Ever since ABC officially announced the upcoming reality dating series of The Golden Bachelorette, there’s been speculation that Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima might be the star, but there are several reasons why she shouldn’t be the first-ever lead. Leslie, a 65-year-old fitness instructor from Golden Valley, Minnesota, got her start as the runner-up on The Golden Bachelor season 1. Leslie captivated leading man Gerry Turner with her sexy and sweet personality, from a sensual dance routine in the Golden Bachelor talent show to sharing that she wears hearing aids like him.

Throughout The Golden Bachelor season 1, Leslie and Gerry fell in love, and he gave her hints that he might choose her. From their one-on-one date riding ATVs to their successful hometown date during which he met her family, their relationship kept growing and growing. In the Fantasy Suite, he told her that he loved her, and he thought she was “the one.” However, Gerry chose Theresa Nist instead, leaving Leslie blindsided and heartbroken. Although Leslie very much deserves to find love again and has been the front-runner for the role, she isn’t the right person to star in The Golden Bachelorette season 1.

The Golden Bachelor’s Leslie Fhima Doesn’t Seem To Be Over The Situation With Gerry Turner

Leslie Might Still Be Healing Her Broken Heart

It’s completely understandable that Leslie needed time to process and get over her Golden Bachelor experience. Gerry did lead Leslie to believe that she’d be the one he’d choose, and it came as a shock to her when that wasn’t the case. Leslie later made an appearance during Joey Graziadei’s Bachelor season, in which she met with Kelsey Anderson to give her advice about her Fantasy Suite date.

During Leslie’s meeting with Kelsey, she warned her to guard her heart because Joey might not choose her in the end, even if she felt confident that he would. Leslie told her, “I wish I wouldn’t have felt so confident because then I was devastated. Very, very sad because I was really in love with him. And I would not wish that on my worst enemy to be honest, that feeling I had where I was confident, and then that was it.”

Leslie continued, “And I would say just always have something in the back of your head that you might not be it. And then, if you’re it, it’s amazing, and, if you’re not, you have a little bit of protection.” This was practical advice, and Kelsey took it very much to heart and began to spiral about the idea that Joey was still dating both Rachel Nance and Daisy Kent. She even left him a note that said, “We need to talk,” which scared Joey because he thought that something might be wrong or that Kelsey might have to leave early.

Kelsey and Joey eventually worked through it when she expressed her feelings to him, and they got engaged in the end, but Leslie’s advice indicated that she might be over Gerry. She was still dealing with how she felt when he broke up with her. The Golden Bachelor was filmed in August 2023, while the end of Joey’s season filmed in November 2023. This meant that Leslie still had strong negative feelings about her experience on the show months later.

However, Leslie attended Gerry and Theresa’s Golden Wedding on January 4, 2024. Although she was happy for them, she admitted that there was an awkward moment for her during the ceremony. On the Almost Famous podcast, Leslie shared that no one forced her to attend Gerry and Theresa’s wedding. Rather, she went because Theresa invited her. However, she admitted, “It wasa little uncomfortable during the ceremony when they were talking about Costa Rica because I was there too.”

During his vows, Gerry told Theresa, “From the first sip of chocolate shake to the last taste of Costa Rican coffee, I learned that you are the woman I can’t live without.” Leslie confessed, “It was probably the only time it was really uncomfortable for me.” However, she also said that the feeling came and went quickly because “seeing Theresa so happy really kinda just took that away anyhow.”Now that even more time has passed, it’s possible that Leslie is completely over her Golden Bachelor experience.

However, Leslie was so upset by it that it could put a damper on her Golden Bachelorette experience. If Leslie is still protecting her heart, it will be hard for her to open up to the men and trust that they’ll choose her back in the end. Leslie will make a wonderful Golden Bachelorette lead some day, but it might be too soon for her to take on the role now.

Leslie Was Hesitant On The Golden Bachelor

Leslie Had A Hard Time Opening Up & Trusting

During The Golden Bachelor, Leslie revealed that she’d been divorced twice and is a single mother. She’s been single for 22 years, and she feels that she’s never had a true partnership. Although Leslie repeatedly told Gerry that he had all of the qualities that she was looking for in a man, it took a while for her to truly open up to him, trust him, and allow herself to be vulnerable. Leslie had walls up to protect herself, but she finally allowed herself to fall in love with Gerry.

After Leslie let her guard down, only to have her heart broken by Gerry, it will most likely be very hard for her to do that again so soon after The Golden Bachelor. Leslie told Kelsey that she wished that she hadn’t felt so confident about Gerry, which might indicate that she’d be less likely to open her heart to the men on her own Golden Bachelorette season. This will make the process a lot more difficult for her and the men, and could lead to even more heartache.

Leslie Deserves More Than The Golden Bachelorette

Leslie Doesn’t Need Another Public Relationship

Although Bachelor Nation would rather believe otherwise, it’s become very clear that the Bachelor franchise producers don’t have the lead or the contestants’ best interests at heart when they edit their seasons. They manipulate situations to create narratives, making things seem one way when they were really another. Leslie deserves more than this after what she went through on The Golden Bachelor. She doesn’t need to possibly be taken advantage of by producers who only care about ratings.

The Bachelor franchise has continuously portrayed Leslie as a heartbroken woman, which at times has made her look weak. She’s actually a strong, confident woman who can take care of herself. She should search for love outside of the Bachelor franchise on her own terms without the producers’ influence, and out of the public eye. Although it might be a great adventure to be the first-ever Golden Bachelorette lead, it’s not the right fit for Leslie after everything that she’s been through on the show and in her life.

Although at first glance Leslie might seem like the perfect woman to star in The Golden Bachelorette, in actuality there are several reasons that she’s not the right person for the role. She might not be ready to look for love so publicly yet, and she deserves better than to have her past heartache exploited by the show. Hopefully, Leslie will find love again outside of the show, on her own terms. However, if she does become the first-ever star of The Golden Bachelorette, she’s wished all the best to find true love and her happily ever after.