Why Gerry Turner unexpectedly visited Joan Vassos on ‘Golden Bachelorette’

Joan Vassos had a unexpected visitor last night on “The Golden Bachelorette.”
Former “Golden Bachelor” star Gerry Turner surprised Joan with a visit to the Bachelor Mansion during the cocktail ceremony. He wanted to check in on Joan and share advice on how to navigate being at the center of the reality show.
Joan was a contestant on Gerry’s season of “Golden Bachelor,” but left prematurely when she was called back home to attend to a family emergency, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
Before Gerry’s visit, Joan expressed how emotionally exhausting her role in the series has been.
“Seeing Gerry tonight made my night. It was like coming home,” Joan said after they chatted. “Gerry and I are really good friends and it felt really great to see him when I needed a friend.”
“I’m so excited,” Joan said as she rushed to greet Gerry. They chatted on the same bench where Joan told Gerry she decided to leave the series early.
“I thought when I sat on this bench with you, that my journey was over,” Joan told him. “I thought, ‘I’m gonna go home and go back to my old life’ — and here I am.”
Then, Gerry asked Joan how she was feeling about her time on the series.
“It’s been way more of an emotional journey than I thought it would be,” Joan said, adding that the experience has prompted her to think more about her late spouse.
Gerry said his late wife, Toni, was “with (him) a lot during (his) journey.”
As a woman in her 60s, Joan said she is prioritizing different qualities in a partner than she did when she married her late husband, John, in her 20s.
“I’m not looking for replacement,” Joan said. “When I married John, I was looking for a good father and a good provider, and somebody that I was going to make a life with. Now I already have a life, so it’s completely different journey.”
Gerry advised Joan to let her guard down, be herself and to make decisions that “come from (her) heart.” He left her with a “hard” question to consider: “Have you considered the possibility that your guy is not here?”
“I considered that before I got here, a lot more than I’m considering that now,” Joan said. “I have a couple of strong connections, but certainly there’s that possibility because merging lives is hard. And it’s about how to honor each other’s lives and not ask somebody to give up too much of what’s important to them.”
Considering that a potential spouse in not in the mix of men on the series gives Joan “an advantage,” Gerry said.
“When I saw her, and there was a sparkle in her eye and she was smiling, I could tell that she’s in a good place,” Gerry said. “I’m so rooting for her.”
Joan sent three men home on “Golden Bachelorette” this week. Here are the men who did not get a rose from Joan:
There are 11 guys moving on Week 4 of “Golden Bachelorette.” Here are the men who got a rose from Joan: