Pascal Ibgui ‘Freaked Out’ Before Dumping ‘Golden Bachelorette’ Joan Vassos: Report

Getty and Heavy Pascal Ibgui and Joan Vassos on "The Golden Bachelorette."

Pascal Ibgui has shed new light on the controversy that erupted during the overnight dates on “The Golden Bachelorette.”

Be forewarned that this post will contain spoilers for the overnight dates.

As fans who watched the episode know, Ibgui stunned Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos when he announced that he was leaving the show. He told Vassos on the episode that he didn’t fill the needed “spark” for her that he felt was necessary to take the relationship to the next level. Ibgui, a salon owner from Illinois, also said on the show that the bonding ceremony the couple did on the episode in Tahiti threw him off.

Now he’s opened up to The Wrap about the controversy. The Tahitian bonding ceremony the show set up for Ibgui and Vassos was too much for him, he said in the interview.

“I think if she would have take me to scuba diving, or … skydiving, I think I [would] have been much more comfortable than going into a wedding [and] doing our vows,” Ibgui said to The Wrap. “I freaked out — I just felt like I wasn’t ready.”

Pascal Ibgui Says That He had a ‘Good Connection With Joan’

Getty Joan Vassos with Pascal.

There were glimmers of hope, according to what Ibgui told The Wrap.

“We went to the hometown and [when] I had a good connection with Joan — I felt comfortable and my kids felt comfortable with her,” Ibgui told TheWrap. “I didn’t know I was going to get the rose — it was four guys in the equation, and so I went and had great time, and then she choose me to go with the island, but I was guarded.”

However, Ibgui said he started having concerns in Tahiti because he “didn’t spend enough time with her to really get to know her.”

For her part, Vassos opened up to Katie Couric Media about the incident.

“The Bachelor always has a cultural date when you’re getting toward the end. They always look a little uncomfortable to me, at least initially. Sometimes the couples come around and it ends up being really good, and sometimes it just remains awkward. So when we came into this one, I was nervous because I feel awkward in those situations, and clearly, we both were uncomfortable,” she told the site.

“Pascal seemed more at ease than I was in the beginning, because he could understand their language. He was translating, but that also put the burden on him to be hosting the date when it’s usually my job,” she added.

“But then, as we got into the Tahitian bonding ceremony, it became way more uncomfortable. We were asked to talk about things that neither of us were ready to talk about. I just felt very uncomfortable,” Vassos said to Katie Couric Media. “He clearly was uncomfortable. He was sweating. I could tell things weren’t good, and by the end of it, I felt like he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He was done. The ceremony was fairly long, and it was emotional, and neither one of us felt comfortable doing it. So I knew, as that date ended, we were not in a great place.”

Pascal Ibgui Reiterated That There Was Something ‘Missing’ in His Relationship With Joan Vassos

GettyPascal Igbui.

Ibgui admitted to The Wrap that something just wasn’t there with Vassos for him.

“I need[ed] to end it, because I felt like there … were two guys [who were] very much in love, so I felt like it was not fair to me to stay knowing that I cannot really give her what she’s looking for,” Ibgui said in the interview. “That’s when I decided to leave.”

Ibgui added to the publication: “She’s a beautiful woman, she’s kind, she’s sweet, she’s smart [but] something was missing for me,” he said.