A 71-year-old retired restaurateur and widower will look for love on the first series of new reality show The Golden Bachelor.
Father-of-two Gerry Turner, from Indiana, will star in the spin-off of the long-running US dating shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, which usually feature contestants in their 20s and 30s.
He will be the first senior citizen to look for love in the franchise, which has been running for more than 20 years on US network ABC.
Meet Gerry Turner, a 71-year-old father of two ready to find love again! ❤️#TheGoldenBachelor@goldenbachabc pic.twitter.com/BInRx9HbTj
— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 17, 2023
Turner, who was married to his wife Toni for 43 years before she died in 2017, told Good Morning America appearing on the show “feels amazing and it’s still sinking in”.
Asked how she would feel about him looking for a new relationship on television, he said: “I have her picture on a dresser in my closet and every morning I give her the nod.
The golden age has arrived 💛 Meet Gerry, #TheGoldenBachelor, coming to ABC this Fall. pic.twitter.com/1l3KHQWgrY
— Golden Bachelor (@GoldenBachABC) July 17, 2023
“For a while I was having a hard time figuring out if she would be OK but we always told each other when one of us goes we want the other one to be happy.
“She’s up there rooting. She’s saying, ‘Yeah, Gerry, do this.’”
Turner said it was his daughters who urged him to sign up for the show, adding: “I would love it if I found a partner who was high energy, someone who maybe plays pickleball, someone that maybe plays golf.”
The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are available on Hayu in the UK. It is expected that The Golden Bachelor will also be available on the streaming service when it airs in the autumn.