Ubiquitous
2023-12-06 09:30:57 UTC
By sharp contrast to the young cads with sixpack abs previously populating
the hot tubs on ABCs The Bachelor, Gerry Turner, the handsome, 72-year-old
star of The Golden Bachelor spinoff, brought fresh air and life to the
franchise with something rarely seen on reality TV: genuine depth and
sensitivity.
Still a grieving widower, Gerry (pronounced Gairy) cried real tears during
the opening episode when he recounted the story of Toni, his beloved wife of
43 years, who tragically died of an infection just one month after their
move to their dream retirement house on Big Long Lake in Hudson, Indiana
(pop. 537).
It was a dramatic backstory. But our bachelor was able to switch gears and
interact easily with the attractive and equally senior female
contestants on the show. In doing so, he displayed such emotional awareness,
authenticity and willingness to listen that his whole persona seemed to have
been cooked up in some Perfect Man lab.
The ladies as theyre called on the program quickly started to swoon
and declare their love for him and, lets face it, we all fell for Ger.
Evidently, the world also saw that magic while watching Golden Gerry and the
women. The premiere earned the highest multiplatform rating for The Bachelor
franchise since 2021, with a combined 13.9 million viewers. It also set a
streaming record as ABCs most watched episode of an unscripted series ever
on Hulu after 35 days of viewing, according to ABC.
The idea that this guileless man was reawakening before our eyes to
contemporary life I mean, I havent dated in 45 years, he told
Entertainment Tonight made him a hugely compelling character. He seemed so
wholesome and almost preacherly that, on The Daily Show, comedian Lewis
Black joked, This guy is like if the word Gee Willikers became a person.
But even in this Golden variation, this is, at bottom, a reality show, a
genre mostly known for its frequent disconnection with reality.
Gerry Turner on THE GOLDEN BACHELOR
Gerry Turner on The Golden Bachelor. B/ABCrian Bowen Smith
Recently, Turner appeared on Justin Longs Life Is Short podcast and told
the host about the elaborate screening process he was subjected to: I had
to send my fingerprints to the FBI, there were numerous background tests.
There was a psychological evaluation that was like 360 questions and then
another hour of interview, he said. The vetting process is ridiculously
thorough.
But despite this vetting, The Hollywood Reporter has discovered several
inconsistencies regarding both his work history and recent romantic
entanglements that contradict the received narrative.
Whether they never learned about these discrepancies or ignored them to sell
a buffed-up, shinier storyline for greater impact, producers presented an
incomplete and misleading image of Turner, which the bachelor helped
perpetuate in personal remarks.
Hes identified in chyrons throughout the show as a retired restaurateur,
which is a fancy way to say he owns or owned a restaurant, with all of its
attendant fun and glamour.
But according to his profile on LinkedIn, Gerry last owned a restaurant in
1985, when he sold his Mr. Quick hamburger drive-in franchise in Iowa, where
hed worked his way up from high school.
After that, he held various sales and management positions in the meat
business, again per his LinkedIn résumé, which does not list an end date for
his employment.
That does not match up with the idea pushed on the show, that he retired at
the young age of 55, which would have been in 2006. Never mentioned are his
years of pick-up post-retirement work, like installing hot tubs at Gannon
Pools near Davenport, Iowa (as confirmed by owner Kerry Gannon). He then
worked as a maintenance man at the Vera French Mental Health Center, also in
the Davenport area, as verified by his colleagues, who spoke highly of him.
It was in the latter capacity that he would come to know a woman (well call
her Carolyn) with whom he would go on to have a nearly three-year
relationship, beginning innocently enough a month after his wifes death.
Attractive and 14 years his junior, she was a staff accountant at the mental
health center. They dated for 10 months, and then lived together for one
year and nine months. This account is drawn from interviews with Carolyn
(who requested not to be named to protect her privacy), as well as friends
she confided in at the time and text messages with Gerry, among other
documents.
The fact that he started dating is not unexpected. He was single and a
widower, after all, not cheating. But his amorous activity certainly didnt
align with how he regularly yanked viewers heartstrings with on-air
announcements about his lack of a love life since his wife died. (He later
touchingly admitted to one pre-show kiss on The Bachelor Happy Hour
podcast.)
