Gerry Turner introduced his final two women to his kids and grandkids – but maybe if he asked his dad’s opinion it would have ended differently.
The Golden Bachelor Gerry proposed to Theresa Nist in the finale episode of the show’s first season. It was between her and Leslie Fhima, and Gerry later broke up with Leslie after she met some members of his family.
But the 72-year-old’s dad, Everett Turner, was not one of them. The 92-year-old dad probably would have pushed his son towards Leslie.
“I had Leslie picked out. For some reason, I just didn’t care for Theresa,” Everett said to The Sun: “I was 60 percent for Leslie and 40 percent for Theresa. I couldn’t say why. Right off the bat, Theresa rubbed me the wrong way.”
He shared that he and his wife Norma – who goes by Peggy – watched every single episode of their son’s season. He even got some of his friends watching in their hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Everett admitted he was the only one who was Team Leslie. Peggy, Gerry’s stepmother, said she had “Theresa picked out from the start.”
“I thought so because they had so much in common,” Peggy added, “His two daughters and granddaughter seemed to like her last night. They are his pride and joy, so he’s listening to them.”
Gerry’s dad did concede that his opinion “doesn’t matter” because he’s sure he’ll like Theresa since everyone else does. He’s extremely excited to meet her, and gushed about the love he has for his son. “I am always tickled to see him. I have always been proud of him. Not only for this Bachelor thing. He’s been terrific,” Everett said.
After the footage was shown on the finale episode of Theresa and Gerry’s proposal, host Jesse Palmer said during the live portion of the show that there was a surprise in store. “Do you remember on your first date we both learned that both of you wanted to learn Italian?” Jesse asked the happy couple, “We’re sending you on a romantic vacation in Italy.”
Gerry and Theresa were visibly excited. Gerry remarked: “We can use that as our honeymoon trip! We are going to get married and we are going to do it as quickly as we can because at our age we don’t have a lot of time to waste.”
Jesse added: “That’s right, save the date!” The big announcement was the wedding would be televised on ABC on January 4.
Everett and Peggy were excited for their son’s upcoming wedding. “We’ll go anywhere. If he feels she’s the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with, he might as well go ahead and get married,” Everett said. The protective papa then joked: ““If she don’t make him happy, I’ll probably kick her in the butt!”
