Color me shocked. Gerry Turner, the 72-year-old star of “The Golden Bachelor,” a grown man who deliberately agreed to star in one of the most popular reality TV series. . . wasn’t completely honest about his past?
Are you telling me that contrary to his claim that he hasn’t been on a date in 45 years, he actually went on a date? Are you saying that the producers may have exaggerated the truth in characterizing his professional history?
My stars. We may never believe in televised romances again.
Sarcasm aside, it’s kind of unbelievable that “The Bachelor” franchise is being pulled back into the same doghouse for another mild imbroglio, this time courtesy of . This is a brand and a genre that is constantly under scrutiny for social media mistakes, hidden bodies, and general behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Both “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have made headlines in the past, leaving people wondering how rigorously they vet their pool of potential matches for a season’s star.
“The Golden Bachelor” is already being praised for reviving the franchise.
No “Bachelor” was more hyped than Turner, a sexy senior who openly cried in the premiere as he told the story of losing the love of his life to a sudden illness. Turner’s preseason press tour confirmed the obvious honesty of his vulnerability – writers and talk show hosts marveled at his good humor, his lack of complacency and his radiant sincerity.
All of this should put him on some reporters’ radars. In fact, through a look at Turner’s LinkedIn page, conversations with a few former colleagues and a bit of poking around social hangouts in Hudson, Indiana — population 537 — THR revealed that Turner’s glow of perfection was part pyrite. Certainly still sparkly, but perhaps a little less rare and valuable than advertised.
Not that it matters, since the story emerged days before the season finale, when Turner chose 70-year-old widow Theresa Nist, who bonded with Turner over her grief experience, and Leslie Fhima, the 64-year-old aerobics instructor I was very upset because I had put on a $60,000 dress and diamond earrings for nothing.
How does Fhima feel now? Episodes of “The Golden Bachelor,” like others in the series, are filmed months before their premiere. Prince’s “Sexy Dancer” muse might be relieved to have dodged a bullet.
Gerry Turner and Leslie at the “Golden Bachelor” finale (Disney/John Fleenor)Regardless of how much THR’s report holds up, “The Golden Bachelor” is already being praised for revitalizing the franchise, drawing the largest overall audience for the franchise since a February 2021 episode of “The Bachelor” — a magnet for less than savory reason. The film also scored strong ratings in the coveted 18- to 49-year-old age group and has been a smash hit on streaming, as THR previously reported.
According to live and same-day data from Nielsen, Thursday’s season finale drew more than 6 million viewers — the best total viewership for the franchise since “The Bachelor” season finale in March 2021, which itself was a ratings tie for reasons , which ABC would rather have forgotten.
At the moment, the young people of Bachelor Nation are loving the “Golden” season, as are the old ones because the network sold Turner as an original.
Whether the love match between Turner and Nist turns out to be the real deal is not something that concerns most of us in the long run. The brand’s poor track record in lasting relationships is well known, and that hasn’t stopped people from tuning in.
Additionally, Turner’s tarnish marks aren’t particularly glaring. Basically it boils down to a few fibs. Contrary to his story on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast that he indulged in a single kiss before his appearance on the show, some women have come forward and clarified that, on the contrary, he has kissed a few more times in the last few years , as he claims.
The report has a whiff of cheap gossip and not much else.
THR also revealed that producers disapproved of his description as a “retired restaurateur” and discovered that his recent professional career included installing hot tubs and working as a janitor at a mental health facility. Most people understand the importance of artistry in creating reality TV, and when it comes to dating, a former restaurant owner is more likely to get the hit than a “retired janitor” or even a “former hamburger drive-in.” -Owner”.
A less attractive part of Turner’s past is passed down through an ex-girlfriend, identified by THR as Carolyn, with whom he maintained a nearly three-year relationship that began about a month after his wife’s death. . . Yikes. They even moved in together. But Carolyn’s account of how he ended things is even worse.
After a relationship marked by Turner being a neat freak and a cheapskate, they broke up after he shamed her for gaining 10 pounds. On the day she was supposed to move out, Carolyn says she accidentally broke her foot, requiring emergency surgery. When she returned to their shared home, he accused her of “somehow using the fall as an excuse to extend her stay” and ordered her to go to a hotel, she claims. This in the dead of Midwest winter.