Carolyn apparently wasnt the only relationship he and the Golden Bachelor
producers failed to mention. This fall, a reporter from the U.S. Sun reached
out to Heather, a waitress at The Shady Nook, a bar and restaurant located
on the lake in Hudson, Indiana, next door to Gerrys new lake house, so
close that hed essentially made it his bachelor clubhouse.
Heather Lanning-Adams, who no longer works at the Shady Nook, considered
Gerry her friend. She told the reporter that in the past six years, He
dated a couple of women. They werent all long-term, but they werent
short-term either. He was with a couple of women for a decent amount of
time, but it just didnt work out.
Carolyn, meanwhile, didnt want the years of her life as the Golden
Bachelors
girlfriend to become national news fodder. But neither did she want to be
the invisible woman, whispered about in Davenport as the gullible gal
Gerry duped and then dumped.
I just cant believe this has happened to my girlfriend, said Susan
McCreary, a close friend of Carolyns.
When Carolyn and Gerry first started dating [in September 2017], my husband
and I took them to an Iowa [Hawkeyes] football game, Susan said. I
thought, This guys legit. This guys a really good guy for her.
McCreary recalled watching the show and hearing Gerry say that line about
not having been kissed in six years. And Im like, what? Hes got to know
that people are paying attention to this show. Im just flabbergasted.
(ABC and Turner declined to comment for this article.)
At first, Carolyn tried to laugh it off. But then The Golden Bachelor became
a ratings bonanza. The show was suddenly the talk of pop culture, considered
a breakthrough for its positive portrayal of sexually active seniors.
It bothered Carolyn that her ex was foisting lines and moves on the
bachelorettes that he had used to seduce her.
Damn, I go to bed at night thinking of you and wake up in the morning
thinking of you, he had texted Carolyn on Sept. 2, 2017, less than three
months after Tonis death, in a message viewed by THR.
He would go on to say something similar to Leslie, the fitness
instructor/dancer/ex-squeeze of Prince who became one of Gerrys two
finalists. During one of their intense sessions in Costa Rica, he told her,
I have to have you with my morning coffee, I have to have you when I go to
bed at night
Carolyn became friends with Gerry at the mental health community in
Davenport, where he was beloved by co-workers and patients alike.
(Apparently, he was great at conflict resolution.) Carolyn and the staff
threw him a retirement party when he left to move to the lake with Toni.
Then, we get the shocking news that Toni passed away, so most everyone at
the office went to the visitation in July, said Carolyn.
Then, in August, I got a phone call from Gerry, she said. I was so
shocked to hear from him.
On that call, Gerry said he was coming to Davenport to work on his wifes
estate and asked whether Carolyn could help him with donating Tonis
corporate wardrobe to Dress for Success.
She was happy to help. Gerry took her to dinner after as a thank you.
The idea that Id go out with a recent widower just mortifies me, Carolyn
now says. I just really didnt see it. Until I went back and looked at my
text messages, I never realized Gerrys texts had turned hot and heavy so
relatively soon.
Indeed, an eager and self-deprecating Gerry joked while texting, I got
LUCKY when you first said you would go to dinner with me two weeks ago. I
mean how often does an old geezer get the beautiful girl?
Soon thereafter, Gerry texted: You are the right woman for me. No need to
look further.
Gerry persisted in asking her to move in with him at the lake house for
almost a year before Carolyn would even consider it.
Eventually, Carolyn fell hard, driving five hours to spend what she
remembers as blissful weekends with Gerry at his dream house on Big Long
Lake.
After a year of such weekends, she finally agreed to move in with him. But
before she gave up her settled life in Iowa, she says, Gerry promised her
elderly mom that he intended eventually to marry Carolyn.
She tells THR that he suggested she quit her job and get a new one near the
lake house. This proved impossible, since its in the middle of nowhere,
as she put it, but she did get an accounting job with a company in Fort
Wayne, nearly an hours commute each way.
She arrived the last weekend of July 2018. (THR has viewed mail that was
sent to her at his house, and a background check listed his address as her
primary residence for that period.) Then, the surprises started. Gerry told
Carolyn that her share of the expenses would be about $1,000 a month, which
Carolyn negotiated down to $850. They would go Dutch on all meals except on
special occasions, she remembers him telling her. At restaurants, Carolyn
paid her half in advance, and then when the check came, Gerry paid the whole
tab, like the big man.
