After teasing the show for what felt like ages, The Golden Bachelor finally kicked off on ABC this fall as 71-year-old Gerry Turner stepped into the spotlight in hopes of getting a second chance at love.
Gerry married his high school sweetheart, Toni, back in 1974 and they shared a sweeping love story that spanned over four decades. Sadly, Toni passed away in 2017 after falling ill, leaving behind Gerry, their two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton. Six years after losing Toni, Gerry is ready to open his heart up again in hopes of finding love in his golden years as ABC’s first Golden Bachelor.
While no one will ever replace Toni, through The Golden Bachelor, Gerry is ready to put himself out there again and find a second love among the amazing women competing this season.
As is always the case, while the season might still be unfolding, Reality Steve and social media have once again brought us a wave of spoilers about the upcoming season including information on who makes it to the final stretch of the season!
Warning: The Golden Bachelor spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to know what happens this season, you should know there are spoilers coming!
Filming on The Golden Bachelor took about a month
There seems to be a reason why The Golden Bachelor episodes are shorter and that reason seems to be connected to the fact that filming on the full season is rumored to have only taken a little over a month to film. That’s right, we said one month!
Production began on the season sometime in late July in Los Angeles, yet wrapped at the end of August. According to Reality Steve, Gerry filmed his final rose ceremony in Costa Rica at the very end of August only a few weeks after production began.
Fantasy Suites are going to look different
Keeping true to the format of the flagship shows, The Golden Bachelor will still have Fantasy Suites… they’re just going to look different from the Fantasy Suites we see on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. While Gerry has played coy regarding what exactly fans can expect, he has teased that the Fantasy Suite for someone his age won’t be the same as the younger leads.
"“I just think that a Fantasy Suite for someone of my age may look quite different,” Gerry told Entertainment Tonight. “The activities could be quite different than for someone in their 20s and 30s.”"
This doesn’t mean there won’t be some romance during the Fantasy Suites and Gerry has admitted that he’s not nervous for that part of his season but he did tell ET the Fantasy Suites made his daughters “a lot more nervous” than they did him.
Hometowns happened at the Final 3
Unlike on The Bachelorette and The Bachelor in which four contestants make it to hometown dates, there are only three hometown dates on The Golden Bachelor season 1. The hometown dates are reported to have been filmed sometime in mid-August in which Gerry met the families of his final three women: Faith Martin (60), Leslie Fhima (64), and Theresa Nist (69).
According to Reality Steve, Faith Martin’s hometown date was filmed first with Gerry heading to Benton City, Washington on August 19. Leslie Fhima’s hometown was filmed on Aug. 21, with Gerry making his way to Minneapolis, Minnesota for his second hometown date. Theresa Nist was the final hometown date to be filmed with filming taking place on August 23 in Shrewsbury, New Jersey.
Gerry Turner eliminates Faith Martin after hometown dates
During the hometown dates, Gerry Turner selects his final two which leads to the elimination of Faith Martin. It’s unclear what leads Gerry to make the decision to eliminate Faith after their hometown dates, but it has been confirmed Faith is sent home in third place.
After Faith’s elimination, Leslie Fhima and Theresa Nist get the chance to meet Gerry’s family and make it to the season’s overnight dates.
Interestingly, days before the Women Tell All special aired on ABC, Faith took to Instagram to share a photo of herself with fitness model Brock O’Hurn. While it seems the pair simply grabbed lunch, perhaps for an interview segment connected to Faith’s work in radio, the move was seen by some fans as the ultimate “I’ll show him” move.
Nearly the full cast returned for The Women Tell All special
Because this was the first season of The Golden Bachelor, there was a lot of speculation about whether there would be a Women Tell All special or not. Fortunately, ABC did not remove the fan-favorite episode which aired on Nov. 9.
The episode brings back nearly the entire cast from the season with only six women not returning to catch up with host Jesse Palmer to reflect on the season and to face Gerry for the first time since their elimination from the show. Anna Zalk, Jeanie Howard, Maria Trice, Peggy Dercole, Renee Halverson-Wright, and Sylvia Robledo all missed out on the special but the following women were able to return to be part of the special:
- April Kirkwood
- Christina Kempton
- Edith Aguirre
- Ellen Goltzer
- Joan Vassos
- Kathy Swarts
- Marina Perera
- Nancy Hulkower
- Natascha Hardee
- Pamela Burns
- Patty James
- Sandra Mason
- Susan Noles
The episode also saw Gerry get to catch up with the woman he sent home after hometowns: Faith Martin, bringing about a tearful and emotional reunion for the pair.
Golden Bachelor winner remains unknown
While Reality Steve has been able to identify which two women make it to the end of the season as Gerry’s final two, he has not yet been able to confirm who Gerry chooses at the end of the season. Additionally, it remains unknown whether Gerry ends the season engaged and whether he is still together with his winner.
What we do know is that Gerry ends up with either Leslie Fhima and Theresa Nist as the pair make it to the final two. According to Reality Steve, we know filming of the finale takes place in Costa Rica which is where Leslie and Theresa also meet Gerry’s family.
Some fans have speculated that Theresa is who Gerry ends up with with rumors that she and Gerry were spotted out together popping up on social media. However, it’s starting to look like Gerry might end up with Leslie!
Bachelor Nation is convinced they heard Gerry’s laugh in a video Leslie posted to her TikTok and social media accounts, while others are sure they saw Leslie in the background of one of Gerry’s interviews. While nothing has been confirmed, the odds are starting to tip in Leslie’s favor with Leslie emerging as the frontrunner to end up with Gerry this season.