Theresa Nist has some golden advice for Joan Vassos.
The “Golden Bachelor” winner, 71, revealed her conversation with Vassos, 61, ahead of her first-ever season of “The Golden Bachelorette.”
“I’ve spoken with her,” Nist exclusively told The Post. “I spoke with her before she left, and I would say I am so excited. Joan is gorgeous, she has a beautiful heart and she has an extremely good head on her shoulders.”
The golden girls chatted about how Vassos should approach the men at the Bachelor Nation mansion who are looking for love.
“So what we talked about,” the reality star continued, “was that she was going to give every single man her undivided attention so that she would really see if there was a connection. That’s what we talked about.”
“I said, ‘Joan, you know, just really, really pay attention to them, really look at them, really consider it,’” Nist recalled. “She has a completely different dynamic than I had. I was one woman among 22 women who were vying for one man’s attention, and she is the center of attention, and we’ve got 24 men vying for her attention.”
It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience if you ask Nist.
“So what an incredible spot to be in. And she realizes it. She knows what an opportunity this is, and she knows she represents women everywhere,” the financial whiz explained. “So, she’s humble about it and I would say that any woman in that room originally and other women all over are so deserving of this. It’s such a great opportunity. I am so thrilled for her.”
But Nist also has advice for the contestants, who are ready to give love that golden shot.
“I would say really trying to be yourself and really just try to pretend that the cameras aren’t there and try to pretend that this is real life because this is real life,” she said.
“And it’s difficult because you do have sound people, and you’ve got cameras, so you need to try to block that all out and just be authentically yourself and really, again, try to connect and see if there really is something there with this person.”
As for Nist’s biggest takeaway from her time on “The Golden Bachelor”? As the New Jersey resident puts it, “That there is so much more to life. That there are so many more opportunities out there. That I am not old!”
“I still have so much more life in me,” Nist added. “And so much more desire to do things. And I want to do more. I’m not so much satisfied with what I was doing before. I really do want to get out there and do more. It awakened something in me.”
In 2023, viewers saw Nist and “Golden Bachelor” star Gerry Turner get engaged at the end of the season before tying the knot on television in January.
Three months later, the duo confirmed it was over on Good Morning America during a joint April interview.
But despite their split, Nist has no regrets about doing the show.
“Honestly, it was the most incredible experience of my life,” the ABC personality gushed to the Post. “It did change me. You’d be numb to not have it change you in some way. So it’s made me more alive. More wanting to embrace life.”
However, Nist would have done some things differently if given a do-over.
“I think the advice I would give the men is what I would give myself,” pondered the mom. “To try to be more myself. I did retreat into my shell a little bit when we had the incident with Kathy [Swarts.] So, I think the advice to me: I would have been more authentically myself. It was a little difficult for me but I did eventually come out of it and became more who I am.”
Tensions rose between Nist and Swarts, 71, when the winner came back from a date with Turner and spilled the sweet details to the house. However, the “Golden Hour” podcast host wasn’t keen on getting the replay.
“I don’t want to hear that. I think she thinks she’s got this,” Swarts said in her confessional.
Nist apologized and said she didn’t mean to intentionally brag about her date but her frenemy said she wasn’t “buying that.”
The ladies later moved on from the fight and rekindled their friendship. Swarts even attended Nists and Turner’s wedding.
