Theresa Nist, Leslie Fhima and Faith Martin toast “The Golden Bachelor” with Gerry Turner
Courtesy of Disney/John Fleenor
Gerry Turner won’t be a ‘Golden Bachelor’ for much longer as he will get married in a wedding ceremony that will be broadcast live on ABC.
During Thursday’s live finale of “The Golden Bachelor,” where series lead Turner got engaged to Theresa Nist in Costa Rica, the couple announced they will tie the knot on January 4, 2024. The Golden Wedding special airs at 8 p.m. The franchise’s first televised wedding since Bachelor favorites Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici exchanged vows in 2014.
After host Jesse Palmer told Turner, 72, and Nist, 70, that the show would send the couple on a trip to Italy, the Golden Bachelor replied, “We can use this as our honeymoon trip because we’re getting married.” “We will do it as quickly as possible because at our age we don’t have much time to waste. As soon as we can put together a wedding plan, we will get married.”
Runner-up Leslie Fhima tearfully broke up with Turner in Costa Rica after sensing how uninterested he was in their relationship, leading him to share that his feelings for Nist were stronger. “I was devastated,” Fhima told Palmer during the “After the Final Rose” portion of the finale. “I broke down my walls and fell so deeply in love with him. I haven’t fallen in love with someone in a long time, so it was hard.”
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist after their engagement in “The Golden Bachelor Disney/John Fleenor”.
Reuniting during the live taping of the finale, Fhima told Turner that she felt “blindsided” by their breakup and asked him where something went wrong. He replied, “It didn’t really go wrong, Leslie. It was better with someone else. It was the right person in the wrong direction.”
Turner startled Nist in Costa Rica when she arrived for a possible marriage proposal, and he told her, “I realized you’re not the right person for me to live with.” He paused before adding, “You are the person I can’t live without.” Nist then laughed and assured him, “That was so good,” before dropping to one knee to propose.
Palmer asked Turner during “After the Final Rose” if his feelings for Nist developed during the night’s date. “There were moments in the conversation that were subtle insights,” Turner said of his connection to Nist, a New Jersey financial services provider. “Every moment she showed more and more of her enthusiasm, her adventurous side and all of that. Every single one was a plus.”
Although Turner was coy when asked about their physical connection in the fantasy suite, Nist blurted out, “I took his boots off,” referencing a phrase memorably used during the season. After the crowd laughed, she quipped, “No, with my kisses.”
Fhima was left devastated in the finale when Turner ended their relationship shortly after introducing her to his two daughters and two granddaughters. Fhima made it clear that she was particularly hurt by Turner confessing his love for her on the fantasy suite date and making comments that prompted them to start planning their future together.
“I’m heartbroken once again,” Fhima told Turner in Costa Rica. “But now I have to do it in front of the whole world to see once again how broken I am, how no one chooses me. You didn’t choose me – again. And the other night you made it sound like you chose me. You said things to me that made me think that would be it. You led me down a path and then you turned and left me there and that’s how I feel.”
Nist and Turner bonded over their shared grief over the loss of their spouse. Turner, described by ABC as a retired restaurateur from Indiana, lost Toni, his high school sweetheart and wife of 43 years, when she died in 2017 from complications of a bacterial infection. Meanwhile, Billy, Nist’s husband of 42 years, died of kidney failure.
In an article published by that questioned the show’s portrayal that Turner had not been together since his wedding, a woman identified herself as Turner’s ex-girlfriend and said they dated a month after his wife’s death started dating, which led to a relationship lasting longer than two years. The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she moved from Iowa to live with Turner in his Indiana home before he ended the relationship in early 2020.