Thursday, on WRTV, the season finale of ABC’s the Golden Bachelor is airing.
America has tuned in week after week to watch 72-year-old widower Gerry Turner from right here in the Hoosier state try to find love.
Gerry is now down to the final two women — Leslie, a 64-year-old fitness instructor from Minnesota, and Theresa, a 70-year-old financial services professional from New Jersey.
Gerry recently visited WRTV and sat down with our Nicole Griffin to talk about this once in a lifetime experience.
Nicole Griffin: Gerry, thank you so much for being here at WRTV. You are ABC’s first Golden Bachelor… what has this experience been like for you?
Gerry Turner: It’s been crazy. It’s been overwhelming at times. It’s been soft and tender at times, but it’s been pretty spectacular.
Griffin: I know you can’t give us all the details yet because the season hasn’t wrapped up yet but what can we expect?
Turner: It was in the fantasy suites that I found clarity. Up until that point, I was still open to any possibility. The end of the show genuinely, and I know this has been said many times, but it is something that people have not seen before. I think it’s fitting that it goes along with the Golden Bachelor, where a lot of what we have done has not been seen before. The conclusion will be compelling.
Griffin: I’m so excited for it. So, I know when you’re dating these women, they have families and their own lives. Did you have to consider that?
Turner: Oh, yeah. I think it’s a very important thing. You can find that one person that you feel like is right for you and you want to spend the rest of your life with, but then you realize that at the age of 70, you have kids, grandkids and a home base. For each one of those women, it applied that they were pretty happy with where they were living. One of those conversations behind closed doors in the fantasy suites focused on how that would look — what is a compromise when you’re looking at having two quite distant places to live. I was fortunate enough to find a very good compromise in that conversation in one case.
Griffin: I love that. So, just wrapping up here, any final thoughts on this experience and how you’ve captured the hearts of so many Americans who are tuning in each week to watch you?
Turner: I get a lot of feedback from friends and strangers. I get a lot of letters and phone calls that because of the show, they have decided they want to go out and date again. And you know, I have a favorite story of a boy I played little league and high school basketball with. He lost his wife six months before I lost mine, and he sent me a DM saying, ‘Gerry, I’d never dated after Tina had passed away and now because of you and a little bit of luck, I’m dating someone.’ That makes it all worthwhile. When I’ve had a bad day or didn’t get sleep, I know there’s that story out there, that makes it worth it.
Griffin: Because you feel like you’re never too old to find love again?
Turner: You’re never too old to find love again. You’re never too old to be confident about yourself and to have hope about what can happen for you the next day.
Tune in Thursday night at 8 p.m. to find out which woman Gerry picks to hopefully spend the rest of his life with.
