‘The Golden Bachelorette’ stars continue to take things slow in merging their lives together.
Joan Vassos and Chock Chapple fell in love during the debut season of The Golden Bachelorette. They got engaged during the finale, which aired in November 2024, and shared their plans for building a life together.
In new updates, Vassos revealed that in some key ways, things have not changed much for the couple since their season aired. They are still maintaining a long-distance relationship, and they are not in a rush to change that.
Vassos joined fellow Golden Bachelor alums Susan Noles and Kathy Swarts for an episode of their Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Golden Hour. She began by saying she and Chapple “are great,” noting they just spent time in New York City together.
Next up for the couple is a trip to the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, where he will join her family for two weeks. Vassos noted that his kids will join the group for the second half of the vacation.
The Golden Bachelorette couple initially shared they planned to get an apartment in NYC to share, while maintaining their separate homes in Maryland and Kansas. However, they still have not settled on a place.
“We kind of stopped looking a little bit just because life got really busy,” Vassos explained. She added, “We really wanted to make sure we would [have] the time to really spend and be there. And that seemed to not really be happening.”
The couple quickly discovered that good apartments in NYC go quickly, and it was hard to find the right place while living out of state. Vassos shared that they still plan to find a place, and they think in the fall, they’ll have better luck.
A wedding is not on the horizon quite yet, either. Chapple and Vassos always said they were in no rush to wed, and that continues to be the case. During her podcast appearance, Vassos noted that her son is getting married over the summer, and she’s currently focused on that.
She explained, “We don’t need to have a wedding certificate to say that we are in a good place.”
Vassos also acknowledged that, to a degree, she feels that the pair will have to “make more of an effort to live in the same place” if they do get married. She admitted, “We’re not ready to do that yet.”
The Golden Bachelorette star added that the ultimate goal is to get married, and that Chapple will eventually sell his business in Kansas to be able to move. However, he feels his business continues to need his attention for now.
In the meantime, Vassos suggested that right now, the couple has “the best of both worlds.” She explained, “You see each other, you’re really excited when you see each other, you miss them, and then when you go home, you have the freedom to do what you want to do without guilt.”