The Golden Bachelor season 1
| The Golden Bachelor | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Promotional poster | |
| Starring | Gerry Turner |
| Presented by | Jesse Palmer |
| No. of contestants | 22 |
| Winner | Theresa Nist |
| Runner-up | Leslie Fhima |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 28 – November 30, 2023 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of The Golden Bachelor — a spin-off of The Bachelor featuring contestants 60 and over — premiered on September 28, 2023 on ABC.
This season features 72-year-old Gerry Turner, a retired restaurateur and widower from Hudson, Indiana.[1] It concluded on November 30, 2023, with Turner choosing to propose to 70-year-old Theresa Nist.[2] ABC aired the wedding as a live special, The Golden Wedding, on January 4, 2024.[3] They divorced three months later.[4]
Production
[edit]Filming and development
[edit]Filming began in August 2023 in Los Angeles, and concluded in Costa Rica.[5]
As a result of the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, the series aired on Thursday nights followed by the ninth season of Bachelor in Paradise instead of on its originally intended Monday-night scheduling, to fill timeslots left vacant by scripted shows.[6]
Casting and contestants
[edit]Notable contestants included Patty James, mother of season 25 Bachelor Matt James, Renee Halverson-Wright, author and former Chicago Honey Bears cheerleader, and Susan Noles, ex-wife of retired baseball player Dickie Noles.[7][8][9] Former Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Trista Sutter, and then-incoming season 28 Bachelor Joey Graziadei all made guest appearances this season.[10][11]
Concetta "Chippy" Potenza—aunt of comedian and ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel—made a cameo as comic relief in the first episode, appearing as a fake "23rd contestant" trying to meet Turner, and sleeping through the rose ceremony.[12][13]
The day before the finale aired, an exposé was published by The Hollywood Reporter claiming that Turner had been in a long-term, live-in relationship after the death of his wife, contrasting with the persona he presented on the show. Additionally, there were discrepancies regarding his employment.[14]
Joan Vassos, who departed the show due to a family emergency, later became the lead for the first season of The Golden Bachelorette in 2024.[15][16]
Contestants
[edit]The 22 contestants were announced on August 30, 2023.[17]
| Name | Age | Hometown | Occupation | Outcome | Place | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theresa Nist[18] | 70 | Shrewsbury, New Jersey | Financial Services Professional | Winner | 1 | [19] |
| Leslie Fhima[20] | 64 | Golden Valley, Minnesota | Fitness Instructor | Runner-Up | 2 | |
| Faith Martin[21] | 61 | Benton City, Washington | High School Teacher | Week 6 | 3 | [22] |
| Ellen Goltzer[23] | 71 | Delray Beach, Florida | Retired Teacher | Week 5 | 4–6 | [24] |
| Sandra Mason[25] | 75 | Doraville, Georgia | Retired Executive Assistant | |||
| Susan Noles[9] | 66 | Aston, Pennsylvania | Wedding Officiant | |||
| April Kirkwood[23] | 65 | Port St. Lucie, Florida | Therapist | Week 4 | 7–8 | [11] |
| Kathy Swarts[26] | 70 | Austin, Texas | Retired Educational Consultant | |||
| Nancy Hulkower[27] | 60 | Alexandria, Virginia | Retired Interior Designer | 9 | ||
| Christina Kempton[28] | 73 | Sierra Madre, California | Retired Purchasing Manager | Week 3 | 10–11 | [29] |
| Edith Aguirre[30] | 60 | Downey, California | Retired Realtor | |||
| Joan Vassos[31] | 60 | Rockville, Maryland | Private School Administrator | 12 (quit) | ||
| Jeanie Howard[32] | 65 | Estill Springs, Tennessee | Retired Project Manager | Week 2 | 13–15 | [33] |
| Natascha Hardee[18] | 60 | New York City, New York | Pro-Aging Coach & Midlife Speaker | |||
| Peggy Dercole[34] | 69 | East Haven, Connecticut | Dental Hygienist | |||
| Marina Perera[35] | 60 | Los Angeles, California | Educator | 16 (quit) | ||
| Anna Zalk[18] | 61 | Summit, New Jersey | Retired Nutritionist | Week 1 | 17–22 | [36] |
| Maria Trice[18] | 60 | Teaneck, New Jersey | Health & Wellness Director | |||
| Pamela Burns[28] | 75 | Aurora, Illinois | Retired Salon Owner | |||
| Patty James[7] | 70 | Raleigh, North Carolina | Retired Real Estate Professional | |||
| Renee Halverson-Wright[8] | 67 | Middleton, Wisconsin | Author | |||
| Sylvia Robledo[28] | 64 | Los Angeles, California | Public Affairs Consultant |
Future appearances
[edit]The Golden Bachelorette
[edit]Joan Vassos was the lead of the first season of The Golden Bachelorette, in which she got engaged to Chock Chapple.
