The Golden Bachelor premiered in 2023 and expanded ABC’s long-running Bachelor franchise to a brand-new demographic. The Golden Bachelor was a fresh take on the franchise and featured senior citizens looking for love. Starring retired restauranteur Gerry Turner as the leading man, The Golden Bachelor featured 22 senior ladies who tried to win his heart. The Golden Bachelor was exactly what the Bachelor franchise needed after it slowly seemed to have been losing its original charm.
Over 9 million people tuned in for The Golden Bachelor finale where Turner proposed to and married Theresa Nist. This marked the entire franchise’s best audience in almost four years and opened the doors for a gender-swapped version of the spinoff soon after. The Golden Bachelorette premiered in September 2024 and starred Joan Vassos, who initially appeared as one of the ladies in Turner’s season. Now that Vassos’s season has ended, with her choosing Chock Chapple as her perfect match, the big question is: What does the future hold for the senior-focused The Bachelor spinoff? Here are 10 reasons why I think ABC should keep making more of them.
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The Golden Bachelor
Release Date September 28, 2023
Cast Jesse Palmer , Gerry Turner , Leslie Fhima , Theresa Nist
Seasons 1
Network ABC
Streaming Service(s) Hulu
Franchise(s) The Bachelor
10 ‘The Bachelor’ Franchise Is in Serious Need of Reinvention
The Golden Bachelor Puts a Fresh Spin on Reality Dating
Image via ABCThe Bachelor franchise has been around since 2002. Now, it’s fair to say that The Bachelor has been the benchmark for every dating show after it. The entire idea of one leading man or leading lady being wooed by a group of romantic interests makes for pretty entertaining TV. But I have to admit that over the years, all the Bachelor shows have been getting a little repetitive. Sure, every season is different in terms of the contestants. But because there have been little to no new additions to the format, it’s easy for all the Bachelor spinoffs to lose individuality. But with The Golden Bachelor, you have a brand-new layer of emotional maturity that has been missing from the franchise for a while now.
The core idea of The Golden Bachelor franchise is the same with all the extravagant dates, heartfelt confessions of love, and the highly-anticipated rose ceremony. However, because the entire show focuses on a demographic that you rarely see on reality TV, everything becomes all the more interesting. Seeing how a mature group of contestants react to dating in front of the cameras is a breath of fresh air. Unlike a lot of the contestants on the regular Bachelor shows, the contestants and leads on The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette have already lived full lives, gotten married, and had children. So, they bring in a level of complexity that you haven’t seen in the world of reality TV dating ever before.
9 The Numbers Don’t Lie
‘The Golden Bachelor’ Franchise Is a Ratings Success
Image via ABC The premiere of The Golden Bachelor in 2023 became the highest-rated debut for an unscripted ABC series in almost two years. It also became the most-watched premiere in The Bachelor franchise since Matt James’s season in 2021. In a lot of ways, The Golden Bachelor revived the entire franchise and no one saw it coming. Just the fact that the fans were curious to tune into the show and see what it was all about goes to show that ABC made the right choice by giving it the go-ahead. Banking on the success of its predecessor, the series premiere of The Golden Bachelorette was watched by 2.8 million live viewers.
Now, it’s true that the female-focused installment of the franchise wasn’t as much of a ratings hit as compared to its male-focused counterpart. But it still marked a 45% increase compared to The Bachelor Season 27, which premiered in 2023. The viewership for The Golden Bachelorette also grew with delayed viewing across multiple platforms. Ultimately, the multiplatform audience for the premiere episode hit 13.9 million total viewers within 35 days. So, even on their worst days in terms of ratings, The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette perform way better than any of the other Bachelor shows. That’s because the audience initially tunes in due to curiosity, but stays for the neat and glamorous seniors genuinely looking for a partner. That’s more than enough proof of the fact that the senior-focused franchise isn’t a one-hit wonder. And if that’s not a sign to keep it going, I don’t know what is.
