He’s Hot, He’s Sexy, He’s 72: Meet the Star of ‘The Golden Bachelor’

It’s never too late to fall in love ... again! If you like the reality shows The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, get ready for the new spin-off: The Golden Bachelor, focusing on, you guessed it, older folks looking for love. It premieres Thursday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The object of female contestants’ affections is Gerry Turner, 72, a retired restaurateur whose high school sweetheart and wife, Toni, died suddenly in 2017 after 43 years of marriage, two daughters and two granddaughters — who advise him to brush up on his texting skills.

Pro tip for contestants out to win his heart: His first name is pronounced “GAIR-ee,” not “Jerry.”

“Dating on this show is going to be an altogether new experience,” Gerry explains to his family in a preview video. “What I hope is that I can look at one of those women and know that I’ve found the right person.”

Gerry Turner with his children, Jenny Young and Angie Warner, and grandchildren, Payton Young and Charlee Young.

Brian Bowen Smith/ABC

“I’m thinking, what are the characteristics I’m looking for? How do you like to spend your spare time? Do you like adventure? Do you like to cook? Like, we have such a good time in the kitchen, I mean it’s a mess and it’s chaos, and I always seem to get the cleanup duty. But I want to find that person that I know is the right one. I know you guys have always wanted me to be happy and that one person is out there somewhere that will do that.”

Gerry Turner resides in Indiana and is a retired restaurateur, father and grandfather.

Brian Bowen Smith/ABC

Anybody out there want to see who winds up joining him in his dream house on a lake in Indiana, where he hosts barbecues, plays pickleball and goes four-wheeling, cheers Chicago sports teams and knows exactly which restaurants to take his friends and family to for gustatory pleasures untold?

Here’s what ABC says you’ll see: “One hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”

He will if he knows what’s good for him.