They agreed Gerry was fastidious about cleanliness. In the mornings, she
says, Gerry insisted that Carolyn make the bed before she come upstairs for
breakfast.
But Carolyns Big Long Lake idyll with Gerry was about to end.
She was packing for Gerrys high school reunion, set to take place in
October 2019. Im not taking you to the reunion looking like that, Carolyn
recalls him saying as he pointed to her body. Shed put on 10 pounds from
stress, she says but certainly wasnt fat.
The disinvitation led to the breakup. Gerry told Carolyn to be out by Jan.
1, 2020. He volunteered to cover the cost of her U-Haul as long as she paid
the vendor, and he reimbursed her.
She spent her first packing day alone while Gerry was out. She says she was
so frazzled that she fell down the stairs, requiring a trip to the ER and
foot surgery the following day as confirmed by a hospital bill viewed by
THR. Gerry arrived home that night, and as Carolyn recalls accused her
of using the fall as an excuse to prolong her stay and suggested that she
was planning to sue him for causing the injury.
In the end, she says, he refused to allow Carolyn to stay in their love nest
during the final week of the two weeks notice she was required to give her
boss before leaving her job. He told her to go to a hotel.
It was the dead of winter, and Carolyn struggled to get to her car in her
walker, Gerry at her side, as she recalls. She might have been any one of
the roseless Golden Bachelorettes, told by a suddenly somber Jesse Palmer to
take a minute and gather your things.
I really wish this wouldve worked out, she remembers him telling her.
Call me when you get to your hotel, so I know you made it safe.
Carolyn shared her account of the tumultuous breakup with friends and
relatives, who confirmed this to THR.
Three years have since passed. In the sneak peek for the programs finale,
which airs Nov. 30 (read what happened on the finale here), Gerry is shown
sobbing about his tough decision. Hed chosen to spend one night each with
finalists Leslie Fhima and Theresa Nist, back-to-back in the fantasy suites,
and separately told each that she was the one.
By now, the gold dust was falling away. Gerry was fitting more into the
typical Bachelor profile. He appears distraught on camera: The only time
Ive
felt this bad in my life is when my wife died, and this is a goddamn close
second.
Later he blubbered, I took a really good person and broke her heart.
True. But for Gerry, that should be getting easier with experience.
--
Let's go Brandon!
the hot tubs on ABCs The Bachelor, Gerry Turner, the handsome, 72-year-old
star of The Golden Bachelor spinoff, brought fresh air and life to the
franchise with something rarely seen on reality TV: genuine depth and
sensitivity.
Still a grieving widower, Gerry (pronounced Gairy) cried real tears during
the opening episode when he recounted the story of Toni, his beloved wife of
43 years, who tragically died of an infection just one month after their
move to their dream retirement house on Big Long Lake in Hudson, Indiana
(pop. 537).
It was a dramatic backstory. But our bachelor was able to switch gears and
interact easily with the attractive and equally senior female
contestants on the show. In doing so, he displayed such emotional awareness,
authenticity and willingness to listen that his whole persona seemed to have
been cooked up in some Perfect Man lab.
The ladies as theyre called on the program quickly started to swoon
and declare their love for him and, lets face it, we all fell for Ger.
Evidently, the world also saw that magic while watching Golden Gerry and the
women. The premiere earned the highest multiplatform rating for The Bachelor
franchise since 2021, with a combined 13.9 million viewers. It also set a
streaming record as ABCs most watched episode of an unscripted series ever
on Hulu after 35 days of viewing, according to ABC.
The idea that this guileless man was reawakening before our eyes to
contemporary life I mean, I havent dated in 45 years, he told
Entertainment Tonight made him a hugely compelling character. He seemed so
wholesome and almost preacherly that, on The Daily Show, comedian Lewis
Black joked, This guy is like if the word Gee Willikers became a person.
But even in this Golden variation, this is, at bottom, a reality show, a
genre mostly known for its frequent disconnection with reality.
Gerry Turner on THE GOLDEN BACHELOR
Gerry Turner on The Golden Bachelor. B/ABCrian Bowen Smith
Recently, Turner appeared on Justin Longs Life Is Short podcast and told
the host about the elaborate screening process he was subjected to: I had
to send my fingerprints to the FBI, there were numerous background tests.
There was a psychological evaluation that was like 360 questions and then
another hour of interview, he said. The vetting process is ridiculously
thorough.
