The Golden Bachelor has begun filming, and so the show's senior star, 71-year-old Gerry Turner, is already on his way to hopefully finding love again.
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"It's finally happening!" Jesse posted a photo with Gerry in front of the famous The Bachelor mansion in California.
"Gerry, our first ever Golden Bachelor, has begun his historic journey to find love!!! So excited and honored to be along for the ride!!!"
During the August 7 episode of Reality Steve spoiler blogger Steve Carbone's podcast, Carbone revealed that cameras had started rolling on the new The Bachelor spinoff set to air on Monday nights at 10PM ET/PT this fall on ABC.
"Filming started on Thursday night [August 3]. You saw Jesse Palmer post on Saturday [August 5] out in front of the mansion with Gerry, and he said filming has begun," Carbone recalled.
"The show has not released any of the women for Gerry's season. I don't know if they're waiting, I don't know if they're going to do it a week into filming or two weeks into filming -- or not at all... I don't know if they're going to release the women or not."
But Carbone confirmed public dates would be starting the week of August 7.
"There is a public date on [Tuesday, August 8] that's going to be, I believe, in Malibu. And then there's a public date on Saturday [August 12], and that's at the Westlake Athletic Club," Carbone shared.
Carbone predicted the August 12 date will include a game of Pickleball since Gerry is a big fan of the sport.
"They have told everyone that's going to be in attendance to dress like they're going to the U.S. Open," Carbone revealed. "I don't think [producers] are having them place tennis."
Season 11 The Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe -- who also appeared on The Bachelor and co-hosted back-to-back The Bachelorette seasons in 2021 -- teased earlier this week how she was going to make a cameo appearance on The Golden Bachelor.
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TMZ caught up with Kaitlyn at the Los Angeles International Airport on August 6, when she was on her way to film her part in The Golden Bachelor.
Kaitlyn told a paparazzo how her experience on The Golden Bachelor "should be fun" and she's "kept busy" ever since announcing her split from ex-fiance Jason Tartick.
Kaitlyn also posted two screenshots via Instagram Stories this past weekend of a casting call for The Golden Bachelor.
The casting call, initially published by BachelorNation.com, explained how there were going to be two public dates on Tuesday, August 8 and Saturday, August 12.
The August 8 date took place in the daytime in the Agoura Hills area, and guests had to be 21-years-old or older.
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The upcoming date on August 12 will be taped in the Westlake Village Area, which backs up Carbone's claim about Gerry having a date at the Westlake Athletic Club. Guests at this event must be 18-years-old or older.
Attendees are asked to sign and abide by a non-disclosure agreement.
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Sending in a request, however, did not guarantee admission.
Zachary Reality posted a video on TikTok of Kaitlyn filming at Canyon Club in Agoura Hills on August 8 for The Golden Bachelor. A birthday cake was apparently brought in, and Zachary teased how all the women on the date -- most of whom will likely be in their sixties -- looked "fabulous."
Gerry told Variety before filming started that he gave producers "a general range of age" of women he'd be interested in dating.
"I think I said 60 to 70, but feel free to blur the lines," Gerry said.
Gerry added how he really does "think it's possible" to find love on television, although he was "really skeptical" at first.
"I think a good reasonable goal is to find that person that I pretty much know is the right person, and by the look in her eye, she knows I'm the right person," Gerry shared.
"Where that happens on the timeline, I think is less important than the chemistry of it and the realization that it's real and it's something that could be knitted into a permanent relationship."
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.
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.
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.
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 the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast earlier this summer, considering he was married for so long.
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Gerry also teased on Good Morning America 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.
Official fall premiere dates and complete casting for the two reality TV series will be announced at a later date.
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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.
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."
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Mills hoped The Golden Bachelor would answer the following question: "[If you have] one great love in your lifetime, can you have another?"
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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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
