ABC/Brian Bowen Smith
Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner’s Scandal Is ‘Unfortunate’: ‘The Right Thing to Do Is Address It’
Following the revelation that Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner had a girlfriend for three years before going on the show, a Bachelor insider tells Life & Style exclusively of the scandal, “This is just unfortunate.”
“I think moving forward, the right thing to do is address it on the live show,” the source says about what could happen when the finale airs on Thursday, November 30, followed by After the Final Rose. Gerry, 72, will make the tough choice between his final two contestants, Theresa Nist and Leslie Fhima.
Gerry had heavily implied he hadn’t been on the dating scene following the death of his wife, Toni, in 2017. However, a woman under the pseudonym “Carolyn” told The Hollywood Reporter in an article published on Wednesday, November 29, that the pair had a three-year relationship that began one month after his wife died.
The Golden Bachelor has proved to be a huge hit for the franchise with the retired Indiana restaurateur becoming the first lead on the show. Now, one of the women he let go might get the chance to hand out roses herself.
“I’m sure they will have a second season and they’re probably going to follow the same suit in that they’re just going to take someone from his season to be the next Bachelorette,” the insider reveals, adding, “So, I mean, they just got to do better next time.”
As for Gerry, the source says, “I’m sure they did the best they could,” when vetting him for the show.
The widower seemed like the ideal candidate to kick off The Golden Bachelor, with his good looks and heartbreaking story about how he lost the love of his life when high school sweetheart Toni died after 43 years of marriage. He heavily implied he had been single ever since while wooing his contestants, who now feel betrayed by the news of his long-term romance.
“The perfect guy fantasy has been shattered and a lot of the women who fell in love with him feel lied to,” another source exclusively told Life & Style. “It’s put a dark cloud over the whole show that was finally getting raves for finding a genuine, caring guy who stole America’s heart.”
Carolyn’s friend Susan McCreary told THR she was “flabbergasted” to hear Gerry say on the show that he hadn’t been kissed in six years, adding, “And I’m like, what? He’s got to know that people are paying attention to this show.”
Gerry allegedly used some of the lines while contestants that he used in the early stages of his romance with Carolyn. In a text message viewed by THR that Gerry sent on September 2, 2017, less that three months after his wife died, he wrote, “Damn, I go to bed at night thinking of you and wake up in the morning thinking of you.”
He told finalist Leslie during their trip to Costa Rica, “I have to have you with my morning coffee, I have to have you when I go to bed at night …”
