''The Golden Bachelor'' is an American
dating reality television series that premiered on September 28, 2023 on
ABC.
It is a
spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
of ''
The Bachelor'' featuring a cast of
senior citizens.
The series stars 72-year-old Gerry Turner, a retired restaurateur and
widower from
Hudson, Indiana
Hudson is a town in Salem and Steuben townships, Steuben County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 518 at the 2010 census.
History
An old variant name of the community was called North Benton. The Hudson post office has been in o ...
.
It concluded on November 30, 2023, with Turner choosing to propose to 70-year-old Theresa Nist. ABC aired the wedding as a live special, ''The Golden Wedding'', on January 4, 2024.
Production
Filming and development
In January 2020, a casting call was issued for men and women aged 65 and older, for an edition of ''
The Bachelor'' starring senior citizens. However, the series was delayed by several months due to the
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On May 16, 2023,
ABC officially commissioned the first season of ''The Golden Bachelor''. On July 17, 2023, Turner was announced as the inaugural lead of the series.
As a result of the
2023 Writers Guild of America strike
From May 2 to September 27, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). With a duration of 148 days, the ...
, the series airs on Thursday nights followed by the
ninth season of ''
Bachelor in Paradise'' instead of on its originally intended Monday night air date, to fill the timeslots left vacant by scripted shows.
Filming began in August 2023 in
Los Angeles, and concluded in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
.
Former Bachelorettes
Kaitlyn Bristowe and
Trista Sutter, and
season 28 Bachelor Joey Graziadei all made guest appearances this season.
Casting and contestants
Notable contestants include Patty James, mother of
season 25
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
Bachelor
Matt James, Renee Halverson-Wright, author and former
Chicago Honey Bears cheerleader, and Susan Noles, ex-wife of retired baseball player
Dickie Noles.
Contestants
The 22 contestants were announced on August 30, 2023.
Call-out order
: The contestant received the first impression rose
: The contestant received a rose during a date
: The contestant received a rose outside of a rose ceremony or date
: The contestant was eliminated
: The contestant was eliminated during a date
: The contestant was eliminated outside the rose ceremony
: The contestant received a rose during a date but later quit the competition
: The contestant quit the competition
: The contestant won the competition
Reception
The season premiere of ''The Golden Bachelor'' was the highest-rated debut for an unscripted ABC series in nearly two years. The two hour-plus finale reached 6.1 million viewers and was the most-watched episode of the ''Bachelor'' franchise since the March 2021 finale of
''The Bachelor'' season 25 featuring
Matt James.
The day before the finale aired, an exposé was published by the ''
The Hollywood Reporter'' claiming that Turner was in a long-term, live-in relationship after the death of his wife, contrasting with the persona he presented on the show. Additionally, there were discrepancies regarding his employment.
Episodes
Special
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Bachelor, The
2023 American television seasons
2023 American television series debuts
American Broadcasting Company original programming
American television spin-offs
The Bachelor (American TV series) seasons
Reality television spin-offs
Television shows filmed in California
Television shows filmed in Costa Rica