The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner has revealed his one major dealbreaker in dating and how he prepared himself to date multiple women at once on the show.
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Earlier this week on Good Morning America, Gerry, a 71-year-old widowed father of two girls from Indiana, was announced as the upcoming star of The Golden Bachelor, which is set to air on Monday nights at 10PM ET/PT this fall.
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Gerry gushed about how he's "excited" -- but not that nervous, actually -- to helm the new The Bachelor spinoff, and he opened up about how strong family values are crucial to him when choosing a lifelong partner during the July 19 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast.
"What's really important is how close [the women] are to family," Gerry revealed to the podcast's co-hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
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Based on Gerry's dating history, it's apparently a huge turnoff when a woman is estranged from her kids.
"I've dated a few women along the way, and it's very revealing when someone doesn't have good, friendly ties with their children. It's like, 'Uhh, really?' It manifests itself in a number of ways," Gerry explained.
Gerry is very close to his two daughters. In fact, Gerry's girls had nominated him to be The Golden Bachelor star and ultimately urged him to sign up for it. Once ABC picked Gerry for the role, he recalled how they "started screaming" and cheering for him.
When asked how he's prepping to date potentially 30 women at once, Gerry shared, "Wow. That's a really good question, and I have given it a lot of thought. It's almost like you can't get away from it."
Gerry said he spends a lot of time "trying to figure out what are the good questions to ask" the ladies that "will reveal character."
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"[I want to find out] whether or not someone is genuinely a high-energy, competitive person," he said.
The Golden Bachelor star noted how Night 1 of filming will really "set the tone" and that he's most excited to meet the women, gather first impressions, and enjoy "every moment" of the process.
Gerry was a high school and college runner, and he previously owned and operated a fast-food restaurant. Gerry eventually sold his business and spent the rest of his career in food distribution.
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Gerry and his late wife, Toni, had met in high school in the 1960s, but they didn't begin dating until Gerry was a senior. The high school sweethearts eventually got married, welcomed two children, and stayed together for 43 years.
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Toni fell ill and passed away in 2017, just six weeks after she retired from her job.
"I have very little experience in dating," Gerry said with a laugh on "Bachelor Happy Hour," considering he was married for so long.
"It's been a tough process for me, I've got to admit," he added.
But Gerry teased on GMA earlier this week how fans shouldn't "discount" the possibility he may film a wedding special down the road.
The Golden Bachelor will air after new two-hour episodes of Dancing with the Stars' 32nd season on ABC.
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Official fall premiere dates and complete casting for the two reality TV series will be announced at a later date.
On The Golden Bachelor, Gerry will be given a second chance at love and will search for a partner with whom to share "the sunset years of life," according to ABC.
"The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?"
The Golden Bachelor, which is being produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon, has been in the works for quite some time.
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ABC's desire to film a senior edition of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette was first teased in early 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic seemed to delay producers' plans.
However, ABC executive Robert Mills assured fans in May 2022 that the long-mentioned spinoff would eventually come to fruition.
"The senior citizens show is definitely going to happen at some point," Mills told Variety at the time.
"The response to that is so massive every time we put up a casting call, so I think it's definitely coming sooner rather than later."
Mills added, "For us, we really feel a responsibility to find the right person to be that senior Bachelor. So, we're looking. COVID obviously put a major wrinkle in everything, but we are really looking back in earnest at it."
Mills hoped The Golden Bachelor would answer the following question: "[If you have] one great love in your lifetime, can you have another?"
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Mills called that idea "really interesting" and "not something" producers usually get to explore on The Bachelor franchise.
Mills concluded that "Senior Bachelor" was "really high on" producers' list.
A casting notice for the seniors project had originally appeared online in January 2020, disclosing that "producers of The Bachelor" were looking for single men and women age 65 or older.
However, the casting notice didn't reveal what network was attached to the show or whether it would be an actual spinoff of The Bachelor franchise.
And then a commercial break that aired during Peter Weber's season of The Bachelor in February 2020 featured former The Bachelor host Chris Harrison saying in a voiceover, "Looking for love in your golden years?"
Chris continued, "We're looking for eligible seniors who want their shot at love. To nominate someone or apply, go to abc.com/casting."
Upon visiting the show's casting page at the time, producers called the "exciting" new project a "new dating show for seniors" and were looking for older "active and outgoing single men and women" who were looking "for a committed relationship."
After the episode of Peter's season aired, ABC reality chief Robert Mills tweeted, "#Bachelornation give us your Grumpiest Old Men, give us your Goldenest Girls. #TheBachelor."
"To be clear," he added, "this is [age] 65 [and up]."
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