The first-ever Golden Bachelorette, Joan Vassos, found her happily ever after with Chock Chapple.
Joan met 24 men on the ABC reality show, which premiered in September 2024, and ultimately accepted a proposal from Chock on the beaches of Bora Bora.
“From our first date in Disneyland, I thought I saw a future with you and it’s the first time I pictured a future with anybody else in a really long time,” Joan told Chock during the final rose ceremony, which aired in November 2024. “And then tragedy hit your family and your mom passed away and you had to leave. I wanted you to go but I was really worried that you weren’t going to make it back and that’s when I realized that I couldn’t do this journey without you.”
Before Chock got down on one knee and proposed to Joan, she gushed, “I waited til this moment in this amazing location to tell you that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Scroll down to see their love story:
September 2024
While Joan gave her first impression rose to Keith Gordon, Chock still left a lasting mark. “He was cute,” she said in the premiere episode, which taped in summer 2024 and aired that September, after Chock exited the limo and asked her to try a spoonful of his “Chock-a-noodle soup.”
Joan selected Chock for the first one-on-one date, where the pair enjoyed a day at Disneyland. During the evening portion of the date, Joan and Chock connected over their shared experience of losing a significant other. (Joan’s late husband, John Vassos, died from cancer in 2019, while Chock’s late fiancée, Kathy, died of brain cancer after nine years together.)
October 2024
Amid his journey on The Golden Bachelorette, Chock received news that his mom died after battling stage four cancer. During an October 2024 episode, he left the show to be with his family before returning to continue pursuing his romance with Joan. Chock introduced Joan to his family in Kansas during his hometown visit, where they paid tribute to his late mom.
While reflecting on her connection with Chock, Joan gushed in Us Weekly’s cover story, “We started talking and never stopped. It was so easy — to the point where producers said, ‘Hey, enjoy the atmosphere. You’re just talking amongst yourselves.’”
November 2024
Chock popped the question to Joan with a Neil Lane diamond during The Golden Bachelorette finale, which aired in November 2024. Joan and Chock told Us that they are planning to throw an engagement party in Los Angeles before heading to New York City, where they will go apartment hunting.
“This first year, obviously, we have to kind of figure out life. Chock has a business in Kansas. I have kids and grandkids and Maryland. I’m not leaving Maryland, but he does have obligations in Kansas,” Joan told Us. “We know that we’re gonna spend time in Maryland and in Kansas, but then we have this really fun plan because both of us have always dreamed — and we’re finally at this weird stage in life for making this dream come true — that we live in a big city, and, specifically, we’ve always wanted to live in New York. So Chock surprised me and said, ‘I want us to go find a place.’”
