Art is imitating life for the reality contestant—sort of.
Many contestants on The Golden Bachelor and Golden Bachelorette franchise are retired and joined the show looking for love as they enter a new phase of life.
But as fans of dating shows know, most participants don’t make it to the finale or end up finding the love of their life through the program. That was the case for a fan-favorite contestant on Joan Vasso’s season of The Golden Bachelorette, but being on the show helped him achieve another dream instead.
Guy Gansert, the runner-up in the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelorette and a retired ER doctor, is heading back to the hospital with an ABC twist.
The reality star, who lost to Chock Chapple on the dating show, jokingly told a Bachelorette producer during the show’s finale that he used to watch General Hospital in college and wanted to be on “such a well-respected long running series.”
While he may have been kidding, ABC took his idea seriously. Gansert told People, “Having had absolutely no acting experience, I said [it] in — kinda — jest,” but he was quickly interviewed over Zoom by a General Hospital producer and an ABC executive.
“After a 30-minute Zoom interview, they loved the idea of a real ER doctor who made it to the final two of The Golden Bachelorette. A month later, I received an offer to be on a small one-day episode,” he shared.
Though Gansert is a real-life doctor, he won’t be playing one on TV. Instead, the 66-year-old will play a wildlife journalist named Geoffrey on the Wednesday, March 12 episode of the soap opera.
“Even though I was ecstatic over being a cast member on The Golden Bachelorette, this was an exciting opportunity to actually act and be a part of an iconic show. This is all happening after deciding to hang up my stethoscope and retire after 35 years,” Gansert said.
Bachelor fans on Reddit were tickled by the news, commenting, “this is so full circle for the franchise” and “This is perfect for him! He’s attractive and has experience in the medical field.”
Several commented on him being a natural fit for the soap opera, but were confused by his character’s profession. “I would have thought they would have had him play a doctor since it is general hospital. What is a wildlife journalist doing in Port Charles?” asked a fan.
Others were happy for Gansert, but were hoping for a different kind of collaboration between him and ABC. “My heart legit skipped a beat, because I thought they were announcing him as the next Golden Bachelor,” wrote one fan, and another agreed, commenting, “Oh man- I thought they were announcing him as golden bachelor.”
