Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Is Actually Just a Weird Old Dude

By Emma Chance | TV | November 29, 2023 |

By Emma Chance | TV | November 29, 2023 |

I was open-minded about The Golden Bachelor. My first thought when the show was announced was, “Wait, they can’t have a gay bachelor/bachelorette or anyone over a size two, but they’re cool with old people?” But then I remembered that America is a dystopia and the Bachelor Nation audience probably is indeed more cool with the olds than with gay or regular-sized people. So, whatever. I gave it a shot. The first episode was, honestly, endearing. Gerry Turner, the leading man, was very tall, very tan—maybe that’s why it was called “golden?”—and had a nice enough story about his past marriage to his high school sweetheart, who tragically died right after they retired and purchased their dream home. The women he was set to choose between all seemed like that one cool aunt everyone has. Gerry had, allegedly, not so much as glanced in the general direction of a beautiful woman since his beloved wife died, so it felt like we were gearing up for a second puberty if you will: make-outs and hormones galore. Some of these women had to have been going through menopause, after all.

But then, as the night went on, I got creeped out. Gerry was just so innocent, too innocent for a man of his age. Surely this whole “Aw, shucks,” persona couldn’t sustain itself through a whole season. I got the sense that all was not as it seemed—or, if it was, it was just too boring and too earnest to stand. It was like I was watching my parents living in a frat house. I couldn’t do it.

Turns out, I was right. The Hollywood Reporter just dropped a juicy little exposé about dear old Ger, who is not an innocent old man after all.

Now, their reporting makes it sound like this guy is a full-fledged creeper, but it’s clear to me that the truth is a little less interesting than that. Really, he’s just a weird old dude who lied about some stuff. Namely, he didn’t exactly retire when he said he did but continued to work part-time at various establishments, including a mental health facility where he met his ex-girlfriend.

THR calls Turner’s ex Carolyn, so I will too. Turner and Carolyn had, according to her, a nearly three-year relationship. She was 14 years younger than him. They met while Turner was still married, and then started dating shortly after his wife died. She eventually moved into his and his wife’s dream home, which Turner had apparently begged her to do long before she felt comfortable or found it appropriate, what with him being a recent widower. She says that before she moved in, Turner made a promise to her elderly mother that he intended to marry her.

But the dream house was not dreamy for Carolyn. Turner informed her that she would be sharing the household expenses, amounting to $1,000 per month. She says she negotiated it down to $850, though it’s unclear what this money was meant to cover. He insisted they would split meals at restaurants, but she was to pay her half in advance so that he could pick up the whole tab, presumably making him look more macho. It all came to an end when she was packing to go to his high school reunion in October of 2019, and he told her “I’m not taking you to the reunion looking like that,” because she’d gained weight from the stress of being with him. They obviously broke up because the options were to break up or murder that terrible man with her bare hands. But the horrors didn’t end there. While she was packing to move out one day when Turner wasn’t home, she fell down the stairs, broke her foot, and needed surgery. When she’d finally healed, Turner escorted a walker-ridden Carolyn to her car with her meager belongings and sent her on her merry way.

The Golden Bachelor finale airs tomorrow night. In recent episodes, we’ve seen Turner blubbering about breaking one of his finalist’s hearts, ever the sincere septuagenarian. When he sends his runner-up home it will probably look a lot like his final parting with Carolyn, though hopefully the woman in question will have use of all her limbs.