8 Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist Cannot Be the Benchmark
The Show Is Bigger Than Their Divorce
Image via ABC The one reason why people might feel skeptical about The Golden Bachelor is the fact that the first-ever couple on the franchise couldn’t make things work. It’s almost like a bad omen. After Nist and Turner announced their divorce only three months after getting married to each other in a televised ceremony, you had to wonder whether The Golden Bachelor was as authentic as fans initially thought it was. Of course, there have been several times when couples on The Bachelor have not been able to make things work in the long run. But you can’t really blame the franchise for it. While it’s true that their love story was central to the franchise in the beginning, the show is about so much more than whether-or-not a couple makes it to the aisle - and Joan Vassos proved that!
Vassos decided not to get married to Chock Chapple in The Golden Bachelorette finale. Instead, the couple revealed that they were planning on traveling, spending time with each other’s families, and settling down in New York together. This highlights the very thing that makes the senior-focused spinoffs so unique. They show that commitment can take several different forms, especially when you’re looking at a mature demographic. What the show really is about is showing older adults open themselves up to love once again. So, individual couples and where their journeys go can’t really take away from what the show does so well.
7 The Untapped Potential of Fan Favorites As Leads
Banking on Curiosity
Image via ABC Historically, The Bachelor franchise has always taken fan-favorite contestants from the shows and turned them into series leads. Vassos is one such example from The Golden Bachelor Season 1. After she had to leave the show midway to be with her family during an emergency, the fans were immediately curious to know what happened to her. And bringing her back as the first Golden Bachelorette was the perfect way for the producers to capitalize on that curiosity. The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette have been such hits with fans, mostly due to their relatable contestants and the vulnerability they have shown on their journeys to finding love.
The Golden Bachelor franchise already has a bunch of contestants that didn’t make it to the final rose ceremonies, but have the fans rooting for them. This is where the producers can really cash in on the fans’ emotional attachment and investment and use old contestants to carry the legacy of the show forward. I think that’s the only way to keep the momentum for the senior-focused franchise going. The franchise needs to bring in old contestants like Faith Martin and Roberto Velasquez and give the fans the closure they never received with their fan favorites. While the franchise is still in its early seasons, bringing in completely new faces might throw the fans off and decrease engagement. But giving old contestants a second chance at finding love allows the franchise to deliver on its promise of offering new beginnings.
6 ‘The Bachelor’ Isn’t Just for Young People Now
The Show Has Inter-Generational Appeal
Image via ABC/The Golden Bachelorette's official Instagram Everyone will agree that the traditional Bachelor shows only appeal to a certain demographic. For years, the franchise has been about young, unapologetic singles who navigate dating in the modern world. But with the introduction of The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette, the franchise has actually broadened its appeal to all kinds of viewers. The most obvious target demographic of the franchise is seniors, of course. In the past, older audiences might not have felt the need to watch any of The Bachelor shows, but they now find themselves represented in the world of reality TV dating like never before.
But that doesn’t mean the senior-focused franchise isn’t fun for younger viewers! Like I said, there’s just something so honest about older adults opening themselves up to new possibilities and doing something just for themselves. Whether that’s after a divorce, or the loss of their former partners — it’s heartwarming to see these individuals shifting the narrative surrounding dating and proving that love truly has no age.
5 ‘The Golden Bachelor’ Marks the First Step Towards Inclusivity
Love Looks Different for Everyone
Image via ABC The Golden Bachelor marks a very subtle shift in the franchise towards inclusivity. For years, The Bachelor has revolved around young, heterosexual relationships. And while that is still the case with the senior-focused spinoff, it goes to show that the franchise is willing to evolve and explore different forms of love. With older adults getting their much-needed representation in the world of reality TV, the possibilities for the future of the franchise are endless.
For years, dating shows have always revolved around good-looking people, finding their good-looking better half. However, The Golden Bachelor challenged stereotypes and showed that everyone deserves to find love. While the franchise still has a long way to go when it comes to inclusivity in terms of sexual orientation, physical orientation, and gender identity, The Golden Bachelor franchise has given the fans a lot of hope about greater representation on the show going forward.
