Golden Bachelor Laments 'Unfair' Show: 'Not the Way Life Works'
Gerry Turner
Sweet and sincere Gerry Turner has endeared himself to fans while looking for lasting love on the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor.
And as his journey winds down, Parade got one last chance to chat exclusively with the 72-year-old former restaurant owner on the set of the Women Tell All episode.
He shockingly told Parade that he felt like a villain during the most dramatic rose ceremony of the season, which aired just a week ago but was filmed months ago.
“I was overwhelmed with emotions," Gerry said of whittling down from three women to two. "I had built connections with those three women, knowing at that moment that I had to send someone home. I mean, no words describe that—when you give everything you have to someone, only to cut them off at the ankles, it’s unreal. It’s not the way life works.”
Related: Gerry Turner Blindsides Woman in Shocking Elimination
But it is how it works on The Bachelor franchise, and when asked if he felt like a bad guy, Gerry told Parade, “Oh, I did. Yeah, I did. As I said, I’m on this journey and I get to make the choices. I get to be the guy that no matter what, stands at the end. They didn’t get that benefit. It’s so unfair.”
ABC
Although Gerry knew The Golden Bachelor would require him to eliminate women, that didn’t make the things any easier!
“You know what the process is, you just haven’t been in it to feel it," the widower who tragically lost his wife Toni in 2017 noted. "And when you feel it, oh, there are some very difficult moments. The rose ceremonies are tough.”
On tonight's Women Tell All episode, fans finally got to see who went home in that cliffhanger rose ceremony and find out how the ladies feel a few months removed from Bachelor mansion. (Spoiler: Faith Martin was eliminated.)
Related: Meet The Golden Bachelor's Sexy Single Ladies
Gerry also reunited with third place finisher, Faith, whose ouster in week 6 caused him to storm out of the rose ceremony room, drop an F bomb and shout, “I’m dying inside!” (Turner should get an Emmy nomination for his dramatic meltdown scene!)
The two had an emotional reunion with both Gerry and Faith crying and embracing on stage, and he said it seems the two have gotten closure.
“I do, yeah. I think as we were leaving and she’s about to leave and I said, ‘Faith, one more,’ and we had a big hug,” Gerry told Parade. “And I mean in an innocent kind of way, she still expressed her affection for me and I expressed my affection for her, and I said, ‘When we break this hug, let’s be smiling.’ We broke, we pulled up a smile and that’s the way we ended it, on a smile rather than a difficult situation.”
ABC
Next week on the Fantasy Suites episode, Gerry will have overnight dates with his two final ladies, Theresa Nist and Leslie Fhima.
Related: Who Does Gerry Pick on The Golden Bachelor (Spoilers!)
These intimate camera-free nights may not have played out like Bachelor Nation fans have seen on shows featuring younger casts, but they likely gave Gerry a bit of clarity on who he will choose to spend the rest of his life with.
In fact, in a previous interview with Parade, Gerry said about fantasy suites, “I’ll give you a little inside scoop from behind the locked doors—those times were very important to my decision-making process. When are you able to have open and frank conversations with someone without cameras and without the judgement of millions of people watching, the conversation is much more earnest and honest and revealing.”
At the end of the Women Tell All episode, a preview trailer showed Gerry lamenting, “I’m in love with two women, but who would I be happiest with for the rest of my life?”
Later, Gerry cries, “I took a good person and broke her heart.”
When asked after the WTA taping how he would describe both Theresa and Leslie, Gerry refused to answer, but it appears that he did find love. Of his final outcome, he coyly told Parade, “The journey was successful.”
The Golden Bachelor airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The Fantasy Suites episode airs Nov. 16 and the Season 1 finale will be Nov. 30, after the show takes a break for Thanksgiving.
