And who they think the next Golden Bachelor should be.
It’s been just about a week since the finale of The Golden Bachelorette, where we got to witness Joan’s journey for love conclude with an engagement to Chock Chapple. You’ll recall that after Joan sent Guy home, she met Chock on the beach in Bora Bora, where he got down on one knee. Joan obviously said yes, and the happy couple was positively beaming during the “After the Final Rose” special, where they mentioned they are looking to move to New York City and were gifted a trip to Disneyland by ABC.
So now that their relationship is official, we caught up with the first Golden Bachelorette couple to see how things are going, whether another Golden Wedding is in our future, and who they think should be the next Golden Bachelor.
Katie Couric Media: What’s it been like since the show wrapped?
Chock: It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a little challenging because we weren’t together all the time. Not letting your friends and family know [about our relationship was] the only difficult thing. But the time’s flown by. We’re official. Now the world knows, and we couldn’t be happier.
Joan: Those months after taping are a little challenging because, like you said, you can’t tell anybody. And you’re so happy, and they can see it on your face, but you just can’t tell anybody. But [it’s great because] you just get to be a couple without anybody else knowing and no outside input. That’s really special. It’s just the two of you growing in your relationship. Those months are important to solidify your relationship.
What did you learn about relationships from that period where you couldn’t tell anyone you were together?
Chock: As soon as we left Bora Bora, I called Joan the next day to establish taking our courtship to a deep friendship. And since then, there hasn’t been a day where we haven’t spoken three times. That was very important to me.
Joan: That gap between when filming ends and when you’re announced to the world is a really important time. The Bachelor is really good about giving us time together to get to know each other. We had five of what they call “happy couple visits,” which are about four days long. You’re kind of holed up in a house like you’re living together. It’s almost like you’re quarantined there. It’s a valuable time because you have no outside interaction. You don’t have your friends, you don’t have your kids, you don’t have family there, and you get to just be a couple. It’s very telling if the relationship is going to work or not. We were able to confirm that we’d work because we fell more and more in love and saw how compatible we were and how easy it was to be together.
Have you discovered any quirks that took you by surprise?
Joan: Not really quirks, but maybe a little surprise: Every time he sits down on the sofa, he is napping. He keeps falling asleep. [To be fair], he gets up early and goes to the gym, and then he goes to work. Then, he’s gone out with some friends for lunch, and then he’s back at work. And then goes out hunting for a little while, and then he’s out to dinner with some friends, and then he’s finally going to bed late at night.
Chock: I’m one of those guys. You’ve got to keep me busy or I’m going to take a nap. It’s just that simple.
What was it like to see the finale?
Joan: We got to watch the engagement, and that was really emotional. It’s a moment I’ll remember forever, but actually listening to his words again was really special. It was fun watching it, and then right after that, we got to walk out and see all of our friends and family. That was really, really special.
Chock: There was one thing that was very, very tough for me to watch: I kept saying, “I’m just crazy about you, Joan.” I didn’t realize I said it 37 times. It just kept looping and looping and looping.
Chock, your speech when you proposed was so touching. Did you memorize it, or was it off the cuff?
Chock: I had written five pages, and it got a little overwhelming. So I just tried to remember about 10 points, and then I was just free-wheeling when I got up there. But it was very emotional, and it was from the heart, and there were some things that I really needed to say, and I’m glad I did.
Joan, you’d said you would wait to say “I love you” until that final moment. So Chock, was there ever a time when you felt nervous about that?
Chock: In the last three episodes, I tried so hard to get this woman to tell me she loved me, but she just wouldn’t do it. She’s very stubborn. But we had a very good moment at the bungalow in Bora Bora. It was the day before the proposal, and Joan came over and we kissed — and I just knew right there I didn’t need to hear it. It really helped me rest assured that I was making the right decision and that she cared for me.
Do you have plans to take ABC up on their offer to visit Disney?
