Photo: Gilles Mingasson/Disney
A running joke for viewers of the Bachelor extended universe is the unremarkable musicians who have shown up to serenade contestants over the years. But this week’s episode of The Golden Bachelorette brought us yet another performer with actual cultural cachet — and a history with some of the show’s contestants. On Wednesday, ’80s songstress Taylor Dayne showed up to perform two songs for Joan Vassos’s first group date, which mimicked a prom night straight out of the John Hughes canon. Vassos and eight men danced the night away in a high-school gymnasium in Calabasas, California, with Dayne performing her enduring hits “Tell It to My Heart” and “Love Will Lead You Back.” But what the cameras didn’t capture was the boomer version of the Chase Rice and Victoria Fuller debacle behind the scenes.
During her downtime from filming, Dayne was approached by a few of the contestants — ranging in age from early 50s to late 60s — who seemed to believe they might have encountered each other in the past. (Dayne is 62 years old and single.) “A couple of them came backstage and said, ‘Did we go on a date?’ I was like, What?! I said, ‘Honey, if it was on Hinge or Bumble, it’s possible,’” she recalls with a laugh. “One of them called me out on that and told Joan. I was just like, Oh my God, I don’t remember. It was like a Tig Notaro moment. ‘Really? When did we meet?’” The episode indeed showed contestant Jordan Heller telling Vassos he had dated Dayne “five years ago,” even if Dayne insists she has no recollection of it. (In a talking-head interview, Vassos seemed amused by the revelation.) Dayne also clarified that her brief backstage reunion with Heller was devoid of any flirtation.
The singer, who devoured The Golden Bachelor during its earlier run, was pleasantly surprised to get a call to appear in the franchise. “They wanted to do some sort of ’80s-themed party. Not that it’s my sole criteria,” Dayne says. “I was like, Well, hell, if you want to do it in a gymnasium somewhere, I’m your girl. Dayne estimates it ended up being a 16-hour filming day, give or take, to perform the two songs. “They wanted this to come across as a fabulous party,” she explains. “It was like them reliving their youth. I’m a soundtrack of people’s lives, and I’m used to that.” Seeing Vassos’s suitors contort themselves in the name of dance-pop seduction was a personal highlight. “They were told that they had to move and dance. The gentlemen were definitely up for the task,” Dayne notes. “It’s very different when men are dancing for love. Let me tell you, the peacock comes out. They were peacocking away.”
Would she ever have an interest in becoming a Golden Bachelorette herself? “That’s loaded! I never say ‘no’ to anything,” Dayne says. “It was a lot of fun, and I was treated well. I mostly just hope Joan finds true love.”
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