The Golden Bachelorette aired episode 5 on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. The segment saw the frontrunner, Joan, going on group dates with the suitors and individual dates with some of them.
With the Hometown segment approaching, the ABC star had to send home three people. While two cast members went home during the rose ceremony, Joan went to the mansion to send someone packing before that.
Joan and Mark went on an individual date as she wanted to see him open up. Commenting on Mark's quiet personality, she said she needed to see him open up as she didn't want to "waste a hometown" on somebody she didn't see a future with.
The following day, the frontrunner came to the mansion to speak to him. She told him she had a "great date" with him the previous day but didn't think he was ready for a relationship. Mark was the first person to leave. Keith and Jonathan were also sent home following the Rose Ceremony.
Fans of the show reacted to Mark's elimination online and were upset to see him leave:
"SENDING MARK HOME IS CRIMINAL. C R I M I N A L!!!!"
"Not me sobbing because she sent king Mark home! That man is too pure for this world!" a fan commented.
"Really girl!!? You sent MARK home!!??? Ugh," a tweet read.
Fans of The Golden Bachelorette chimed in on the cast's emotional response to Mark's elimination.
"I think im crying more at the fact that the other guys are sad to see Mark go home than Joan sending him home…" a person wrote.
"Pascal’s reaction to Mark leaving just made me love him ten times more. This is such an amazing, genuine and supportive group of gentleman," a fan commented.
Fans of The Golden Bachelorette said that while they "liked Mark a lot," but they were disappointed with him when he admitted that he had never gotten up in the middle of the night for a baby.
"I liked Mark a lot, but when he said he never got up in the middle of the night for a baby, that did it for me," a person wrote.
"Unpopular opinion: Joan sends Mark home because he isn’t ready and still grieving his wife basically, but I’m confused she is the exact same way. I really don’t think she is ready either to be honest. He seemed like a great guy for her," a fan commented.
"I wonder if Mark was supposed to counter Joan's weird assessment that he's less over his wife than she is over her husband who we hear about every 35 seconds. Mark was the picture of grace and class. Just sayin' I love New Orleans, ABC," a tweet read.
Mark opens up about his late wife in The Golden Bachelorette
In The Golden Bachelorette episode 5, while Joan and Keith were on a one-on-one date, Mark spoke to Pascal and Jordon about his late wife, Denise. The cast member recalled how Denise would sit by their hummingbird feeder to feed the birds.
He told the two suitors that before his wife passed away, she told him he needed to find someone. He added that he believed in signs from the universe and recalled seeing a hummingbird in the mansion.
The Golden Bachelorette cast member said it felt like his late wife was "there" and was telling him that being on the ABC show was "right." Later on a one-on-one date with Joan, he talked to the frontrunner about his late wife, which made Joan emotional.
The following day, Joan appeared at the mansion to speak to the cast member. She told him he was "amazing" but didn't think he was ready for a serious relationship. She told him he had grown and his heart was "mending." She added that she came into this "a little too early" for Mark and needed someone "as far along in their journey" as she was.
The Golden Bachelorette fans reacted to Mark leaving the mansion online and were upset to see him go.
The Golden Bachelorette will air episode 6 on October 30, 2024, on ABC.