Joan Vassos Reveals Hilariously Uncomfortable Wardrobe Malfunction During Hometown Date: ‘There's No Chance Nobody Saw It’

Joan Vassos is shown on The Golden Bachelorette Season 1.
(Image credit: Gilles Mingasson/ABC/Disney)

It’s not uncommon for celebrities to suffer a wardrobe malfunction while performing. We’ve seen it happen to Miley Cyrus on New Year’s Eve and JLo during a concert, just to name a couple of examples. While The Golden Bachelorette’s Joan Vassos may not have been on stage when she suffered the hilarious and uncomfortable incident, she was filming the reality dating show that’s currently airing on the 2024 TV schedule. To make matters worse, she was also in front of the family and friends of one of her suitors and said there’s “no chance” they didn’t notice.

As if meeting your potential future in-laws isn’t a stressful-enough occurrence, Joan Vassos recently revealed that she encountered a boob-related wardrobe malfunction while visiting Chock Chapple’s family during Hometowns on The Golden Bachelorette’s first season. She set the scene for EW, recalling:

Oh my God, I was at the hometowns with Chock, in Kansas, and it was really hot. It was honestly like 105 degrees. There was a little bit of a breeze, but it was hot and humid. I had a sundress on, and I had those chicken cutlet things [in my dress], like they're boob pads. I had those on because I have the sundress on, and you can't have bra straps showing.

You can probably guess where this is going, as Joan Vassos went on to say they were outside sweating “for hours and hours,” as they talked to the 30 or so people Chock Chapple had gathered to meet the woman he hopes to someday make his wife. She continued:

As he's talking, I can feel the boob pad coming unstuck. I feel it starting to slip and I'm trying to stop it with my arm, and I can't do it. It makes it down to my stomach, and then it comes right off the bottom of the dress, and there it is by my foot! [Laughs] We're standing in front of everybody. There's no chance nobody saw it. But the cameras, I don't think caught it, because they definitely would've shown it. So that was the one that I got away with.

The second-hand embarrassment is so real! Let’s remember, this was no casual Hometown date to begin with. Chock Chapple staged a memorial service for his mother, who died during filming, and plenty of tears were shed as a tree was planted in her memory. Joan was introduced to several really important family members too, including Chock’s father and the dad of Chock’s late partner.

To do all of this in the merciless Midwest heat is asking so much of our Golden heroine already, and now we find out she was struggling with her boob pads as well? I have to wonder if she was more worried about Chock’s family noticing her situation or ABC’s camera crew, because I think she’s right — if they’d gotten that on camera, they likely would have aired it. This is, after all, the franchise that was straight-up cruel to Jenn Tran on The Bachelorette finale and reduced Bachelor in Paradise contestant Sam Jeffries to a “poop baby” plotline.

Either way, Joan Vassos isn’t the first Bachelor Nation member to experience melting boob issues. BIP Season 7 cast member Victoria Paul said she had to have her breast implants removed after she returned home, because one of them started deflating in the extreme heat.

Hopefully everyone’s wardrobes will behave themselves for the rest of the season, as this journey is set to conclude. Tune in for The Golden Bachelorette Season 1 finale at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, November 13, on ABC to find out who wins Joan Vassos’ season. Episodes can also be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.