Leslie Fhima talks about what happened in the Fantasy Suite. When The Golden Bachelor’s first-ever runner-up appeared on the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, she revealed what Gerry Turner told her during their night date that made her feel “100 percent sure” that she would get engaged, not Theresa Nist.
“I don’t want to say everything he said, but it was 100 percent certain it was going to be me when I woke up the next morning,” Leslie said. “He made plans for me [for] the future. Something like, “Save the date, this is what we’re going to do.” I can’t wait. Two more days and we’ll be done. We will be together and start our lives.’ Did he say, “Will you marry me?” NO? But he almost said that.
“I would have been happy with ‘I love you,’ but he took it to another level,” she continued. “When we woke up the next morning and he left, he turned around three times and blew me kisses through the emotions. I was 100 percent sure it was me. He didn’t say, ‘I have to make such a difficult decision.’ Nothing like that.”
Rather, Leslie said that her and Gerry’s time off camera was “a relief” and “so enjoyable.”
“It wasn’t like, ‘What do we do now?’ We talked for hours. I wanted to tell him so much about myself and he wanted to tell me about him. It was great. I felt closer to him. [I was thinking,] “That’s it,” she said. “It was really nice because that’s why I chose that dress, that’s why I wrote my vows, because I was 100 percent sure.” There were things he said to me that night that suggested that night would never be the same with Theresa.
During his own Bachelor Happy Hour interview, Gerry was more reserved about what went on in the Fantasy Suite, although he did hint that a conversation during that date made him realize Theresa was the woman for him.
“There were conversations in the Fantasy Suite that were very enlightening for me. Honestly, since they’re taking place in the Fantasy Suite and not in front of cameras or microphones, I think it’s appropriate to leave that in the Fantasy Suite and leave it at that,” he said. “But yeah, there were some things we talked about.”
After the Fantasy Suite, Leslie had a great meeting with Gerry’s family. However, as she was about to leave, Gerry’s mood seemed bad. At the time, she blamed it on exhaustion, but looking back, Leslie said it was clear he chose Theresa.
Gerry’s strange mood continued into the evening and Leslie took particular notice when she handed him a photo album full of blank pages for their future adventures.
“He was just there,” she remembers. “…When I told him I loved him or something, he said, ‘That’s such a sweet feeling.’ I could feel the tears welling up.
Gerry left the room in a huff before eventually returning to end things for good in tears.
“I feel terrible. It was a difficult situation. There was no dignified way out. I think that was the worst. Every direction I turned I tried to find a more dignified or merciful way out, it just wasn’t the case. “It’s there,” said Gerry. “As you saw, I was able to break protocol with what the Bachelor franchise has typically done, where two women go down, one gets engaged and the other is sent home. I couldn’t do that with Leslie and tell her the news the night before.”
“It was terrible. I won’t lie. You can’t embellish it. It was a terrible moment,” he continued. “I had such strong feelings for her, so much admiration and respect, only to be the guy who had to send her home and crush her dreams.”
The couple met again for the first time during the live portion of the season finale and their conversation was awkward, to say the least.
“I feel like I didn’t get much closure with him, but that’s okay. I felt like I was done with myself… You don’t really get closure. What should they say? They had to make a choice.” . It’s his journey, his choice, but he could have chosen not to tell me these things. That’s all,” Leslie said. “…I didn’t get any closure from him, and I don’t know if anything he would have said would have really given me closure…At the end of the day, he didn’t really have the closure.” Integrity that I thought he had he would have them.
During this conversation, Gerry apologized. Although Leslie told him that she understood his reasoning, she wasn’t sure she could accept his apology.
“I mean, she was hurt. I was injured. I had no expectations of what I wanted from Leslie other than I wanted her to feel better at the end of the conversation than she did at the beginning,” Gerry previously told ET. “I mean, there is a need for closure. There is a need for clarity in this conversation. I completely understand where she’s at right now.”
Looking back on the experience, Leslie said she “doesn’t really regret anything,” although she wished Gerry had handled some situations differently.
“I just wish he would have done it differently,” she said. “I don’t respect what he did. It started with this [second runner-up] Faith and then a little bit more me, because I went to Costa Rica and did all that. I feel like he said “I love you” too many times… He hurt me.”
With that in mind, she said that if Leslie were to become “The Golden Bachelorette” (a spinoff yet to be announced by ABC), “she certainly wouldn’t tell anyone I love her until I’m on that platform with them.” am.”
“I would never want to hurt anyone the way I was hurt or taken by surprise. My heart is precious to me and I just won’t give it to anyone. When you say ‘I love you’ to someone, it means something. “I just don’t throw that word around,” she said. “I haven’t said it to anyone in a long time. It meant something to me to tell Gerry. I know it would be hard. I’m sure it’s hard when you love two or three different people, but I just wouldn’t say it. I would show my affection in different ways.”
While Leslie is still looking for her happily ever after, that moment has come for Gerry and Theresa, who will get married in a ceremony that will be broadcast live on television. The couple agreed that they would both invite Leslie to their wedding, although Gerry noted, “I think that would be more up to Leslie.”
“I would feel comfortable because I had such deep feelings for her and great respect,” he said on the podcast. “If she was comfortable there, I would definitely be happy to have her there.”
As for the quick timeline for the wedding — it takes place on January 4 — Gerry told ET, “When you’re that age, every moment is precious and you don’t want to waste it.”
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