'The Golden Bachelorette' standout Charles Ling on his bond with Joan Vassos, how the men stay in touch and what fans didn't see on TV

From the moment he stepped out of the limo to meet Joan Vassos on The Golden Bachelorette, it was clear that Charles Ling (aka Charles L.) would be a Bachelor Nation fan favorite.

From his comedic timing to his considerate nature, not to mention his emotional backstory, the 66-year-old retired financial analyst became one of the most memed characters in all of Bachelor franchise history — and, refreshingly, for only the right reasons. We’ve been dying to chat with him ever since he went home in Week 4. When we finally caught up with him this week, he did not disappoint.

Charles answered all of Yahoo Entertainment’s burning questions about life at the mansion — including who really snored the most. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

What’s it like to become famous overnight? Do people recognize you on the street?

Well, I wouldn’t use the word “famous,” but I was stopped at the airport — airports, actually. At Seattle and L.A. And I was even stopped at a gym. This man I’d never met before, he came and he said, “Hey Charles, we loved your program. You did so well.” So on and so forth. Then, guess what: “Can we take a photo?” It’s nice.

I loved the tour that you gave of the Bachelor mansion during the show’s premiere. What’s your favorite room in the mansion?

Unfortunately, definitely not our bedroom with the bunk beds. Because it’s such a huge mansion, we asked ourselves, “How come we have to sleep in bunk beds?”

I would say either the kitchen or the pool. I love the pool. You know, there’s so much around there — you can relax, you can swim, you can chat. But probably part is still the kitchen. I love it. It’s a huge, huge, gorgeous kitchen with so much stuff in the refrigerators. This is kind of the popular place, as you know, people come to drink and eat. Mark [Anderson] and I, and even other people, we cooked a lot.

What was your best dish?

I don’t know how much is shown on TV...

Not a ton. That’s why I was curious!

I cooked something that probably a lot of Americans never saw or experienced. Certain types of dumplings. One day, with the help of two or three assistants, I think I made about 10 dishes within a matter of probably two hours — vegetables, pork, dumplings. I made several types of dumplings.

I bet people loved it.

Oh, yeah.

Who was your best friend in the group?

I would say they are all my best friends in a sense. The closest two, I would go with Guy [Gansert] and Mark.

Guy is a doctor, he was my roommate. We talked more — in particular, on my wife’s situation. And we talked about medicine in general, and practicing in a hospital or research, so on and so forth. And then Mark, you know, he’s such a gorgeous person. Unfortunately, he had a similar sad story like mine. His wife passed away with a disease. We cooked a lot. We shared our experiences, our expertise for cooking. So we bonded even closer in a sense through cooking.

I was going to say, it seemed like some of the other men, especially Guy, really helped you through the pain of having lost your wife. How did your time on the show help you process those feelings?

It was very hard at the very beginning. You know, one is, I didn’t know how much I really should open it up, right? And two is, did I have enough courage to open it up?

Yet, as we talked, I think on the second day, next to the pool, Mark, myself and probably three other gentlemen, all of a sudden, we started talking about our sad pasts. You know, some got divorced; Mark and I had really, really similar sad stories. So when we started talking, guess what? I mean, men also cried. We just cried, and we cried hard, because it was very, very hard — yet, we opened it up.

I think, after that, you began to feel, it’s OK. We can talk about what happened. We supported each other. We comforted each other. So that’s kind of — it’s a big change for me.

Do you still talk to any of the men from the show now that it’s ended?

We have a group chat, you know — iMessages. We don’t talk on the phone, but we exchange some general ideas, messages. This is a very energetic group. The age may surprise you, yet we never acted like “that old” at all.

You mentioned the bunk beds in the mansion earlier, and I want to come back to that. Who snored the most?

Oh, boy. Don’t tell Gary [Levingston]. I think he’s the one. Yeah. Other men snored a little bit here and there, but I would say he received a championship trophy.

Ha! And where is the best place in the mansion to take a nap?

These men, you know, they are very creative. Anywhere they can find a spot, they could fall asleep very quickly. Yeah, I think near the pool. You can sit there, and if you snore, you won’t bother other people. However, Jack [Lencioni] and I think Gary, they found comfort on the first floor when they slept at night, because their roommates were really bothered by their snoring.

What would you say was your favorite part of this whole experience?

I would say, you know, actually two parts. One is, you know, the sad part — my wife passed away, so this is the first time I had lengthy hours together with another person, which is Joan. We talked about a kind of future relationship, so on and so forth, and we also shared what happened to us in the past. So, we are so opened up. We knew the first time we met, yet when we talked, when we care about one another, it’s as if we are old, old friends. That’s one part.

The second is the friendship and the bond — the brotherly-hood [with the other men]. We’d never met, and yet, it seemed like instantly, you know, we became associated. We became friends, and we cared for one another. If you fell, the other person would rush to ask you, “Is it OK? Can I help you?” When the other person is hungry and he doesn’t know how to cook, anybody would offer, “Do you need anything? I can cook for you.” And some people are so nice, they took the time to do the dishes. It’s a lot of work as well. Every day, it seemed like people lined up to do business as needed.

That’s wonderful. And lastly, can you give us a preview of what’s coming next week with the “Men Tell All”?

It’s, I would say, a happy reunion among the men — a happy reunion with producers and the cast members, and also a happy time with the audience. I mean, we were there for quite long, but you didn’t feel like [it was] that long. We really wanted to continue. It was a pretty lengthy meeting, yet we really, really had a good time, and also, a lot of good questions from Jesse [Palmer, host of The Golden Bachelorette].

The Golden Bachelorette airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Subscribe to our Golden Bachelorette newsletter.