Susan Noles may not have found love with Gerry Turner on season 1 of The Golden Bachelor, but she did form a sweet connection with his family.
“I texted [Gerry] a little while ago. I don’t even know if he replied yet, but we touched base,” Susan, 67, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, August 19, ahead of The Famously Average Golf Tournament hosted by Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti’s “Almost Famous” iHeartRadio podcast in Livermore, California.
“His daughters are coming, as well, to my house,” Susan said, seemingly referring to telling Us earlier in the interview that she had plans for Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos to come over for dinner soon. She added that Gerry, 73, will not be joining them. “He wanted to. I said, ‘No men allowed,’” she joked.
Gerry shared daughters Jenny and Angie — as well as granddaughters Payton and Charlee — with his late wife, Toni. Susan was one of many women who competed on the debut season of The Golden Bachelor last year, which ultimately ended with Gerry getting engaged to Theresa Nist.
Susan officiated the pair’s nuptials on ABC’s The Golden Wedding special earlier this year. Three months after saying “I do,” Gerry and Theresa announced their divorce in April following reports that they were not living together.
In addition to staying on good terms with Gerry and his family, Susan has also kept in contact with Theresa, 71. “I talked to her about a week or 10 days ago,” she told Us.
Susan is still friends with several of her fellow Golden Bachelor contestants, and the group recently had a reunion in New York City. “I surprised a bunch of the girls,” Susan shared. “They were in New York and I happened to be there for a different reason and I knew they were in Times Square at Carmine’s and I surprised them. That place will never be the same.”
She has remained very close with castmate Kathy Swarts, with whom she cohosts the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” podcast. At the same event on Monday, Kathy, 71, praised Gerry and Theresa for being “lovely” people, telling Us: “Did it work out? No. It’s over, it’s over, it’s over. You know what? They’re both looking for happiness.”
‘For now, Susan and Kathy are gearing up to see Joan, 61, begin her own journey for love on the debut season of The Golden Bachelorette.
“She is happy and her lips are sealed,” Susan teased of Joan’s season, which premieres on September 18. Kathy, for her part, told Us: “I think she’s a smart girl, beautiful with a good head on her shoulders, and I think she knows what she’s after. And I think that the guys that they had — from the little bit that I’ve, you know, read about them — they brought in a bunch of guys that they thought would be a good fit for her.”
As for what Susan thinks could be a dealbreaker for Joan with her group of guys, she stated: “I think a challenge would be if somebody didn’t have a gift of gab, like, conversation. That might be a challenge to get them to open up or talk, maybe.”