But despite this vetting, The Hollywood Reporter has discovered several
inconsistencies regarding both his work history and recent romantic
entanglements that contradict the received narrative.
Whether they never learned about these discrepancies or ignored them to sell
a buffed-up, shinier storyline for greater impact, producers presented an
incomplete and misleading image of Turner, which the bachelor helped
perpetuate in personal remarks.
Hes identified in chyrons throughout the show as a retired restaurateur,
which is a fancy way to say he owns or owned a restaurant, with all of its
attendant fun and glamour.
But according to his profile on LinkedIn, Gerry last owned a restaurant in
1985, when he sold his Mr. Quick hamburger drive-in franchise in Iowa, where
hed worked his way up from high school.
After that, he held various sales and management positions in the meat
business, again per his LinkedIn résumé, which does not list an end date for
his employment.
That does not match up with the idea pushed on the show, that he retired at
the young age of 55, which would have been in 2006. Never mentioned are his
years of pick-up post-retirement work, like installing hot tubs at Gannon
Pools near Davenport, Iowa (as confirmed by owner Kerry Gannon). He then
worked as a maintenance man at the Vera French Mental Health Center, also in
the Davenport area, as verified by his colleagues, who spoke highly of him.
It was in the latter capacity that he would come to know a woman (well call
her Carolyn) with whom he would go on to have a nearly three-year
relationship, beginning innocently enough a month after his wifes death.
Attractive and 14 years his junior, she was a staff accountant at the mental
health center. They dated for 10 months, and then lived together for one
year and nine months. This account is drawn from interviews with Carolyn
(who requested not to be named to protect her privacy), as well as friends
she confided in at the time and text messages with Gerry, among other
documents.
The fact that he started dating is not unexpected. He was single and a
widower, after all, not cheating. But his amorous activity certainly didnt
align with how he regularly yanked viewers heartstrings with on-air
announcements about his lack of a love life since his wife died. (He later
touchingly admitted to one pre-show kiss on The Bachelor Happy Hour
podcast.)
Carolyn apparently wasnt the only relationship he and the Golden Bachelor
producers failed to mention. This fall, a reporter from the U.S. Sun reached
out to Heather, a waitress at The Shady Nook, a bar and restaurant located
on the lake in Hudson, Indiana, next door to Gerrys new lake house, so
close that hed essentially made it his bachelor clubhouse.
Heather Lanning-Adams, who no longer works at the Shady Nook, considered
Gerry her friend. She told the reporter that in the past six years, He
dated a couple of women. They werent all long-term, but they werent
short-term either. He was with a couple of women for a decent amount of
time, but it just didnt work out.
Carolyn, meanwhile, didnt want the years of her life as the Golden
Bachelors
girlfriend to become national news fodder. But neither did she want to be
the invisible woman, whispered about in Davenport as the gullible gal
Gerry duped and then dumped.
I just cant believe this has happened to my girlfriend, said Susan
McCreary, a close friend of Carolyns.
When Carolyn and Gerry first started dating [in September 2017], my husband
and I took them to an Iowa [Hawkeyes] football game, Susan said. I
thought, This guys legit. This guys a really good guy for her.
McCreary recalled watching the show and hearing Gerry say that line about
not having been kissed in six years. And Im like, what? Hes got to know
that people are paying attention to this show. Im just flabbergasted.
(ABC and Turner declined to comment for this article.)
At first, Carolyn tried to laugh it off. But then The Golden Bachelor became
a ratings bonanza. The show was suddenly the talk of pop culture, considered
a breakthrough for its positive portrayal of sexually active seniors.
It bothered Carolyn that her ex was foisting lines and moves on the
bachelorettes that he had used to seduce her.
Damn, I go to bed at night thinking of you and wake up in the morning
thinking of you, he had texted Carolyn on Sept. 2, 2017, less than three
months after Tonis death, in a message viewed by THR.
He would go on to say something similar to Leslie, the fitness
instructor/dancer/ex-squeeze of Prince who became one of Gerrys two
finalists. During one of their intense sessions in Costa Rica, he told her,
I have to have you with my morning coffee, I have to have you when I go to
bed at night
Carolyn became friends with Gerry at the mental health community in
Davenport, where he was beloved by co-workers and patients alike.
(Apparently, he was great at conflict resolution.) Carolyn and the staff
threw him a retirement party when he left to move to the lake with Toni.
