Golden Bachelorette star Joan Vassos has clapped back at Martha Stewart for taking a dig at the 24 men who competed for her heart ⏤ and her final rose ⏤ one season 1 of the Bachelor Nation hit.
The drama unfolded during Stewart’s Oct. 20 appearance on Watch What Happens Live. When host Andy Cohen asked the Food Network star if she’d ever consider looking for love on The Golden Bachelorette, Stewart replied, “The guys aren’t hot enough.” The cooking maven went as far as to say she’d never do the show even if there was a $1 million prize on the table.
Vassos, 61, quickly got defensive about Stewart’s comments, telling Access Hollywood, “I guess Martha Stewart didn’t watch or didn’t see what I saw in them. Maybe you have to be in person. They are special guys.”
WHERE TO WATCH: The Golden Bachelorette on Hulu (free trial)
“I feel like everyone’s falling in love with them. I’m like, ‘What’s wrong with you, Martha,” Vassos said. The Rockville, Maryland native thinks the network did “a great job” picking the 24 men who competed for her final rose. “Dating is hard out there and I had a great group of guys,” she said. “She (Stewart) doesn’t know ‘em like I know ‘em. I got to know the inside of them as well as the outside.”
Vassos even DMed the Food Network star
Vassos DM’d Stewart over her comments, but it’s unclear whether or not she received a reply. “I don’t know if she’s read it yet, but I did,” Vassos said after sending the message, adding that Stewart should be invited to the finale to meet each of her final men in person and see if she has a change of heart.
ABC cast Vassos, a widow, mother, and grandmother, as the first Golden Bachelorette after she left season 1 of The Golden Bachelor in the middle of filming to help her daughter navigate some personal issues. While she didn’t find love with the Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner, the reality television star said she was hopeful about finding love the second time around. “You share a lot of really intimate details about your life, like emotional things,” Vassos told E News in September. “And so I formed love connections with a lot of the men, not all of them romantic. But when you share those kind of really personal things — honestly, you’re gonna see this in a really good way, but a really emotional journey for everybody, the men and myself — that you do form really deep connections with people.”
The Golden Bachelorette Season 1 premiered on ABC on Sept. 18, 2024. New episodes air on ABC on Wednesday nights at 8pm EST and they can also be streamed on Hulu or Sling. Both live-streaming platforms offer free trials for new subscribers and you can watch this week’s episode for free before signing up for a paid subscription. The Part 1 finale of Season 1 will air on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024.