SPOILERS are ahead for The Golden Bachelor. You can catch up on Gerry Turner’s complete journey now with a Hulu subscription.
As congratulations are in order for Mr. Gerry Turner on being the successful first subject of The Golden Bachelor, I’m ready for seniors to take over reality dating shows. That opinion is coming from me, a 27-year-old, who seemingly has a lot more in common with the singles on every other season of The Bachelor franchise. I can honestly say that I’ve never been more glued and invested to a dating journey on a TV show than I was with The Golden Bachelor, and looking ahead, I want to talk about some other dating shows that I watch that’d I love to see go in this direction next.
Let’s be honest here, for years, dating shows like The Bachelor have had us tuning in to primarily make fun of its contestants as we watch them be placed in the impossible scenarios dating shows create. However, the tone was instantly different when it came to The Golden Bachelor. I can recall catching myself crying just minutes into turning on the wholesome season premiere when Gerry opened up about losing his wife of over 40 years before meeting a group of hopeful women all looking for a chance at lasting love in their 60s and 70s. Hearing the “time we have left” on its own got me misty. Anyway, now that The Golden Bachelor has clearly proved fruitful with Gerry and Theresa’s upcoming wedding, here’s the other dating shows I want to see be overrun with seniors.
The Bachelorette
The natural followup to the success of The Golden Bachelor is, of course, The Golden Bachelorette. And actually, it seems like this could very well happen following Gerry’s journey being a runaway hit. While the spinoff has yet to be announced, I did notice a call for grandpas looking for love during the finale, so I imagine the ABC executives are mulling over the creation of the show as I write this. Even so, I have to talk about why I want to see The Golden Bachelorette.
One of the big reasons why The Golden Bachelor was so moving for so many was because it showed off a group of ladies in their 60s and 70s who are absolutely thriving (and looking good while they do it). Each of the ladies’ stories really worked against the type we often see on screen that at a certain point, life stops. I would love to see a group of senior men do what the single women did in The Golden Bachelor, and to see a bunch of grandpas try to win the love and attention of one woman, of course.
Bachelor In Paradise
Back in 2014, ABC found another The Bachelor-related pivot when it created Bachelor In Paradise, which is a more chaotic form of the series that has a mix of men and women who share a space in Mexico and all vie for each other’s love. While I admittedly tend to skip out on this dating series, oh what I would give to see the senior edition of this premise. I’m honestly not sure what it would even be like with older contestants, I just know I want to see it.
Love Is Blind
Then there’s Netflix’s flagship dating series, Love Is Blind, which has become a real stinker in the past couple years, as it seems like the experiment is just no longer working on its stars. After seeing where Love Is Blind Season 5’s couples ended up, with just one couple getting married of a huge mix of singles, I think this series is ready for a shakeup, and rounding up seniors might be the answer!
While I can imagine keeping up appearances isn’t necessarily as important to older daters as it is in one’s younger years, I’m absolutely sure it still comes into play and is the subject of a series of roadblocks when it comes to older people finding love. The Golden Bachelor proved to bring more maturity to a dating show, and I’d be curious to see how the experiment could work on another age range of hopeful singles.
The Ultimatum
Another one of Netflix’s popular dating shows is The Ultimatum. In this show, a host of couples who have been together for sometime, but have not gotten married yet come on the show and pair up with new people. Each person spends some time seeing if the grass is greener on the other side with another partner or if they are ready to commit to the person with whom they came in. As you can imagine, things get dramatic. When it comes to bringing seniors in for this one, I have a twist from the original premise.
I think The Golden Ultimatum would be focused on longtime couples (married or not) who are dealing with problems, and their “ultimatum” is they work on their relationship or they separate/divorce. So it’s the same thing, but in reverse. While I think it would be very messy and wild, I also think it has the potential to get into some great subjects regarding long term relationships and why/how they last or fizzle out.
While I’m not sure that every dating show is going to take the same note from The Golden Bachelor and cast older stars, I do think it was incredibly refreshing to see Gerry Turner’s dating show experience, not only for the franchise, but for the representation of different age groups in the dating world.
As a 27-year-old, it was refreshing to me to see people in their elder years dealing with being in love, experiencing heartbreak and so forth as a reminder that one’s life isn’t contained to figuring it out in one’s 20s and 30s; the highs and lows of relationships is a lifetime journey. Plus, The Golden Bachelor became the stage for profound conversations about grief and loss too. No matter the age, here’s to more reality dating shows being genuine and making us feel things rather than simply point and laugh.