Bachelor in Paradise
[edit]April Kirkwood, Kathy Swartz, Leslie Fhima and Natascha Hardee are set to appear on season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise.[37]
Got to Get Out
[edit]Noles appeared on the first season of the Hulu show Got to Get Out.
Call-out order
[edit]| Order | Bachelorettes | Week | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7/8 | ||
| 1 | Edith | Faith | Theresa | Ellen | Sandra | Faith | Leslie | Theresa |
| 2 | Ellen | Ellen | Nancy | Kathy | Leslie | Leslie | Theresa | Leslie |
| 3 | Sandra | Theresa | Leslie | Faith | Ellen | Theresa | Faith | |
| 4 | Leslie | Joan | Joan | Sandra | Faith | Ellen Sandra Susan |
||
| 5 | Marina | Natascha | Edith | Leslie | Susan | |||
| 6 | Christina | Leslie | Ellen | Nancy | Theresa | |||
| 7 | Joan | Christina | Sandra | Susan | April Kathy |
|||
| 8 | Natascha | Edith | Susan | April | ||||
| 9 | Peggy | Nancy | Christina | Theresa | Nancy | |||
| 10 | Pamela | April | Faith | Christina Edith |
||||
| 11 | Kathy | Sandra | April | |||||
| 12 | Nancy | Jeanie | Kathy | Joan | ||||
| 13 | Theresa | Kathy | Jeanie Natascha Peggy |
|||||
| 14 | April | Marina | ||||||
| 15 | Renee | Peggy | ||||||
| 16 | Maria | Susan | Marina | |||||
| 17 | Anna | Anna Maria Pamela Patty Renee Sylvia |
||||||
| 18 | Susan | |||||||
| 19 | Patty | |||||||
| 20 | Sylvia | |||||||
| 21 | Jeanie | |||||||
| 22 | Faith | |||||||
- The contestant received the first impression rose
- The contestant received a rose during a date
- The contestant received a rose outside of a rose ceremony or date
- The contestant was eliminated
- The contestant was eliminated during a date
- The contestant was eliminated outside the rose ceremony
- The contestant received a rose during a date but quit the competition
- The contestant quit the competition
- The contestant won the competition
Ratings
[edit]The season premiere of The Golden Bachelor was the highest-rated premiere in the Bachelor franchise since 2021. ABC stated that the premiere had the highest Live+3 viewership of any Bachelor episode since The Bachelorette season 16, the highest key demographic (18–49) viewership in the franchise since a Bachelor in Paradise season 7 episode in 2021, and was the network's most-streamed non-scripted program on Hulu.[38][39][40] The season finale was seen by an average of 6.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode of the Bachelor franchise since the March 2021 finale of The Bachelor season 25 featuring Matt James.[2]
Episodes
[edit]| No. | Title | Original release date [41] | Prod. code [41] | U.S. viewers (millions) | Rating (18–49) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Week 1" | September 28, 2023 | 101 | 4.36[42] | 0.6[42] |
| 2 | "Week 2" | October 5, 2023 | 102 | 4.27[43] | 0.6[43] |
| 3 | "Week 3" | October 12, 2023 | 103 | 3.93[44] | 0.5[44] |
| 4 | "Week 4" | October 19, 2023 | 104 | 4.09[45] | 0.5[45] |
| 5 | "Week 5" | October 26, 2023 | 105 | 4.42[46] | 0.5[46] |
| 6 | "Week 6" | November 2, 2023 | 106 | 4.77[47] | 0.6[47] |
| 7 | "The Women Tell All" | November 9, 2023 | N/A | 4.89[48] | 0.5[48] |
| 8 | "Week 7" | November 16, 2023 | 107 | 5.26[49] | 0.7[49] |
| 9 | "Week 8: Finale and After the Final Rose" | November 30, 2023 | 108 | 6.09[50] | 0.8[50] |
Special
[edit]| No. | Title | Original release date [41] | Prod. code [41] | U.S. viewers (millions) | Rating (18–49) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | "The Golden Wedding" | January 4, 2024 | N/A | 5.21[51] | 0.6[51] |
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