The very first Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos discovered the dark side of fame when she was ‘inundated’ with ‘weird DMs’ last year after competing for The Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner’s heart.
“I have dick pics,” the 61-year-old widow revealed in her EW cover story on wednesday.
“And I started having people with foot fetishes. They wanted me to send them pictures of my feet and they would pay me for it. Someone offered to buy all the shoes I wore on Golden Bachelor. It was scary. My kids were like, ‘Give me your phone, Mom. We’re blocking all of this.'”
And she wasn’t alone, as The Golden Bachelor contestant April Kirkwood received a message from a “creepy, dirty man” and his wife asking her for a threesome. She previously told EW: “I was shocked. They wanted to go in with me.”
Golden Bachelor contestant Leslie Fhima recalled getting a DM from a man who “wanted to be my sugar daddy, and he listed everything he was willing to pay. I’ve been hit on by way more young men than I have ever been.” [men] “My age.”
The very first Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos (R, pictured October 13) discovered the dark side of fame when she was ‘inundated’ with ‘weird DMs’ after competing for the heart of The Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner (L) last year.
The 61-year-old widow revealed in her EW cover story on Wednesday, “I have d*** pictures and I have people with foot fetishes. They wanted me to send them pictures of my feet and they would pay me for it. One person offered to buy all the shoes I wore on Golden Bachelor. It was scary. My kids were like, ‘Give me your phone, Mom. We’re blocking all of this.'”
Even 73-year-old Gerry told TMZ in June that numerous eligible women have approached him in public places, such as wineries, and online, via Instagram DMs, and given him their phone numbers. However, he remains “wary of women who contact him first.”
Luckily, ABC chose Joan in May to host the opening episode of The Golden Bachelorette, which premieres September 18 on ABC. She gets to choose from 24 guests.
Silver Fox worshipers are between the ages of 57 and 69 and hold professions such as chiropractor, teacher, insurance executive, contractor, rancher, ER doctor, caterer, salon owner, and FDNY chief.
“I am very particular about a man being a gentleman,” Vassos said in the July 29 promotion.
‘Someone with a big heart, someone who is generous, but also someone who is humble.’
Turner and his golden bride Theresa Nist separated after only three months of married bliss (and eight months of knowing each other), because she didn’t want to leave New Jersey and he didn’t want to leave Indiana.
Joan said beforehand that she doesn’t want to rush into marriage and that moving “isn’t going to happen” because she will never leave her home in Rockville, Maryland, because her four children and two grandchildren “are the most important thing.”
“I also don’t want a guy who feels like he has to move. If he can turn his life upside down, he’s probably not my type of guy,” the Metropolitan Interiors LLC designer told EW.
And she wasn’t alone, as The Golden Bachelor contestant April Kirkwood (L, pictured January 4) received a message from a “creepy, dirty man” and his wife asking her for a threesome, previously telling EW: “I was shocked. They wanted to go in with me.”
Leslie Fhima (R, photo Nov. 16), The Golden Bachelor contestant, recalled getting a DM from a man who “wanted to be my sugar daddy, and he listed everything he wanted to pay. I’ve been hit on by way more young men than [men] my age
Even Gerry, 73, told TMZ in June that numerous eligible women have approached him in public places, like wineries, and online, via Instagram DMs. They’ve given out their phone numbers, but he remains “cautious about women contacting him first” (pictured June 23)
Fortunately, ABC chose Joan in May to lead the first season of The Golden Bachelorette, which premieres September 18 on ABC. She gets to choose from 24 men who come to visit her.
Silver Fox worshipers range in age from 57 to 69 and hold professions including chiropractor, teacher, insurance executive, contractor, rancher, ER doctor, caterer, salon owner, and FDNY chief.
Vassos said in the July 29 promo: “I’m very particular about a man who is a gentleman. Someone with a big heart, someone who is generous and also someone who is humble.”
Turner and his Golden Bride Theresa Nist (R, pictured April 12) divorced after just three months of married bliss (and eight months of knowing each other), because she didn’t want to leave New Jersey and he didn’t want to leave Indiana.
Joan said beforehand that she doesn’t want to get married “in a rush” and that moving “isn’t going to happen” because she will never leave her home in Rockville, Maryland because her four children and two grandchildren are “the most important thing.”
‘[Maybe] merge somewhere in the middle for a few weeks or months. I don’t want to rush into anything. I don’t have to! I don’t have a biological clock to worry about anymore. I have a full life. Figuring out how to merge your lives is a longer process. If you have the love, it’s worth it.’
Vassos left The Golden Bachelor in the third week of the series to be with her daughter Erica Hiken, after suffering from postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Hartley Grace Hiken.
The Celebrity Family Feud contestant is “happiest on the beach with her family” during her 32-year marriage to husband John, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2021.
Joan currently works full-time in alumni relations at the Landon School for boys in Bethesda, Maryland; and she works part-time as a special projects consultant to the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington – according to LinkedIn.
Bachelor Nation fans are some of the most passionate and dedicated fans, despite the terrible reputation of couples staying together on the various shows.
Of the 28 previous seasons of The Bachelor, only four couples are still together, including Sean and Catherine Lowe from season 17.
Of the 20 seasons of The Bachelorette, four couples are still together, including Ryan and Trista Sutter from season one.
Surprisingly, Bachelor in Paradise is the most successful franchise, with 10 couples still together after nine seasons.