The Golden Bachelor

The Golden Bachelor is an American dating reality television series that premiered on September 28, 2023 on ABC. It is a spin-off of The Bachelor featuring a cast of senior citizens as the contestants and single man.

The series starred 72-year-old Gerry Turner, a retired restaurateur and widower from Hudson, Indiana. 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. They divorced three months later.

In February 2024, ABC announced that it had ordered an equivalent spin-off for The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelorette, for its fall lineup in 2024.

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. The series was initially set to air in the fall of 2020 as a part of the 2020–21 TV schedule, however, the series was delayed until 2023 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was replaced by the sixteenth season of The Bachelorette which was also delayed.

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, 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.

Former Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Trista Sutter, and then-incoming season 28 Bachelor Joey Graziadei all made guest appearances this season.

Casting and contestants
Notable contestants include Patty James, mother of season 25 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 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 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.