4 It Puts a Bigger Emphasis on Family
Adult Relationships Aren’t Just About the Couple
Image via ABC Hear me out here, I know that fans are disappointed over Turner and Nist’s divorce. It felt as though the two of them had finally found their happy ending before it all came crashing down. However, when you look at the reasons behind their split, it’s evident that both of them prioritized their families and did not want to be away from their children to be together. Unlike young adults, Turner and Nist have built their entire lives, and they just can’t throw all of that away. The Golden Bachelor franchise shows that, above all, true love requires two people to be on the same page. Because once the cameras stop rolling, and you’re out of your little reality TV bubble, the reality starts sinking in.
This might be a controversial opinion, but I think Nist and Turner’s marriage shouldn’t be viewed as a failure. It should be seen as a reflection of their maturity. Instead of trying to force their relationship, the two of them had enough respect for each other to call things off when they realized neither of them wanted to put their families in the background of their lives. And if you ask me, the fact that The Golden Bachelor franchise isn’t shoving the idea of the perfect couple down our throats is what makes me root for it.
3 The Show Makes Space for Meaningful Conversations
The Reality of Aging Isn’t Overlooked
Image via ABC The one thing that The Golden Bachelor franchise does well is bring everything out in the open. While the traditional Bachelor shows feature contestants bending the truth or curating a certain image in front of the cameras, that’s absolutely not what these senior citizens are here for. At their ages, the contestants in The Golden Bachelor franchise are done playing games. They have no qualms about being completely honest about their struggles, and honestly, it’s so refreshing to watch them be themselves without any shame or consciousness attached. For example, you have Gerry Turner, who sets the tone for the show by opening up about his wife’s loss. You immediately feel for him and understand that this is a man who’s taking a chance on love despite all the grief he has had to deal with.
Similarly, Ellen Goltzer shared her experience with surviving cancer, which helped the audience connect with her and understand who she was as a person. These conversations rarely take place on dating shows, because they require a certain level of emotional intelligence that only comes with age. Because these senior citizens know exactly what they want, they aren’t afraid to express any of their feelings and fears.
2 The Show Presents the Very Real Side of Dating as an Adult
No Room For Unrealistic Fairytales
Image via ABC While everyone wants that special fairytale romance, senior citizens might need something a little more reliable than butterflies in their stomachs. Joan Vassos leaving Gerry Turner’s season to support her daughter postpartum showed the competing priorities many older adults face, and that’s the reality of their dating life.
Unlike the historically younger leads of the franchise who can get lost in the world of love during their time on the show, the contestants on The Golden Bachelor franchise have a lot of real-world challenges they deal with. From taking care of their aging parents to being there for their children, finding love in your 40s or 50s looks very different from finding love in your 20s. And that’s what makes The Golden Bachelor stand out in the very saturated world of dating reality shows.
1 Redefining Intimacy for Older Generations
Destigmatizing Dating for Senior Citizens
Image via Gilles Mingasson/Disney What I really love about The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette is how it normalizes not just love, but also intimacy for older adults. During her season, Vassos expressed how nervous she was about kissing on camera, and that it was embarrassing for her to know that her children would be watching it all. If you actually look at it, this kind of hesitance stems from societal expectations and the idea that older individuals are used to keeping their love lives private. So, Vassos’s fear was completely rational and many other adults stepping into the dating game might feel the same way.
The first Golden Bachelorette also went ahead and removed the beds from the fantasy suites during her season, in an attempt to take control of the narrative and redefine what intimacy meant for her. On the other hand, Turner had no problem heading into the fantasy suites and openly embracing them as they were. At the end of the day, what’s important is that senior citizens take charge of their own dating lives.The Golden Bachelor franchise aims to help them do exactly that.
The Golden Bachelor Season 2 is set to film in 2025.
Keep Reading: 10 Reasons Why You Should Watch ‘The Golden Bachelorette’
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