If Pascal Ibgui was offered the role as the Golden Bachelor, he would have one big request.
“They will have to lower the age,” the Golden Bachelorette star, 69, exclusively told Us Weekly at the show’s Men Tell All episode taping. “The age [has] got to be lower. Yes, I’m old, but I don’t go out with a 72-year-old woman.”
Pascal’s reasoning for wanting younger contestants on the ABC reality dating series comes from a practical standpoint. “When you’re in your 20s like Joey [Graziadei] and Kelsey [Anderson] … you don’t have a pot to pee in,” he explained. “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.”
Unlike Bachelor Nation’s younger stars, it can be harder for the men and women of the Golden shows to uplift their lives for love, Pascal said. “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,” the Chicago resident stated. “So, for me to pack up. My stuff and move [somewhere else] 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.”
Luckily, Pascal pitched a potential solution to the location issue. “I think the concept of The Golden Bachelor needs to be modified and make it The Golden Bachelor of Chicago, The Golden Bachelor of New York, Golden Bachelor of L.A., Golden Bachelor of Miami, of Dallas,” he told Us. “[In] Chicago, you get 15 million people between the surrounding area and suburb. You can’t tell me you can’t find 25 widows or divorcees.”
For now, Pascal said he’s “not closing the idea” of stepping into Gerry Turner’s shoes for The Golden Bachelor season 2. “I’m semi-retired, so I have a lot of time. I don’t have to be at work, but I want to see how much involvement there is into it,” he shared, adding that he’d also love to see some of his Golden Bachelorette season 1 castmates take on the Golden Bachelor title.
Joan Vassos and Pascal Ibgui Disney/Gilles Mingasson
“I know some of them are dying to be the Bachelor. I mean I’m dying for it,” he stated. “If I know what time of commitment and what is involved and if it fits my schedule, yes, why not?”
Pascal was one of Joan Vassos’ suitors on The Golden Bachelorette’s season 1. He quickly cemented himself as one of her frontrunners, scoring a glitzy Las Vegas one-on-one date in episode 3 and making his way to Joan’s final three men with Chock Chapple and Guy Gansert.
Following his fantasy suite date in episode 7 on October 30, which involved participating in a heartfelt Tahitian bonding ceremony, Pascal began to feel overwhelmed and realized his feelings for Joan, 61, were not as strong as her feelings for him.
Pascal self-eliminated during his post-date dinner with Joan, telling her, “I care very much about you and the last thing I want to do is to hurt you. And I just don’t think that I could get to the place where you want me to be.” The news came as a surprise to Joan, who began to question how her journey on the show will end.
Pascal Ibgui and Joan Vassos Disney/Gilles Mingasson
“I had 24 people here in the beginning and I’m down to the last three, and I might leave with nobody. It could happen,” she tearfully stated in a confessional. “I was afraid coming into this, and then, my fears started getting better. And now, I’m afraid again.”
The Golden Bachelorette finale airs on ABC Wednesday, November 13, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Mariel Turner
