Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple’s first family holiday since getting engaged went off without a hitch!
“It really went well,” Chock, 60, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, December 6, at iHeartRadio 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball.
Joan, 61, and Chock spent Thanksgiving with their respective children from past relationships. They got engaged during the first season of The Golden Bachelorette, which aired earlier this fall.
“I felt a little nervous that we, all of a sudden, were throwing everybody together. Holiday times are kind of stressful anyway,” Joan recalled to Us on Friday. “And then to introduce, ‘Here’s your new family, here’s your new stepbrothers and sisters, and here’s me in his kids’ life and Chock in my kids’ life’ could be uncomfortable.”
She added, “But from night one, it went great. We went out to dinner. Our kids left us and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna go to bars afterward,’ and we went home and we left our kids out. We’ve been very lucky. Our kids got along really well.”
Now that the Golden Bachelorette has aired, Joan and Chock are enjoying learning new things about one another now that their romance is out in the open.
“Joan’s just a good person. She’s got a lot of friends, and she takes care of them, and she gives them attention,” Chock gushed. “She’s a great grandmother, just a great all-around person, and we have a lot of fun together. She’s a little bit more adventurous than I am, so we’re a good team. She drives like an F1 race car driver!”
Joan, for her part, admires how Chock balanced fatherhood with his professional life.
“I admire that he was the main parent in his kids’ life from a very, very young age, as well as had a very successful business, so that’s a lot of work,” she said. “He’s a good father and a good provider.”
Chock replied, “It’s been great. We’re truly blessed.”
Joan and Chock are currently splitting time in their respective hometowns in Maryland and Kansas. They also have plans to move to New York City together — in addition to fixing up their fellow Bachelor Nation alumni.
“Well, we’ve been working on making matches,” Joan told Us. “We have a bunch of guys [from my season] and we have been working on matching them up [with the women from The Golden Bachelor]. Surprisingly, Chuck is a really good matchmaker. I started it, and now he’s on the job.”
She added, “We were all together last night and we were calling guys and talking to girls. We got things going.”
Joan and Chock are also advocating for a “golden” version of Bachelor in Paradise.
“I think we could be bartenders or counselors or something,” she joked. “I have to say, though, a lot of the guys that came off my season have paired up with girls already. I think they have this new confidence, and they’re super popular. I’m thrilled for them, but I’m a little worried that we’re going to be low on guys.”
The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour special airs on ABC Wednesday, December 18 at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.
With reporting by Mike Vulpo
