Spoiler alert! This story discusses the October 19 episode of The Golden Bachelor.
Somehow Gerry Turner is already halfway through his journey on The Golden Bachelor to find love for the second time in his life, and it seems like Bachelor Nation can’t get enough of this feel-good show. For years to me it’s often felt like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are just using the same script season after season and merely replacing the contestants (just think of how often we hear that someone’s there “for the wrong reasons” and all of the other commonly used phrases). However, on this new spinoff, I’m constantly surprised and delighted to hear the participants’ thoughts.
On the October 19 episode of The Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner finally got to enjoy some pickleball with the women, and their group date — as well as the rest of the episode — provided many insights that illustrate why this series stands out from ABC’s other reality dating shows. Here are the 5 best lines from the episode, and yeah, I’m going to talk about Kathy Swarts and that big “zip it” moment.
Sandra Learns The ‘Naughty’ Game Of Pickleball
Gerry Turner is a big fan of pickleball, so it only makes sense that The Golden Bachelor would feature a pickleball group date. Eight of the final nine women faced off in a tournament, and let’s just say some were more familiar with the sport than others. Sandra Mason, for instance, was a pickleball virgin, but she was game for anything as long as her man was involved, proclaiming:
Never played pickleball, but if Gerry plays with us, I would love to ‘dink’ him or ‘dukle’ him, whatever it is. This sounds so naughty. What a sport!
I’m appealing to the National Pickleball Association to add “dukle” to the sport’s official terminology immediately.
Kathy And Theresa’s Tension Escalates To Uncomfortable Levels
The strange feud between Theresa Nist and Kathy Swarts started in the previous episode, when Kathy felt that Theresa was oversharing when it came to her close connection with the man of the hour. The tension continued following the pickleball tournament, when Theresa pulled Kathy aside to make sure everything was good between them. Kathy began lecturing her housemate again on watching what she said in front of the other women, ending the conversation by saying:
Can I just give you some friendly advice? Zip it.
This was a huge moment for The Golden Bachelor, because it really went against the wholesome tone that’s been established thus far, and honestly it was difficult to watch. It was even harder to watch when Gerry Turner was made to play referee for the two 70-year-old women, and you could tell he was not here for the drama. Kathy ended up not getting a rose later in the episode and was sent home.
Never Have I Ever, Golden Bachelor Style
One of the best things about this season has been watching the friendships develop among the women, and we got a great scene today when they all played “Never Have I Ever” with pints of ice cream. From kissing a married man (scandalous!) to sex in the backseat of a car (nearly everyone fessed up to that), the women of The Golden Bachelor revealed quite a few juicy tidbits. None was more hilarious than Sandra Mason, when she was one of the only women to cop to having sex in the workplace. She exclaimed:
My husband and I did it everywhere. I’ve had sex in the workplace. And if I was married, I’d do it again.
Never mind that the former executive assistant is now retired. I always love when Gerry Turner and the contestants talk about their former spouses, because it’s a strong reminder that many of these people have been through tragedy and are in a different stage of life. Sandra Mason is proud of what she and her husband had, and Susan Noles told her to celebrate it by taking two bites of ice cream!
Gerry Turner Gives The Most Genuine Compliments
Gerry Turner always shows the highest amounts of respect for the ladies who have left their families behind temporarily to come date him. He won America over in the premiere when he referred to them as “poised, youthful, and intelligent,” and the 72-year-old widower won the adjective game again on this episode, as he greeted them by saying:
You know, I look around and I have nine women of such high quality and integrity and charm. It’s beyond what I could have possibly imagined, and I realize that there is a journey here that’s going to be well worth pursuing.
Of course all of the contestants on The Golden Bachelor are gorgeous, and Gerry Turner tells them that, but that’s never the first quality he mentions. Another example of just how sweet he is came a little later in the cocktail party, when he gave Susan Noles a rose quartz. He told her it symbolized empathy and strength, which were two qualities he saw in Susan that she shared with his late wife Toni.
Love Is Definitely In The Air
It’s become pretty commonplace and even sometimes groan-worthy to hear The Bachelor contestants tell the lead they’re “falling in love” with them, but when Ellen Goltzer said it to Gerry Turner, her words were so eloquent and genuine, it was as if they’d never been uttered on the show before. He felt the same way, and after they cried together at how “hard” it was to feel those emotions again, Gerry tearfully said:
To hear her say the things she just did, she makes me think back to the last time that someone looked at me like that and said those things to me. The last time that happened was with my wife of 43 years. And when I lost Toni, and I thought the world ended, I never thought I would see it again. And yet I am. I’m seeing it and feeling it.
Gerry Turner’s happiness has become as important as oxygen for me on Thursday nights, and I just want lifetimes of these happy moments for him and for all of the women we’ve met on his journey. With half of the season in the past, we’re actually getting close to Hometown dates, and that means the emotions only ramp up from here. New episodes of The Golden Bachelor air at 8 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC and are available to stream the next day with a Hulu subscription.