The Golden Bachelor season 1
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| 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]
Filming and development
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
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
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
The Golden Bachelorette
Joan Vassos was the lead of the first season of The Golden Bachelorette, in which she got engaged to Chock Chapple.
Bachelor in Paradise
April Kirkwood, Faith Martin, Kathy Swarts, Leslie Fhima, Nancy Hulkower, and Natascha Hardee appeared on season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise.[37] Hardee, Hulkower, and Kirkwood were eliminated week 4. Fhima was eliminated week 5 alongside Gary Levingston. Martin was eliminated week 6 alongside Kim Buike. Swarts was eliminated week 9 alongside Keith Gordon.
Got to Get Out
Noles appeared on the first season of the Hulu show Got to Get Out.
Call-out order
| 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
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]