The Real Reason Pascal Quit 'The Golden Bachelorette'

Joan Vassos‘ final three men, Guy Gansert, Chock Chapple and Pascal Ibgu, traveled to Tahiti for Fantasy Suites Week, the episode where the couples spend romantic private time together for deeper personal discussions without the prying cameras.

But Joan’s night with Frenchman Pascal, 69, didn’t turn out the way anyone expected. Joan had, after all, banned beds from her Fantasy Suites.

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Over the first six weeks of the season, the two seemed to have grown closer but hadn’t quite reached the level of intimacy Joan had with Guy and Chock.

A traditional Tahitian bonding ceremony meant to bring Joan and Pascal closer together was the coconut that broke their relationship apart.

Related: Golden Bachelorette Suitor Pascal Dresses Up as Joan for Halloween

“I don’t think I could get to the place where you want me to be,” he later told Joan.

Why did Pascal quit The Golden Bachelorette?

Later that night, Pascal dropped one of the biggest bombshells of the season: He was self-eliminating.

“I was very much in love last year,” he told Joan of getting his heart broken. He wasn’t ready to love again in the way that Joan deserved.

Related: Everything to Know About Joan Vassos, the First Ever Golden Bachelorette

As it turned out, Pascal admitted he didn’t want to join The Golden Bachelorette in the first place. His daughter submitted him as a Golden Bachelorette contestant and he agreed to participate because he didn’t think he’d last too long amid the crowded field of 24 men.

“I know what love is,” he told Joan. “I care about you as a friend. But I’m not in love. I can’t be there…I need that spark. I just don’t have it.”

Teary-eyed Joan said she understood that you can’t force that.

“I know she was not OK,” Pascal told the cameras.

He angrily shooed away camera crews as he walked Joan away from what was meant to be a romantic evening.

“I’m hurt that I hurt her,” he said.

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