‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner Says Fantasy Suites Are Different at 72 (Exclusive)

Just hours before making his “Golden Bachelor” debut, Gerry Turner caught up with “Extra’s” Billy Bush for a game of pickleball and a courtside chat.

Gerry opened up about his emotional journey to find love again after losing his wife of 43 years.

He reflected, “The first time I told the story to ABC was at my own house and I choked up and couldn’t finish, I had to leave the room. I was really sobbing hard, because saying those things out loud, it’s different than carrying it around silently. When you actually hear the story, you release what you’ve been feeling. It’s awful, it is and in a very, I think, cathartic way, it’s gotten better because I’ve been forced to talk about it a little bit.”

Gerry felt the spiritual support from his late wife while filming the show. He shared, “Absolutely. We had conversations before she passed, long before she passed. We wanted the other person to be happy after one of us leaves. It did take me a long time to come to grips with that, a couple years of grieving, but after that, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I know she’d want me to do this.’”

Turner was happy to meet all the women on the first night of “The Golden Bachelor.” He dished, “I was looking forward to that night for months… it’s like Christmas… twenty two times all in a row.”

When Billy noted that most of the women seem to be there for the right reasons, Gerry pointed out, “They’re not there to be influencers, they’re not there to write a book, they’re there really for the genuine hope of finding love and that’s why, I mean, I fell in love with that group so hard right from the get-go because they were genuine… and they were elegant and poised, and educated. They were just a wonderful group.”

He went on, “Some of the comments [I]’d see online were hilarious… ‘Are they gonna set this guy up with 30-something women?’ It’s like, ‘Do I need anything but age-appropriate women when they’re that beautiful and composed?’ They were the perfect representation of our generation.”

While they were vying for his heart, Gerry noted that the women were “supportive of each other,” adding, “They were helping each with jewelry and makeup and everything. They were like sorority girls.”

The big question… how are the fantasy suites on “The Golden Bachelor”? Turner answered, “I’ll just speak for myself, the priority is more of an emotional connection, more of an intellectual connection… It’s the first time in that whole process that you get to speak to someone without a microphone and without a camera. I couldn’t wait to get behind closed doors to really learn about the person, ask the hard questions… Questions about their marital history, the details of what they have done on the past, maybe a little about their financial situation…Do you have any black sheep in your family?… In your thirties, I think it’s lust, and in your seventies, I think it’s love.”

As for finding love on the show, Gerry commented, “Anyone that is in the lead in that franchise, if they give themselves up to the process… they will not be disappointed.”