With The Golden Bachelorette ending next week, Bachelor Nation is waiting for an announcement about who will be the next The Golden Bachelor star.
The news could come at any time but let’s not hold our collective breath.
After all, we didn’t learn that Joan Vassos was our Golden Bachelorette until months after Gerry Turner’s season finished airing.
In fact, Joan wasn’t announced until after Gerry and Theresa Nist’s live wedding.
So this announcement may take a while.
In the meantime, some of the most popular prospects are becoming unavailable.
Mark Anderson was spotted in matching Halloween costumes with Barbara Alyn Woods, and Jonathan Rone announced that he had met someone at the Men Tell All.
So who could be our next Golden Bachelor lead?
Pascal Ibgui is ‘dying’ to be the next The Golden Bachelor star
If there was ever any doubt that Pascal Ibgui wanted to be The Golden Bachelor lead, there isn’t any now.
After dumping Joan during the Fantasy Suites dates in Tahiti and then trying to redeem himself at the Men Tell All, Pascal has made it clear that he wouldn’t turn down the senior spin-off’s top spot.
After the Men Tell All, he told Us Weekly, “I know some of them are dying to be the Bachelor. I mean I’m dying for it.”
He continued, “If I know what time of commitment and what is involved and if it fits my schedule, yes, why not?”
There are two major changes Pascal would ask for
Pascal is already making some demands of the show, sharing things he would want changed if he were to be that guy.
It should come as no surprise that Pascal first mentioned the age limit for The Golden Bachelor. The show has a minimum age for casting, as they are looking for ladies between the ages of 60 and 75.
There was speculation while Pascal was on The Golden Bachelorette that one of the reasons he didn’t click with Joan was that she was too old for him—even though she was 61 and he was 69.
As for the age limit, Pascal told Us Weekly, “They will have to lower the age. The age [has] got to be lower. Yes, I’m old, but I don’t go out with a 72-year-old woman.”
Another change he’d like to make, which seems a bit less shallow, is that he’d want them to cast women who are already local to him, as no one who is retired or near retirement wants to move away from everything they’ve set up for themselves.
Pascal argued, “When you’re in your 20s like Joey and Kelsey … you don’t have a pot to pee in. You don’t have a mortgage, you don’t have a home, you rent, you don’t have a car, you take Uber, you are in between jobs, you’re trying to find an identity.”
“When you’re my age, I have my business, I have my home, I have my real estate, I have my friends, I have my kids, I have my connection to my health club, to my restaurant. I’m involved in a lot of charity,” he continued. “So, for me to pack up. My stuff and move is not going to happen. … I want to wake up with somebody in the morning. I want to go to bed with somebody. I want to be able to walk down the street with her and go get coffee in the morning.”
It sounds like he wouldn’t have agreed to splitting time between homes as Joan wants anyway, so it makes sense that he self-eliminated. It seems like he might have known they weren’t a good fit before he made it to Tahiti and after showing off his salon during Hometowns.
The Golden Bachelorette airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC.