‘The Golden Bachelorette’: Mark Anderson Shares ‘Bachelor’ Winner Kelsey’s Advice Before ABC Spinoff
Before Mark Anderson went on “The Golden Bachelorette,” his daughter, Kelsey Anderson, gave him some words of wisdom from her time on “The Bachelor” — which matched up with the advice Mark had given her before she joined the ABC reality dating show.
“She came up home for the weekend … [and] I was telling her, ‘Be yourself … talk from your heart … be true to yourself; don’t do things that aren’t you,'” Mark told TheWrap in a set visit during “The Golden Bachelorette’s” first date of the season.
“That’s really the exact same thing she told me … ‘Just be yourself … Most importantly, have fun. Enjoy yourself and just be you, be honest and just see where it goes,'” he said.
Mark was first introduced during hometown dates on Joey Graziadei’s season of “The Bachelor,” and he quickly won over the hearts of Bachelor Nation as he and Kelsey recalled memories of her late mother — though Mark admitted that he was a bit “embarrassed” by all the attention suddenly directed at him.
“It was all a lot for me — I’m not a seeking attention kind of guy,” Mark recalled. “We were watching the hometown episode … and Kelsey … was like, ‘Dad, people are doing all these videos and, and it was … embarrassing for me. It … put me in a little bit of embarrassment.”
After Mark’s potential appearance on “The Golden Bachelorette” was teased during the live finale of “The Bachelor,” he started thinking about the opportunity more seriously. He even learned he just barely made the minimum age to join the show as he turned 57.
“The more I thought about it, [I was] like, ‘Why not?'” Mark said. “I’ve told my kids their entire life to do stuff [and] don’t shy away from things — ‘Take that opportunity and go do it,’ so it wouldn’t really be right for me not to.”
With Kelsey and Graziadei freshly engaged after the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” Mark revealed he spoke to his daughter and future son-in-law about joining the show, and Kelsey had “nothing fantastic things to say about the entire process.” “She said, ‘If you’re ready, then do it,'” Mark said, adding that he then checked in on his other kids to see if they would be OK with him dating on TV. They were.
While “The Golden Bachelorette” Joan Vassos’ name had been thrown around to lead the female-led spinoff series after her early exit from “The Golden Bachelor,” Mark had already been cast when he found out she would be leading the season. “I was elated to see that it was Joan,” he said.
Though nerves were high on Night 1 of “The Golden Bachelorette,” Mark recalled Vassos as being “comforting” when he walked out of the limo, even when his mind “went blank” in his first moments meeting her.
“I had a great spiel that I wanted to say. I knew of her — I saw pictures of her, I saw a video of her … [but] I stood in front of her, my mind went blank and it was awestruck,” Mark said. “She was gorgeous in that gold gown, and she was just very calm and reassuring and patient. She listened — it was just fantastic.”
“The Golden Bachelorette” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.
The post ‘The Golden Bachelorette’: Mark Anderson Shares ‘Bachelor’ Winner Kelsey’s Advice Before ABC Spinoff appeared first on TheWrap.