Golden Bachelorette Fans Have *Thoughts* On Pascal’s Controversial Exit

From his bold personality to his penchant for sleeping in the buff, Pascal Ibgui certainly made his mark on The Golden Bachelorette. But it’s his final night on Joan Vassos’ season that has fans talking.

ICYMI: Pascal and Joan’s last date began with a special Tahitian ceremony, during which they each opened up about releasing fear to move forward. They both were scared about letting new people into their lives. Pascal recently ended a serious relationship, while Joan was mindful of honoring the memory of her late husband, John.

This is the penultimate week in Joan’s Golden Bachelorette journey, so it’s time to have those tough conversations. However, Pascal was expecting something else. “I enjoy being with Joan, don’t get me wrong … but I thought I’d have something more casual,” he said in a confessional. “Something more like being silly, being kids again. Not something where we have to basically talk about feeling our emotions. I wasn’t ready for that.”

He later admitted that the ceremony “scared” him, and he told Joan he wasn’t in a place to commit. “I know what love is,” he said. “I’ve experienced it, you’ve experienced it. And I care about you as a friend. But I’m not in love. And I just can’t be there.”

Viewers Defended Joan

Fans on X (formerly Twitter) reacted to the abrupt exit, which Joan said made her feel like a “failure” who “wasn’t lovable.”

“Poor Joan that was brutal,” one viewer wrote, while another said they would “never forgive” Pascal for making Joan feel that way.

Of course, it’s been clear that Pascal probably wasn’t the strongest connection out of Joan’s final three men. During Hometowns, she voiced her fears that he wouldn’t choose her.

One fan said Pascal shouldn’t have stuck around this long knowing he “wasn’t ready for any of this.” Indeed, the Chicago-based salon owner did admit that he wasn’t expecting to make it that far on Joan’s season — and even asked the lead, “Why me?”

“Pascal waiting until the last minute to say all this is so unfair to Joan… the man clearly wasn’t ready for commitment,” one viewer wrote.

Pascal’s still proud of his time with Joan, but he recently told Bustle there wasn’t enough of it.

“Unfortunately, the show is set in a way where you get a certain amount of time with her, and you have those group dates — and I mentioned to her, I’m not that big on group dates. I’m not the kind of guy who likes to fight my way in,” he said.