The Golden Bachelor: ABCs Senior Citizen Star Finally Revealed as 71-Year-Old Grandpa

Posted by Reinaldo Massengill on Friday, August 9, 2024

“The Golden Bachelor” is officially here, and he’s proving that it’s never too late to find love.

Gerry Turner, a 71-year-old grandpa from Indiana, will star as ABC’s first-ever senior citizen leading man when he searches for love on television this fall.

“The Golden Bachelor” is the latest spinoff in the “The Bachelor” franchise, which has aired 60 seasons since it debuted in 2002. The upcoming series will showcase a “whole new kind of love story — one for the golden years,” per ABC’s synopsis, which says a “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 spinoff — which will air this fall on Mondays at 10 p.m. — is a new twist to ABC’s long-running dating show franchise, which for two decades has mostly centers around 20-something and 30-something casts.

Turner is described by the network as a “charming 71-year-old patriarch,” who will show that love stories “only get better with age.” 

A retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather, Gerry (pronounced like “Gary”), lives in his dream house on a beautiful lake in Indiana. He’s often busy hosting barbecues, playing pickleball, cheering on his favorite Chicago sports teams, four-wheeling and spending time with friends and family at restaurants and local haunts.

Turner married his high school sweetheart, Toni, in 1974. They lived a happy life together for 43 years, with their two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and later, their two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton. Sadly, Toni suddenly fell ill and died in 2017. Six years after her passing, and with the support of his family, Turner is now ready to find love again.

See photographs of the first star of “The Golden Bachelor” below.

  • Gerry Turner is a 71-year-old grandpa from Indiana.

  • The Golden Bachelor

    Turner is ABC’s first-ever star of “The Golden Bachelor.”

  • Turner is a retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather. He likes to host barbecues, play pickleball and cheer on his favorite Chicago sports teams.

  • Turner married his high school sweetheart in 1974. After living a full life together for 43 years, she suddenly fell ill and passed away in 2017. Now, he will search for love again on “The Golden Bachelor.”

  • “The Golden Bachelor” with his two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton.

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