The Golden Bachelorette was one of the most-anticipated new reality TV shows, but, in the wake of The Golden Bachelor divorce and other developments, ABC should scrap the idea. The Golden Bachelor, a reality dating show for seniors, was a tremendous success for ABC. Not only did it end with Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist getting engaged, but it also resulted in the Golden Wedding, during which they got married in a live, televised event. The lavish affair featured several Bachelor Nation alums, and was a beautiful ending to the reality dating series.
However, just three months after the Golden wedding, Gerry and Theresa announced on Good Morning America that they were getting a divorce. They explained that they couldn’t decide where to live because neither one of them wanted to leave their families. Gerry and Theresa’s divorce sent shockwaves through Bachelor Nation. Because of their breakup, and for some other reasons, ABC should consider putting The Golden Bachelorette season 1 on hold or abandoning the show completely.
When The Golden Bachelor aired, viewers were captivated by Gerry and Theresa’s love story. It inspired them and gave them the hope that people could find love at any age. People loved seeing them meet, fall in love, get engaged, and then get married on the show. However, when the fantasy ended, and real life took over, Gerry and Theresa realized that their fairy tale wasn’t going to have a happy ending.
It’s going to be very hard for viewers to invest in The Golden Bachelorette knowing that The Golden Bachelor ended in heartache. This has happened in the past when viewers were so jaded by previous Bachelor and Bachelorette season failures that they couldn’t bear to watch a new lead’s journey unfold. ABC should wait to air The Golden Bachelorette until the sting of Gerry and Theresa’s divorce has subsided, and viewers are ready to believe in the process of the show again.
Towards the end of The Golden Bachelor, accusations that the show hadn’t been entirely forthcoming about Gerry’s dating history surfaced, which made viewers question just how real the reality show was. Gerry had been portrayed as a widower who hadn’t dated anyone in the six years since his wife Toni had suddenly passed away due to a bacterial infection. However, when a woman Gerry had allegedly dated before the show came forward, this story was called into question.
A bombshell article from The Hollywood Reporter had alleged that Gerry had had a serious girlfriend before he became the Golden Bachelor, who even lived with him for one year and nine months. The article also stated that Gerry had broken up with her because she’d gained ten pounds before his high school reunion. Gerry denied the accusations, but the damage to his reputation was done. If The Golden Bachelorette lead is someone completely new, it’s going to be very hard for Bachelor Nation to believe whatever story the show puts forth about her. Without trust, the show might as well not even happen.
Several of The Golden Bachelor contestants have been considered front-runners to take on the lead role of The Golden Bachelorette. Runner-up Leslie Fhima has been at the top of the list, along with Faith Martin, Joan Vassos, Susan Noles, Kathy Swarts, and Sandra Mason. However, a few of these contestants, Leslie, Susan, Kathy, and Sandra, have made Bachelor Nation appearances that are possibly starting to feel like overexposure.
Susan appeared twice in Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season, as a judge during a talent show and as a trusted advisor for Rachel Nance before her overnight Fantasy Suite date. She also was Gerry and Theresa’s wedding officiant at the Golden Wedding. In addition, Kathy also was a judge during the talent show, and also served as a Gold Carpet correspondent at the Golden Wedding, greeting and interviewing the guests as they arrived. Now Susan and Kathy are the co-hosts of the Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour podcast. Leslie also appeared in Joey’s season as the advisor to eventual winner Kelsey Anderson, while Sandra gave guidance to eventual runner-up Daisy Kent.
If The Golden Bachelorette casts one of these women as its first-ever lead, there will be the advantage of familiarity, but also the risk of overexposure. Some viewers are getting tired of seeing the same faces on their screens. While all of these women are wonderful, if the producers are just going to give Bachelor Nation more of the same, they might be better off skipping the show altogether.
The Bachelor franchise is notorious for putting its leads and contestants in embarrassing and degrading situations. From forcing the men to wear Speedos during group dates to having Joey’s contestants get smacked in the face with sausages as they tried to catch them in their mouths, the people on the show haven’t been treated with respect. However, they participated in these challenges in the name of love.
