The inaugural Golden Bachelor revealed what ‘surprised’ him most about his loved ones’ reactions to his casting
The very first Golden Bachelor has his loved ones’ full support as he prepares to embark on a unique new journey to find love.
Gerry Turner — who will soon be handing out roses on ABC’s The Golden Bachelor — said his family is “over the top” excited about his time on reality TV.
“The experience of having them in Los Angeles with me a couple of weeks ago, when I was doing the promotions and so forth … I mean, we’d laugh and we cry and it was just an amazing, amazing experience,” Turner, 71, said during an episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with Joe Amiable and Serena Pitt. “And today, I have two granddaughters, one is 21 [and] 16, and they’re very adept at finding comments and the things online and so they’re firing me stuff nonstop about things that are being said, and it’s hilarious, but they are loving it.”
With Turner’s grandchildren keeping him in the loop on his memes and mentions, his daughters — who are in their 40s — have been sharing their friends’ positive responses to his casting.
“That is genuinely part of the fun of this experience is seeing all the people that are my close circle having so much fun with it,” the series lead added. “[I’m] pleasantly surprised that there’s been almost no jealousy about it. No one’s saying I wish it was me and mentally wishing I wasn’t in that spot. Everybody is so positive and supportive.”
The Indiana native will lead the inaugural season of The Bachelor franchise’s newest spinoff, The Golden Bachelor. The upcoming series will see those in their “golden years” looking for love.
Turner, himself, is a widow after his wife — and high school sweetheart — died early into her retirement in 2017.
“She got robbed. Every day that goes by, that’s the thought that I have,” Turner said on Good Morning America. “I have her picture on a dresser in my closet. Every morning I give her a nod, ‘So what do you think about this?'”
“For a while, it was like, I was having a hard time figuring out if she would be okay. But we always told each other when one of us goes, we want the other to be happy,” he added. “She’s up there rooting [for me]. She’s saying, ‘Yeah, Gerry. Do this.'”
