The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner has revealed whether he feels really confident in the decisions he made throughout the process, or if he thinks he may have made a mistake or two.
|
|
“I don’t have any regrets about the decisions I made,” Gerry told BachelorNation.com in a recent interview. “I was as slow and deliberate as I could possibly be.”
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Gerry, however, acknowledged that his choices were “very difficult to implement” throughout the show, especially towards the end of filming.
“[It was] very emotional. I look back and I don’t think there was a single decision that I made that I would change,” Gerry shared. “So, I’m comfortable with that.”
Gerry apparently sailed through The Golden Bachelor process steering his own ship, as he admitted to the website he had never asked any of the prior The Bachelor stars for advice.
“That opportunity hasn’t come around yet,” Gerry said.
The Golden Bachelor began filming in early August, and the new The Bachelor spinoff premiered on ABC on Thursday, September 28 at 8PM ET/PT.
After filming wrapped, Gerry admitted to Entertainment Weekly that saying goodbye to one or more women every week was extremely tough.
“I cried like a baby,” Gerry confessed. “With each Rose Ceremony, [host] Jesse Palmer looked at me with more and more concern, because it really felt like the weight of the world was on my chest a couple of times.”
Gerry recalled, “I remember walking out of the mansion during one of the Rose Ceremonies and bending over because I really felt like I couldn’t catch my breath.”
But it’s likely Gerry’s hardest choices came after hometown and Fantasy Suite dates.
Gerry shared how the women’s families were “warm” and “welcoming” for the most part, and that Fantasy Suites allowed him to connect “intellectually and emotionally” with his top picks.
Viewers can only hope that Gerry found the woman of his dreams and selected a winner at the Final Rose Ceremony.
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ COUPLES NOW: WHO DID ‘THE BACHELOR’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
While The Golden Bachelor fans will have to wait to find out if Gerry is currently dating someone or maybe even engaged, Gerry hinted to EW that he’s happy and content with how the show ended.
“This is a great day, isn’t it?” Gerry said earlier this month, suggesting he may currently be in love.
“I’m so pleasantly surprised by how things ended, there’s absolutely no regrets.”
Gerry shared how he hopes his story on The Golden Bachelor will inspire and empower fellow “Boomers” — people in his senior age group — to not give up on love and to actively seek it out.
“I hope they all realize that if they stay open to opportunity, those things can and will come to them,” Gerry insisted.
“They can’t sit by and wait for something to happen; they have to make it happen. They can still find someone if they want to.”
Although The Golden Bachelor cast faced a busy filming schedule that resulted in a bit of sleep deprivation throughout the course of filming — to a much lesser extent than typical The Bachelor and The Bachelorette stars, according to the show’s producers — Gerry joked about how he feels this is still not the time to catch up on his rest.
“I’d really rather go a little skimpy on the sleep and enjoy every moment right now. I do realize that my 15 minutes of fame will be over shortly, and I’ll want to enjoy as much as I can,” Gerry said.
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
When cameras began rolling on The Golden Bachelor, Gerry had a lineup of 22 beautiful and poised bachelorettes to choose from, all ranging in age from 60 through 75.
These accomplished “golden” women — including former The Bachelor star Matt James’ mother, Patty James — took time away from their children, grandchildren, and established lives at home to hopefully rediscover love and maybe even learn something new about themselves.
Gerry signed up to be The Golden Bachelor after losing his high school sweetheart and late wife, Toni Turner, to complications from a bacterial infection in 2017.
The pair had been married for 43 years and welcomed two daughters, Angie and Jenny, together. Gerry also has two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton, and lives on a beautiful lake in Indiana.
“I really believe people are designed to live with someone,” Gerry shared.
“Living alone, it’s obviously lonely, but I also think that we’re not our best selves when we’re not with the right person. Consequently, I had kind of stalled.”
And even if Gerry wasn’t their “right person,” many of the bachelorettes seemed to enjoy their experience on the ABC reality dating series as a whole.
April Kirkwood, a 65-year-old therapist from Florida, for example, said, “One thing I realized from this show, I am open to falling in love. Whether it’s with him or someone else, I am lonely, and I am interested in having someone to share that space with. I think this is a gift from the universe.”
Click here to read spoilers about Gerry’s The Golden Bachelor season — including his Final 2 women and Final 3 bachelorettes — or click here to see photos and details about all of Gerry’s 22 bachelorettes.
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!
About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.