Jesse Palmer Is ‘Surprised’ Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos Felt ‘Less Confident’ After Hometowns

The Golden Bachelorette season 1 lead Joan Vassos managed to shock host Jesse Palmer during the hometown episode.

When asked for his thoughts after Joan, 61, admitted that she felt “less confident” with her connections following her visiting four contestants’ respective hometowns, Jesse, 46, said he was “very surprised.”

Jesse pointed out that hometowns — where the lead visits the final four’s stomping grounds — typically provide leads with “more clarity and answers that you need to progress relationships.”

“We’re used to seeing connections grow by leaps and bounds after hometown dates,” he said during an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Thursday, October 24.

After visiting Guy, Pascal, Jordan and Chock’s hometowns and meeting their loved ones, Joan said before the rose ceremony in the Wednesday, October 23, episode she felt she was “in a funk.” Joan noted that she didn’t feel “very confident” with some of her relationships, which was “very unsettling.”

Joan explained that she had two contestants — Guy and Chock — who were “very committed,” whereas the other two — Pascal and Jordan — had been “very noncommittal, not knowing where their hearts are.”

“I feel less confident now than I did much earlier in this journey,” she told the cameras. “I should be diving in, I should be taking that leap of faith that I keep talking in my head about.”

Joan reiterated her feelings to Jesse, explaining that she thought she would be “a lot more confident in these relationships by now.” Joan ultimately sent Jordan packing, leaving Guy, Pascal and Chock as her final three contestants.

While Joan struggled to feel on the same page as Pascal and Jordan during the episode, she previously shared in an Us Weekly cover story that she was “shocked” with “how open” her suitors had been about their feelings.

“That never has been my experience with men,” she told Us earlier this month. “I feel like whenever there’s a group of men, they talk about sports: their golf game and how their baseball team is doing. Or even about their businesses. They rarely talk about their feelings and it was amazing how quickly these guys felt comfortable with each other.”

In Joan’s eyes, her contestants’ shared experiences — whether that be losing a spouse or going through a divorce — may have played a role in their openness.

“They knew that they were in a house with people in this position [where] things hadn’t gone perfectly in their lives,” she said. “Something has happened to the person that they felt they were gonna spend the rest of their lives with and, maybe, that gave them a comfort level [knowing] they were gonna be talking to somebody who could relate and empathize with them.”