His onscreen time was brief, but the 58-year-old retired Army veteran left an impression. When he was announced as a contestant on The Golden Bachelorette season 1, speculations arose Mark wasn't there to date Joan Vassos. Many fans believed Mark was preparing to be the next The Golden Bachelor. Mark seems amenable to the possibility, but his daughter, Kelsey, may worry about how her father would fare under the intense scrutiny that comes with being a Bachelor Nation star. She wants her father to find love, but she knows how hard it can be.
Kelsey Knows The Process Can Work
She's Engaged To Joey
Joey was smitten with Kelsey from the moment they met on night one of The Bachelor season 28. After a season of romantic dates, cocktail parties, and rose ceremonies, Joey gave his final rose to Kelsey. The two left the show as an engaged couple and immediately moved into Kelsey's old place together. They've been attached at the hip ever since. They're currently living in Los Angeles while Joey films Dancing With The Stars season 33.
Though Joey and Kelsey have yet to set a wedding date, they appear deeply in love. Being on The Bachelor worked for Kelsey, and it may lead her to want the same for her father, but she also knows there's a dark side to being a Bachelor Nation star. Kelsey and Joey's relationship is always under enormous public scrutiny, and Kelsey knows her father would go through the same thing. She's probably torn between her desire to see her father be The Golden Bachelor and her fear of how intense public scrutiny wouldn't be good for him.
Kelsey Supported Mark Being On The Show
His Elimination Couldn't Have Been Easy For Her
Kelsey is close to her father now, but it wasn't always that way. During a one-on-one date with Joey on The Bachelor season 28, Kelsey revealed she wasn't always close to her father. Though she always loved Mark, he was in the Army while she was growing up, so he was often away working. After Kelsey's mother, Denise Anderson, passed away in 2018, Kelsey leaned on her father, and now they're closer than ever. Kelsey relies on Mark for his wisdom and his quiet strength makes him interesting to Bachelor Nation fans.
Mark and Kelsey are so close that she came with him to the first night of The Golden Bachelorette season 1.
When the limousine door opened outside the iconic Bachelor mansion, it was Kelsey who stepped out first and introduced Joan to her father. In hindsight, it may have been better for Mark to step out of the limousine on his own instead of leaning on his daughter's fame. Kelsey was all in for Mark's appearance on the show, but she was no doubt devastated for her father when he was eliminated from the season. There's no doubt that Kelsey is rooting for her father, but she probably wants to protect him from further pain.
Kelsey Hated Seeing Mark Get Eliminated
"Something Missing"
Though expectations were high for Mark and Joan, hopes quickly fizzled. Their first meeting went well enough, but weeks went by without Mark doing anything to get Joan's attention. She liked him well enough, but she preferred other men more, like 66-year-old Guy Gansert and 60-year-old Chock Chapple. Mark would go on group dates, and Joan would barely notice him. It seemed like he was too nervous when Joan was around, so he could never be himself around her.
After weeks of anticipation, Joan finally gave Mark a highly coveted one-on-one date.
Joan and Mark boarded a luxury yacht and set sail on what was supposed to be a romantic voyage. Instead of falling madly in love, Joan and Mark fell into long, awkward moments of silence. They had nothing to say to each other except when they were talking about their late spouses. Mark was married to Denise Anderson for 18 years until she passed away in 2018, and Joan was married to John Vassos for 32 years until he died in 2021.
Joan and Mark's shared loss was the only thing between them.
The next day, Joan showed up at The Bachelor Mansion unannounced and pulled Mark aside. She confessed to him that she'd been up all night thinking about their relationship. In a scene posted to YouTube by Bachelor Nation, she told him, though she loved him, there was "something missing" between them, and sent him home. It must have been devastating for Kelsey to watch her dad get eliminated from the show, and she'd probably prefer he avoided any more public heartache.
Kelsey Knows Being A Bachelor Couple Is Hard
Her Relationship Is Always In The Spotlight
Kelsey knows how difficult it is to be in a publicly scrutinized relationship. Though she's grateful to The Bachelor season 28 for introducing her to her fiancée, she doesn't want her father to keep getting hurt on national television. Ever since her mother's death, Kelsey has felt protective of her father. After watching Joan rip her father's heart out on The Golden Bachelorette, no one could blame her for being ambivalent about Mark being The Golden Bachelor.
