The first-ever Golden Bachelorette is...

Just like that we've got our first-ever Golden Bachelorette! ABC revealed that none other than Joan Vassos will be the leading lady for the first season of The Golden Bachelorette.

Fans of The Golden Bachelor will remember Joan as the contestant who had to leave Gerry Turner's season early due to a family emergency (her daughter had postpartum depression after giving birth and needed her mom!). It was a heartbreaking moment in the season and threw things for a loop.

Honestly, she was one of the top contestants on my list to win the whole thing, but alas, fate and life had something else in mind for her.

When will Joan Vassos' season of The Golden Bachelorette premiere?

During Disney's UpFront presentation, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest made the big announcement with Joan looking out from the crowd with a big grin. It was an exciting reveal because there were many rumors about who the lead might be. I believe at some point Susan Lucci was being considered or at least in the rumor mill of potential leads.

Alas it was none other than Ms. Joan Vassos, and we couldn't be happier for her.

Fans can expect to see new episodes of her season starting this fall on Wednesdays at 8 PM EST. You can also watch the episode on Hulu the day after.

If that isn't enough to get you excited, then this just might do the trick. Episodes will be 90 minutes long instead of the usual hour long we had with The Golden Bachelor. A whole 30 minutes extra--don't you love it?!

We're really hoping that The Golden Bachelorette has better luck than The Golden Bachelor. As you may have heard, Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist officially called it quits and divorced just mere months after their televised Golden Wedding. I think many will say that they weren't too surprised, but it was a bummer either way.

We're sending good vibes to Joan as she starts on this journey, and wish her the best of luck!