Joan: We haven’t had time to plan it. We have some other vacations scheduled for 2024. It’s definitely going to happen — I don’t think my grandchildren will let us wait. I think spring break is a nice time to be in Florida, or maybe next fall. But I do have a grandson who’s school-aged now, so I have to plan around that.
Chock: It was a great gift, especially because it will involve our families. Both of us have publicly stated how important our families are. So we’re very happy that it will include, hopefully, all of them. We don’t know how many people we’ll be able to take, but it’ll be fun.
Now that the show’s over, are you able to keep up with anybody from the mansion?
Chock: We had an engagement party after the show wrapped, and we had eight of the guys from the show, and six of the ladies from The Golden Bachelor, plus family and friends. It was incredible. Today, we’ve received numerous calls from other gentlemen who weren’t [at the After the Final Rose] taping last night, congratulating us. CK just called — great guy. And it was so nice to see Charles Ling last night. The crowd just went crazy, chanting, “Charles, Charles, Charles.” He’s going to be my presidential nomination for 2028.
Joan: We definitely keep in touch with them. I wasn’t permitted to until we got to this point, so I reached out to a bunch of them to say, “Hey, you were a big part of my journey, and I don’t want this to end. You’re my friends now, and I want to keep that going. I hope you’re interested. If you are, here’s my contact information. Let’s stay in touch.” And I received an email back from every single guy saying yes. You become really close to the people you’re on the show with, so we’ll try to keep it going.
As for other nominations, who would you want to see as the next Golden Bachelor?
Chock: I didn’t get to know the guys that left the first night — you just shake their hand and you say hi to them. But out of the 16 or 18 that were left, I think there’s eight or nine really good candidates. I think the world would love Charles Ling; he’s just incredible. Jordan had a great sense of humor and a quick wit. Bob was fun; Jack was also the fun guy. So it would be very tough for me to choose. I don’t have a favorite. I think the show would be great no matter who they picked.
Joan: There are some standouts. Everybody’s always said Mark because Bachelor Nation fell in love with him from Joey’s season when he was there for Kelsey. But there are a lot of guys that sat in the background a little bit, and you didn’t see quite as prevalently through the episodes, who are really amazing, funny, smart human beings. We sound like we’re being evasive, but everybody was so great.
Chock: There were a lot of comments about the bromance on set, but it was even more than what was shown. All of us got along so well. They are a great group of guys.
What was it like being a part of that bromance?
Chock: Jordan and I called it free group therapy. Joan would be on a date with one person, so you’d have that whole day to hang out with the guys. It gave us great opportunities to spend time together, talk about our life experiences, the ups and downs. We also roomed together, which I really liked. It was a little inconvenient, but the benefit was you got to know your roommates very well. I’ve got to compliment Guy. He really cared for Joan, and he was a class act. He and I are friends. We talk every week, and we were trying to set our kids up together last night.
What did you learn most from this experience?
Chock: You’re never too old to fall in love; you’re never too old to learn. And I haven’t had to compromise. Most relationships, you do have to compromise, and there’s going to come a point where we’re going to have to make some decisions. But what Joan and I’ve talked about is we just don’t want drama. Let’s just make this a great life and concentrate on the things that make a difference.
Joan: That you can fall in love quickly. This is a really fast journey, but if you do it really well, if you have a connection early in the journey, and you build on that connection, you can get to the end and really be in love. I think we did it perfectly. I felt like I took a leap of faith at the end — though it wasn’t from such a high height. I felt that the risk was worth the reward, and so far, it’s been perfect.
I have to ask: What are your thoughts on a televised Golden Wedding?
Joan: It’s a common question, and I applaud you for asking it, because of course, as a reader, I would want to know the answer too. I can’t give you a definitive answer because right now, we’re just really happy that we get to be out in public and get to be a normal couple. I originally thought I wanted to have a small wedding just with our friends and family. But I also love this message that we get to share of hope, and that you can fall in love at this age, and you can change your life for the better in such a big way. Maybe we could continue to share that journey for a little longer. And maybe that looks like a wedding, or maybe even some time after the wedding, to see what life looks like at this age, trying to merge lives together.
