All About Your New ‘Golden Bachelor,’ Gerry Turner
The time has officially come for us to get acquainted with our inaugural Golden Bachelor, people! During the July 17 episode of Good Morning America, the now-72-year-old Gerry Turner (his b-day was on August 7 🥺❤️) was announced as the leading man of The Bachelor’s upcoming senior spinoff, The Golden Bachelor. Describing himself as “71 years young,” the Indiana resident was all smiles when he gushed, “It’s never too late to fall in love again.” *makes mental note for when I swear off romantic partners for the millionth time*
Disney’s unscripted TV exec Rob Mills—who, in a truly interesting crossover moment, helped Kim K pull off a major prank during an episode of The Kardashians last season—spoke with Variety back in July about the excitement behind The Golden Bachelor.
“It’s such a different way of doing The Bachelor because these people are just at a totally different place in their lives,” he said. “There is an interesting thing about people who have hit the other end of the spectrum, who’ve lived their lives, they’ve raised their kids, some have been widowed or divorced and maybe some have never been in love. We thought that would be an interesting dynamic through the Bachelor prism.”
If this makes your ears perk up (or your grandma’s, for that matter), here’s what you need to know about Gerry, including what he’s looking for in a future partner and how supportive his family is about his television debut.
The Golden Bachelor has his late wife’s blessing
You’re gonna wanna pull out some Kleenex for this one. Gerry was previously married to his high school sweetheart Toni for 43 years. Sadly, his late wife passed in 2017 after becoming ill just six weeks after she retired. “She got robbed. Every day that goes by, that’s the thought I have,” Gerry reflected when speaking of her death on Good Morning America.
The inaugural Golden Bachelor maintains that he spoke with Toni about the opportunity in his own way and said she would be “rooting” for him. “I have her picture on a dresser in my closet. Every morning, I give her the nod, ‘So what do you think about this?’ For a while, it was like I was having a hard time figuring out if she would be okay. But we always told each other, when one of us goes, we want the other one to be happy,” he mused. “She’s saying, ‘Yeah, Gerry, do this,’” he added.
His daughters gave him the green light too
Gerry and Toni shared two daughters—Angie and Jenny—who were actually the ones to encourage him to sign up for the show. Cute pic of Gerry, Angie, Jenny, and Gerry’s granddaughters, Charlee and Payton, incoming:
#TheGoldenBachelor Gerry Turner with his two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton. https://t.co/OkyWlsUlMZ pic.twitter.com/y2BnFxZLMJ
— Variety (@Variety) July 17, 2023
Obsessed with this support system. 🥺❤️
Here’s what Gerry is looking for... 👀
According to Gerry, he’s interested in finding someone who matches his personality and is willing to play sports with him. “I’d love it if I found a partner who was high energy, someone who’s fairly competitive, that they enjoy sports. Someone that maybe plays pickleball, someone that maybe plays golf,” he dished during his Good Morning America segment.
And ABC’s bio for Gerry reads, in part:
“A retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather, Gerry [GAIR-ee] Turner lives in his dream house on a beautiful lake in Indiana. He’s often busy hosting barbecues, playing pickleball, cheering on his favorite Chicago sports teams, four-wheeling, and spending time with friends and family at restaurants and local haunts.”
Who will be a contestant on the show?!
Lucky for you, we have a handy-dandy slideshow of all 22 contestants on the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor for you right on over this way:
Happy stalking!
’Kay, so when can I tune in to The Golden Bachelor?
Great Q! Back in May, ABC announced that The Golden Bachelor will premiere this fall 2023, as will season 9 of Bachelor in Paradise. And now, we ~officially~ know that both shows are set to debut on September 28—aka in 3 days! However, The Golden Bachelor will air during the earlier time slot of 8 p.m. ET, while Bachelor in Paradise will air right after at 9 p.m. ET. The more you know!
“After more than 20 years of fostering young love on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, The Golden Bachelor showcases a whole new kind of love story—one for the golden years,” the network said in a statement in May. “On this all-new unscripted series, one hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities.”
When it comes to how you can watch, The Golden Bachelor will air on ABC, as is the case with pretty much all Bachelor franchises. However! If you don’t have cable, there’s no reason to sweat it. You can stream all the episodes on ABC’s website and on Hulu the morning after.
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