Senior women have been invisible on reality TV dating shows for a long time. The Golden Bachelorette is a wonderful opportunity for older women to be represented in the genre. However, the Bachelor producers have proven time and again that they can’t be trusted with the responsibility of portraying people in a positive light. They might go for the cheap and easy stereotype of an overtly sexual grandmother that people are tired of seeing on their TV screens in sitcoms. If the Golden Bachelorette producers can’t get it right, then they shouldn’t do the show at all.
There have been many rumors that The Golden Bachelorette will be taking the place of Bachelor in Paradise on ABC’s schedule. While the past two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise were failures because all of the couples eventually broke up, fans still enjoy watching their favorite franchise alums date and fall in love on the beaches of Mexico. The drama and insanity of the show is very entertaining.
Although fans have been excited about The Golden Bachelorette for a long time, it shouldn’t come at the cost of Bachelor in Paradise season 10. If Bachelor in Paradise is, at best, put on hiatus, or, at worst, canceled because of The Golden Bachelorette, this will cause a lot of resentment. Perhaps viewers won’t even tune in to The Golden Bachelorette out of spite. Bachelor in Paradise is a beloved show, and it would probably be better to air its milestone tenth season rather than an entirely new Golden Bachelorette series. Perhaps both can air together like ABC did with The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise season 9.
Another problem with The Golden Bachelorette is that it’s stealing The Bachelorette star Jenn Tran’s thunder. After Jenn was announced as the star of The Bachelorette season 21, people seemed to skip right over her, wondering who the Golden Bachelorette would be. The rumor is that The Golden Bachelorette will air right after Jenn’s season, which is a bad idea.
As the first-ever Asian American Bachelor franchise lead, Jenn should be celebrated. Having viewers await The Golden Bachelorette lead announcement during her season is only going to take away from that. Jenn’s season is important, and she deserves to have everyone’s attention focused completely on her. Some people might not even tune into Jenn’s season because they won’t want to watch back-to-back Bachelorettes. Perhaps ABC should delay The Golden Bachelorette so that Jenn can have her moment without any distractions.
Before The Golden Bachelor, nobody knew what to expect from a reality dating show for seniors. People certainly didn’t forsee it becoming the inspiring phenomenon that it was. There was concern that it might make a joke of older people dating, but instead it gave people of all ages so much hope about finding love. Now that Gerry and Theresa are getting divorced,the pressure will be on for The Golden Bachelorette to be successful.
However, The Golden Bachelorette will never be able to live up to these high expectations. The lead and the contestants are only human and are bound to make mistakes. Since Bachelor Nation can be extremely hard on the show’s stars and contestants, ABC might be better off waiting to air The Golden Bachelorette. The network should consider the feelings of its future stars, and decide that the show isn’t worth the harm and heartache that it could cause.
The Golden Bachelor seemed to be the most successful franchise show due to the maturity of its lead and contestants. However, in the end, their older ages played a role in its failure. Gerry and Theresa were understandably too devoted to their own families to fully commit to each other, and this problem will most likely arise for many people who’d sign up for the show. Whether they’re devoted to their families, their hometowns, their jobs, or anything else, people in their 60s and 70s have obligations that people in their 20s simply don’t have.
The Golden Bachelorette is going to have to take this into consideration when it casts its lead and contestants. If any of them are unwilling to relocate in order to make their relationship work, then they shouldn’t be cast on the show. Otherwise, The Golden Bachelorette will end up with the same problem as The Golden Bachelor, and isn’t worth doing.
If the Golden Bachelorette lead decides to get engaged at the end of the season, there’s no way that ABC can ever do a Golden Wedding special again. Gerry and Theresa’s divorce proved that their marriage was a hasty decision made by two people who didn’t fully know each other, but got swept up in the moment. Marriage isn’t a joke, and Bachelor Nation won’t tolerate another Golden Wedding so soon after the end of the show. They might not even accept another engagement.