Wichita businessman Chock Chapple ended his journey on the reality dating show “The Golden Bachelorette” engaged to the show’s lead, Joan Vassos.
Chapple is a longtime Wichita insurance executive who grew up in Garden Plain. Over the course of the ABC television show, he beat out 23 other men — ranging in age from 57 to 69 — vying for Vassos’ heart.
The season was the second time the Bachelor franchise featured older contestants after more than two decades focusing on bachelors and bachelorettes in their 20s and 30s. Both Chapple and Vassos are 61.
In an interview with KMUW from Los Angeles, Chapple said he didn’t even know the show existed until his daughter nominated him to be a contestant. Now, he feels honored to be able to represent his hometown on national television.
“One of the first things I said out there is, ‘What’s this Kansas farm boy doing here on TV?’ ” said Chapple, who started his current company, Insurance Services Group, in 2020. “To represent Kansas, I was very proud to do it.”
In the season finale that aired last month, Chapple proposed in a picturesque setting in Bora Bora.
Vassos accepted Chapple’s proposal.
“I’ve been waiting forever to do this,” he said before getting down on one knee. “Joan, will you marry me?”
“Of course, I’ll marry you,” Vassos replied.
Both Chapple and Vassos lost their previous partners to cancer. Vassos’ former husband, John Vassos, died of pancreatic cancer in 2021. Chapple’s former fiancée, Katherine White Goree, died of brain cancer in 2022.
Chapple said he’s glad to be part of a show that’s helping to encourage more people to search for love later in life.
“I’ve told people, you’re never too old to fall in love — 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s,” he said. “If you want to live your life with someone, you’ve got to open up. And that’s what I did.”
Filming for the show took place over the summer. Chapple seemed to be a clear frontrunner from the second episode, when Vassos chose him to go on the coveted first one-on-one date of the season.
That date, Vassos would later say, was the first time she was able to picture her future with anyone besides her late husband.
Their romance looked briefly uncertain when Chapple temporarily left the competition because of a tragedy in his own life. His mother, forensic pathologist Jill Cobb, died after a battle with cancer, and he flew back to Wichita. He returned to the Bachelor Mansion in Los Angeles before the end of the episode.
Kansas was featured on the show when Chapple brought Vassos to Wichita for a “hometown date.” The pair didn’t spend much on-screen time in Wichita itself, instead visiting a ranch dotted with hay bales owned by Chapple’s friend, car dealer Roger Scholfield.
Chapple and his family planted a tree to honor Cobb’s memory.
Chapple said he’s aware of some criticism by Wichitans on social media over the countrified depiction of the city. He would’ve liked to visit the city itself, he said, but it ended up being too difficult to accommodate the 30 friends and family members who attended the gathering.
“It turned into a great opportunity, a memorial for my mother,” he said, “which was just a blessing.”
The season didn’t have a clear villain, but Chapple did irritate some contestants on the last group date. A few men complained that Chapple was monopolizing time with Vassos.
Chapple said one of the other bachelors, Jonathan Rone, helped him understand why they might have reacted negatively.
“There were some guys that really had feelings for Joan,” Chapple said. “To see us really at that next level of the relationship — I can’t speak for them, but I think that’s what bothered them.”
By the time Chapple proposed, he was the only suitor left in the running. Vassos let the show’s runner-up, Guy Gansert, go before what would have been the pair’s final date.
The pair don’t have a wedding date set, and they haven’t committed yet to televising the event when it does happen, like “Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner and winner Theresa Nist did earlier this year. The pair divorced three months later.
For now, Chapple said, he’s looking forward to spending more time with Vassos. They’re trying to navigate how to split their time between Wichita, Vassos’ home in Maryland, and New York City, where they’re planning to buy an apartment.
“What we’re kind of talking about is if there’s something kind of fun to do back in Wichita, she’ll come in,” he said. “We’ve got some parties coming up for the holidays. I’ll go see her family for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“After that, we’re really going to have to kind of strategize — because to facilitate all three (places) is going to take some effort.”
Rose Conlin is a reporter based at KMUW in Wichita, where this story originally aired.