Then, we get the shocking news that Toni passed away, so most everyone at
the office went to the visitation in July, said Carolyn.
Then, in August, I got a phone call from Gerry, she said. I was so
shocked to hear from him.
On that call, Gerry said he was coming to Davenport to work on his wifes
estate and asked whether Carolyn could help him with donating Tonis
corporate wardrobe to Dress for Success.
She was happy to help. Gerry took her to dinner after as a thank you.
The idea that Id go out with a recent widower just mortifies me, Carolyn
now says. I just really didnt see it. Until I went back and looked at my
text messages, I never realized Gerrys texts had turned hot and heavy so
relatively soon.
Indeed, an eager and self-deprecating Gerry joked while texting, I got
LUCKY when you first said you would go to dinner with me two weeks ago. I
mean how often does an old geezer get the beautiful girl?
Soon thereafter, Gerry texted: You are the right woman for me. No need to
look further.
Gerry persisted in asking her to move in with him at the lake house for
almost a year before Carolyn would even consider it.
Eventually, Carolyn fell hard, driving five hours to spend what she
remembers as blissful weekends with Gerry at his dream house on Big Long
Lake.
After a year of such weekends, she finally agreed to move in with him. But
before she gave up her settled life in Iowa, she says, Gerry promised her
elderly mom that he intended eventually to marry Carolyn.
She tells THR that he suggested she quit her job and get a new one near the
lake house. This proved impossible, since its in the middle of nowhere,
as she put it, but she did get an accounting job with a company in Fort
Wayne, nearly an hours commute each way.
She arrived the last weekend of July 2018. (THR has viewed mail that was
sent to her at his house, and a background check listed his address as her
primary residence for that period.) Then, the surprises started. Gerry told
Carolyn that her share of the expenses would be about $1,000 a month, which
Carolyn negotiated down to $850. They would go Dutch on all meals except on
special occasions, she remembers him telling her. At restaurants, Carolyn
paid her half in advance, and then when the check came, Gerry paid the whole
tab, like the big man.
They agreed Gerry was fastidious about cleanliness. In the mornings, she
says, Gerry insisted that Carolyn make the bed before she come upstairs for
breakfast.
But Carolyns Big Long Lake idyll with Gerry was about to end.
She was packing for Gerrys high school reunion, set to take place in
October 2019. Im not taking you to the reunion looking like that, Carolyn
recalls him saying as he pointed to her body. Shed put on 10 pounds from
stress, she says but certainly wasnt fat.
The disinvitation led to the breakup. Gerry told Carolyn to be out by Jan.
1, 2020. He volunteered to cover the cost of her U-Haul as long as she paid
the vendor, and he reimbursed her.
She spent her first packing day alone while Gerry was out. She says she was
so frazzled that she fell down the stairs, requiring a trip to the ER and
foot surgery the following day as confirmed by a hospital bill viewed by
THR. Gerry arrived home that night, and as Carolyn recalls accused her
of using the fall as an excuse to prolong her stay and suggested that she
was planning to sue him for causing the injury.
In the end, she says, he refused to allow Carolyn to stay in their love nest
during the final week of the two weeks notice she was required to give her
boss before leaving her job. He told her to go to a hotel.
It was the dead of winter, and Carolyn struggled to get to her car in her
walker, Gerry at her side, as she recalls. She might have been any one of
the roseless Golden Bachelorettes, told by a suddenly somber Jesse Palmer to
take a minute and gather your things.
I really wish this wouldve worked out, she remembers him telling her.
Call me when you get to your hotel, so I know you made it safe.
Carolyn shared her account of the tumultuous breakup with friends and
relatives, who confirmed this to THR.
Three years have since passed. In the sneak peek for the programs finale,
which airs Nov. 30 (read what happened on the finale here), Gerry is shown
sobbing about his tough decision. Hed chosen to spend one night each with
finalists Leslie Fhima and Theresa Nist, back-to-back in the fantasy suites,
and separately told each that she was the one.
By now, the gold dust was falling away. Gerry was fitting more into the
typical Bachelor profile. He appears distraught on camera: The only time
Ive
felt this bad in my life is when my wife died, and this is a goddamn close
second.
Later he blubbered, I took a really good person and broke her heart.
True. But for Gerry, that should be getting easier with experience.
--
Let's go Brandon!