Inside ‘The Golden Bachelorette’ Senior Prom: Joan Vassos and Her Suitors Unpack Season’s First Date

“The Golden Bachelorette” Joan Vassos kicked off her journey for love with some nostalgia as the ABC reality dating show hosted its very own senior prom.

TheWrap visited Calabasas High School’s decked-out gymnasium in late June for “The Golden Bachelorette’s” very first date of the season, which the leading lady revealed was her idea.

“[The prom] was actually my son’s girlfriend’s idea, but my idea was [to] have all the other ladies from the ‘Golden Bachelor’ season come back and help me pick a prom king or something,” Vassos told TheWrap. Though that reunion ultimately wasn’t able to come together, she said would be “thrilled” to see any of her former cast members. “I think I could use their advice — they know what this is about, they get it.”

With the first date of the season taking place just a couple days after Vassos first met the 24 senior men vying for her love during their mostly pre-planned limo entrances, Vassos looked at the senior prom as an opportunity for her suitors to shake off their nerves and “let loose.”

“The first night everybody is really nervous — I remember being there, I was really nervous,” Vassos said. “The first night they have canned speeches that they thought about — This is just having fun. It gives me a glimpse of how they are … out in the wild … away from the mansion, away from cameras. There’s cameras here, but I don’t think they’re noticing them right now.”

Vassos brought eight of the men from this season to enjoy the senior prom: Bachelor Nation favorite Mark Anderson — Kelsey Anderson’s father who was introduced during Joey Graziadei’s season of “The Bachelor” — Charles L., Bob, Jonathan, Jordan, Gary, Guy and Keith, who scored Vassos’ first impression rose.

During the senior prom, which would later be followed by another group date and a one-on-one date later that week, Vassos made sure to get some quality time with all of her suitors, whether that meant partaking in a dance-off to ’80s ballads performed by Taylor Dayne, visiting the photo booth, looking back on high school photos or, in Anderson’s case, spiking the punch bowl.

“Some of them — this would not be [in] their comfort zone, so they’re doing something that makes them uncomfortable, which is what I did when I had to do the talent show, it made me super uncomfortable,” Vassos said, referencing her early date with “Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner. “I learned from that that when you do things that you’re not comfortable with … [that’s] when you really grow.”

With the men learning about Vassos’ story of being widowed during “The Golden Bachelor,” the first group date also stood as a prime opportunity for her suitors to open up about their own experiences that brought them to the show, which Vassos said she would prefer them to volunteer on their own.

“Until you’ve lost a spouse, it’s very, very, very hard to understand how damaged your heart is afterwards, and then how long it takes to get that back to start wanting to date again,” Vassos said. “I’m still 99% there, but I still have 1% some days I’m just like, ‘Oh, this is hard —do I really deserve to find love again? Do you get to have it twice? Is it worth the effort?'”

Vassos was already familiar with Mark Anderson’s experience of losing his wife during Kelsey’s hometown date on “The Bachelor,” though, by the time of the senior prom, he hadn’t fully divulged his story to Vassos yet.

“I would prefer to do that when there’s time … I’d rather save that, to share that part of my life, and I would hope to make her comfortable enough to talk about her experience,” Anderson told TheWrap during the senior prom. “It’s a personal thing to share your feelings and how things affect you.”

Anderson, who was introduced by his daughter on Night 1, said he focused his energy on coming out of his shell during the senior prom date, despite not being an “upfront kind of person.” “I let that energy out and had a good time,” he said. “I think she recognized that, and I think … me coming out [of my shell], it showed a lot more than me hiding.”

Charles L., on the other hand, took his one-on-one time with Vassos to share that his wife had passed away suddenly about six years ago, and walked her through his healing process with the support of his family and daughters, who encouraged him to apply for “The Golden Bachelorette.”

“I was shocked [when] I was picked,” Charles L. told TheWrap, noting that his casting happened with such short notice he didn’t even get to watch “The Golden Bachelor,” though he was quite impressed with Vassos when he met her. “She’s a charming lady and very, very intelligent … and she has a good skill of communication.”

With the men set to move into the “Bachelor” mansion the evening that the senior prom occurred, Charles L. expressed his fascination with the location, which he could be seen surveying during Night 1 of “The Golden Bachelorette.” “It’s a fascinating mansion [and] tonight, I think, will be the first night for us,” Charles L. said. “It’s fascinating [and] gorgeous, to say the least.”

By the end of the date, Vassos gave the coveted title of prom king to Jonathan, who came to the dating show in a less conventional way than some of the other men in their late 50s and 60s.

“I was on a dating profile and I swiped right on someone that I thought was attractive [and] she matched with me, and her first contact with me was, ‘Hey, Jonathan, what do you think about being on ‘The Golden Bachelorette?'” Jonathan told TheWrap. “If I would have swiped left, I wouldn’t be here.”

Jonathan watched the inaugural season of “The Golden Bachelor” and Vassos had immediately caught his eye, recalling “when she went home, I was hoping that she was able to come back to get her second chance [but I] had no idea that she would be selected [and I] had no idea that I would be here.”

After introducing himself with a blindfold during his Night 1 limo entrance, he admitted he was “shell shocked” by Vassos, saying “my mind went blank, she was absolutely gorgeous.” As the pair furthered their connection during the senior prom — which scored him the first rose of the week — Jonathan focused on being himself and staying just as authentic as Vassos.

“I don’t feel like I have to jump over hoops to get noticed,” Jonathan said. “She listens to what you have to say … I can hear in her voice the the beauty in her heart.”

“The Golden Bachelorette” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and stream the next day on Hulu.

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