This post was originally published on this site
Boasting a golden rose and a lifetime of experience, Gerry Turner, a retired restaurateur, will star in the new “Golden Bachelor” reality dating show starting this fall.
ABC
DIS,
revealed on Monday that the 71-year-old will serve as the central star of the long-awaited spinoff of “The Bachelor” franchise, this one aimed at an audience that wants to see love get a second chance.
In promoting the show, ABC described the new reality show as featuring a “whole new kind of love story — one for the golden years.” In a subtle twist, the famous red rose, given each week to the women or woman the bachelor wants to keep dating, will be golden. The lineup of potential new loves will be revealed this fall.
Given the current strikes by writers and actors in Hollywood, ABC and other networks are leaning heavily on “unscripted content” — such as reality shows — for their fall lineups. “The Golden Bachelor” will air along with returning series “Bachelor in Paradise,” going on its ninth season in the fall.
While the original version of “The Bachelor” has been known for its glamorous evening gowns, exotic trips and even sexy fantasy suites, it’s unknown how a more mature version will approach dating.
Turner said it “feels amazing” to be chosen as the first “Golden Bachelor.” He feels he has the blessing of his late wife, who died in 2017, because they had talked about “when one of us goes, we want the other one to be happy,” he said on “Good Morning America.” They were married for 43 years.
“Don’t give up. There’s always possibilities,” said Turner, who loves four-wheeling and lives on a lake, he said. He told “Good Morning America” he is looking for someone “high energy,” who, perhaps, likes pickleball and golf.
“It’s never too late to fall in love again,” said Turner, who was cheered along by his daughters in appearing on the new show.
The network had been trying to produce the show for several years. It put out its first casting call in 2020, but plans were shelved by the COVID-19 pandemic. The casting call sought “active and outgoing single men and women in their golden years” and “senior citizens.”
In May, ABC described “The Golden Bachelor” as a show where one “hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”
When asked whether a wedding could be in the future, Turner said, “I wouldn’t discount it.”
Read: New ‘Golden Bachelor’ show could give an older ‘hopeless romantic’ a second chance at love
“The Golden Bachelor,” set to air Monday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern time after “Dancing With the Stars,” is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
WBD,
in association with Warner Horizon.