Between corroborating insights from Carolyn’s outraged friend Susan and spilled tea from Turner’s excellently named local spot “The Shady Nook” (!), the report has a whiff of cheap gossip and not much else. Still, these were details that ABC might have considered before constructing the sensitive, chaste gentleman fantasy that left everyone weak in the knees.
Every reality show purports to conduct cursory background checks on the contestants, be they the stars or other contestants. Depending on the methods used by the hired agency, this may include looking for criminal records or other serious black marks on a person’s record. But past “Bachelor” seasons have shown that some of these passes weren’t thorough enough.
In 2018, “Bachelorette” viewers saw Lincoln Adim get an early first impression of Becca Kufrin the same week he pleaded guilty to assault and battery for groping a woman on a Boston harbor cruise. . . in 2016.
The past “Bachelor” seasons have proven some of this [background checks] may not have been sufficiently thorough.
This level of scrutiny requires investigative skills. The level of criticism THR has leveled at Turner requires a cursory search of publicly available information and a few phone calls—easy to do, but again, the show’s producers have repeatedly neglected something. During her season, Kufrin was also courted by Garrett Yrigoyen, who liked Instagram posts attacking transgender people, undocumented immigrants and Parkland, Florida, mass shooting survivor David Hogg. Anyone, including a few interns, could have spotted them before Yrigoyen reached the villa. That didn’t happen.
Neither Adim nor Yrigoyen won, but they won’t be forgotten thanks to this mistake – something that shouldn’t have happened a year after Rachel Lindsay became the franchise’s first black Bachelorette. Earlier in her season, reporters dug up the Twitter feed of one of her suitors, Lee Garrett, and found a treasure trove of them Anti-Black racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia. Lindsay finally eliminated him in the sixth episode, and we’d say “Phew!” to that, except this happened four episodes after the world found out she was being courted by a fanatic.
Surely the show would have tightened its filters after that, but no. In 2019, “Bachelorette” Hannah Brown chose Jed Wyatt. The woman he was with at the time wasn’t happy about it and told reporters.
The Bachelor (ABC)Similar sloppiness happened again in 2021, when the franchise welcomed Matt James as the first Black Bachelor in its 25 seasons. James chose Rachael Kirkconnell as the recipient of his final rose, but held off on giving her an engagement ring. That’s a good thing, because by the finale, Kirkconnell was outed on social media for attending an antebellum-themed “Old South” party with her sorority sisters and liking other people’s racist posts.
That’s why this February 2021 episode saw a spike in ratings, leading one to wonder whether the lax vetting of “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” contestants isn’t entirely coincidental.
Besides, what’s a bit of resume massage and lies of omission between old friends? Not much. Especially in the same year that the drama “Love Is Blind” was created, in which two people who were previously together, Uche Okoroha and Lydia Velez Gonzalez, ended up in the same supposed “invisible” dating experiment. That show’s creator, Chris Coelen, swore to People that the producers had “absolutely no idea” and were just as shocked as the rest of us. “Of all the gin joints in all the cities in the world” and so on.
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This is also the year that “Vanderpump Rules” viewers gave the series its highest ratings ever thanks to “Scandoval,” which was preceded by the real-life breakup of two long-standing “characters,” Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix, in one season the… Their relationship seemed rock solid.
Seeing Madix’s traitorous best friend Raquel Leviss show her loyalty to the cameras changed the viewing experience and highlighted the artificiality of reality TV relationships. Even those that last nine years are partial performances, showing that nothing stays gold in reality TV, whether you win it in competition or watch it on Bravo.
Raquel Leviss, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix on “Vanderpump Rules” (Nicole Weingart/Bravo)On the other hand, the appeal of “Scandoval” lies in the organic appeal of its real-world messiness, which destroys the carefully edited “Vanderpump Rules” aquarium, whereas those making “Golden Bachelor” may have known all about Turner’s dating history and Thought some broken hearts in his recent past could be skipped without much risk.
You’re probably right. Shortly after ABC proposed, he set Thursday, January 4, as the date for “The Golden Wedding Anniversary,” which will broadcast Turner and Nist’s wedding live. As for scenes from their marriage, those who remain invested can read about them later.
Episodes of “The Golden Bachelor” are streaming on Hulu.
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