Is The Golden Bachelor scripted?

ABC’s newest dating show premiered this fall and so far, it’s already won over the hearts of viewers across the country. Of course, we’re talking about The Golden Bachelor, the reality show that sees contestants between the ages of 60 and 75 giving love another shot. The premiere season stars 72-year-old Gerry Turner, a retired restaurateur who unfortunately lost his wife Toni in 2017. Ready to move on with his life and fall in love again, Gerry now has many lovely ladies competing for his attention and roses each week. And with each rose ceremony, his decisions get harder and harder.

The Golden Bachelor has been a favorite with reality TV fans already, and the impressive viewership numbers don’t lie. Honestly, I didn’t think this show would be this good or this popular, but it’s been a pleasant surprise. Gerry is so wholesome and I’m truly rooting for him to find a wife at the end of this. If you’ve started tuning into the season and are wondering about the legitimacy behind it, we don’t blame you. Sometimes, reality shows can feel so scripted.

Well, if you want to know definitively whether or not The Golden Bachelor is scripted, we’re here to assure you that it’s not. The series, like the others in The Bachelor franchise, is reality, meaning the people we see on our screens are real people pursuing real goals. To prove this even further, the entertainment industry strikes would prevent The Golden Bachelor from being filmed if it was scripted.

The Golden Bachelor can’t be scripted because of the strikes

To catch you up, the Writers Guild Association (WGA) went on strike in May 2023, meaning any writers’ rooms for shows had to be put on pause. That strike ended in Sept. 2023, but the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike, which began in July, is still going on at the time of this writing. Filming for The Golden Bachelor began in Aug. 2023, so there’s no way the show could’ve been written around that time if it was scripted, and no actors could act in it.

All of that being said, of course, The Golden Bachelor does have producers who can manipulate situations. That goes for any reality show. So while there aren’t necessarily scripts that are written by writers, producers do have control over a lot of what happens in the show, including date ideas.

The producers of The Bachelor franchise have been called out many times by former contestants, with several believing their scenes were cut in an unflattering way or that they were manipulated while on the show.

After the second episode of The Golden Bachelor, some viewers had complaints about the fact that Gerry and Theresa were driving without the lights on the car being turned on, which made it look staged. It’s entirely possible — and probable — that the scene was heavily produced, but that doesn’t mean the entire show is scripted. It could also seem like the show is scripted because the contestants are so wholesome, but honestly, I think that’s just them!

Gerry seems incredibly genuine and only wants to be on the show to find love, not fame. With this age group, it’s been super refreshing to see how real the cast is, making this probably the least scripted show of The Bachelor franchise.

New episodes of The Golden Bachelor continue every Thursday night on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET. Don’t miss a minute of Gerry’s journey to find true love again!