal explained, getting choked up.
Pascal said people judged him based on his appearance but he had been through a lot. Pascal reiterated how he wanted to find a woman who could pull him away from his past and make him realize he could trust someone again.
Pascal said he craved someone who could travel with him, go to bed with him, and make breakfast with him.
Joan shared how Pascal made her laugh, and she mentioned how retirement would be "way down the road" for this fun-loving couple.
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But Pascal told the cameras he "was not ready" to be so open, discussing his fears for the future and such. Pascal wanted to show Joan who he is, but he still had walls up.
Joan, meanwhile, said she was "amazed at how vulnerable and how comfortable" she was with Pascal.
"I thought about this journey and I wasn't going to say I loved somebody until I was literally at the end of this process," Joan told the cameras, "but now I am at the end of this journey, and my heart is completely open."
Once the ceremony was over, Pascal confessed that it really "freaked" him out.
At dinner that night, Pascal asked Joan to have a serious conversation with him. Pascal explained how his daughter had applied for him to appear on The Golden Bachelorette and he never thought he'd last very long because he's "a lover" and not "a fighter."
Pascal asked Joan why she liked him so much, and Joan explained how Pascal did life "in a very big way" and John did the same thing. Joan said Pascal reminded her of her late husband but she wasn't looking for a replacement man.
Joan explained how she didn't want to waste a single day of life and she wanted a man who would love life, travel and enjoy being with her family.
Pascal then got very honest with The Golden Bachelorette star.
"I got very scared. I am having a very difficult time letting go. I care very much about you, and the last thing I want to do is to hurt you. I just don't think I can get to the place where you want me to be," Pascal told Joan.
Joan said she didn't want a broken heart at the end of the process, and she explained how if Pascal needed more time to be ready, that was okay. However, if Pascal was "never" going to be ready for a commitment with her, then that's an entirely different story.
Pascal replied, "I'm having a very difficult time because I know what love is. I've experienced it and you've experienced it -- and I care about you as a friend, but I'm not in love, you know? And I just can't be there."
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Joan said she wished Pascal was ready but she couldn't force him to feel any type of way.
The Golden Bachelorette date went very differently than Joan had hoped, and she tried to hold back tears.
Pascal told the cameras that he could feel and sense that Joan was hurt and not okay. He could tell just by the way that she was holding his hand.
When a producer asked Pascal if he was okay, he snapped, "No, I'm not okay!"
Pascal swore at the cameras and shooed them away. He didn't want them in Joan's face as he was breaking up with her.
"I hate hurting people. I am hurt right now. I'm hurting because I hurt her, and I feel terrible about that right now -- terrible," Pascal explained in a confessional.
Pascal hugged Joan goodbye, and he asked her to be safe and take care of herself. He also noted how he was just a phone call away.
Joan whispered to Pascal, "I love you," on his way out, and he replied -- but in a platonic manner -- "I love you, too. Goodbye."
Joan said the breakup was really hurtful, and she explained to The Golden Bachelorette cameras, "Pascal [basically said] he knew how to love and that I wasn't lovable. It's hard to be vulnerable again, once you've been hurt, so the walls are up again and I feel like a failure."
Joan had started feeling more hopeful during about this journey, but then she admitted her hope was suddenly "down to nothing."
"I might leave with nobody. That could happen," Joan concluded. "I was afraid coming into this, but then my fears started getting better. And now I am afraid again."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
