The Golden Bachelor couple Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist announced that they’re getting divorced after just three months of marriage, and this shocking development is now raising some red flags for the upcoming spin-off, The Golden Bachelorette. Gerry, a 72-year-old retired restaurateur from Hudson, Indiana, and Theresa, a 70-year-old financial services professional from Shrewsbury, New Jersey, met and fell in love during The Golden Bachelor season 1. They got engaged at the end of the season, and their relationship became a symbol of hope that people can find love at any age.

During The Golden Bachelor season 1 “After the Final Rose” episode, Gerry and Theresa announced that they wanted to get married right away. They wed in a live, televised event called the Golden Wedding on January 4, 2024. However, on April 12, 2024, they announced that they’re divorcing due to not being able to work out their living arrangements because they each didn’t want to move away from their families. Here’s why Gerry and Theresa’s divorce could be a problem for The Golden Bachelorette.

The Golden Bachelor Seemed To Be The Only Franchise Show To Produce A Lasting Couple

Other Bachelor Franchise Shows Have A High Fail Rate

The Golden Bachelor was exciting because Gerry and Theresa really did get married after the show. Unlike The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, The Golden Bachelor seemed more genuine. The senior contestants were more mature and in touch with themselves than the twenty-somethings who end up being contestants on Bachelor in Paradise. Gerry and Theresa didn’t appear to be on the show to gain social media followers and become influencers, or to further their careers. Instead, it seemed that Gerry and Theresa were really ready for marriage, and they proved it by tying the knot right away.

Out of 28 Bachelor seasons, only four couples are still together, and only one is married. Sean Lowe married his final choice, Catherine Giudici, while Zach Shallcross and Kaity Biggar are still engaged, along with Joey Graziadei and Kelsey Anderson. In addition, Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell are still dating. It’s hard to believe in the magic of the show when only one Bachelor actually followed through with his engagement and got married.

The Bachelorette has a slightly better track record when it comes to marriage. Out of 22 Bachelorettes, three are still married to their final choices: Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter, Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegfried, and JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers. Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum and Rachel Lindsay and Bryan Abasolo also got married, but have since gotten divorced. In addition, Charity Lawson and Dotun Olubeko are still engaged.

The Golden Bachelor‘s Golden Wedding felt like the fairy tale that Bachelor Nation had been waiting for after so much disappointment and heartache over the years. However, Gerry and Theresa’s divorce has now shattered the image of the Golden Bachelor franchise because it’s now just one more failed Bachelor Nation show. This raises a red flag for The Golden Bachelorette because it’ll be difficult for viewers to trust that the love on the show is real and worth watching.

The Golden Bachelor Feels Fake Now

The Dream Turned Into A Nightmare

The Golden Bachelor was a refreshing take on reality dating shows because it focused on a completely different generation. Gerry and Theresa’s love felt real and was very inspiring. However, their divorce now makes the whole season feel as though it might be fake. It’s easy to imagine that the Golden Wedding was planned not to genuinely celebrate Gerry and Theresa’s love, but instead to create a television spectacle to keep the momentum of the show’s high ratings going and take advantage of them.

Gerry and Theresa’s intentions seemed pure, but the Golden Bachelor producers didn’t seem to care about anything more than the ratings. What seemed like a beautiful dream has now turned into a nightmare. This is now going to be detrimental for The Golden Bachelorette because viewers aren’t going to be willing to open their hearts and minds to a new love story, only to possibly be disappointed by the ending for a second time. Once again, viewers are questioning the authenticity of the show, and they’re getting tired of investing their time in something that simply doesn’t work.

The Cause Of Gerry & Theresa’s Divorce Will Always Be A Problem

Contestants Will Want To Be Close To Their Families

One of the differences between traditional Bachelor franchise shows and The Golden Bachelor was the fact that the lead and the contestants were parents and grandparents. Rather than meeting the contestants’ parents during the hometown dates, Gerry met the women’s children and grandchildren. People in their 60s and 70s have established lives and family responsibilities, which they can’t simply pack up and leave like a younger, single person can.

Gerry’s third place finalist, Faith Martin, told him during her hometown date that she was unwilling to leave her home of Benton City, Washington because she wanted to always be close to her family. This is understandable and admirable. Parents who’ve appeared on other Bachelor franchise shows, including widower and single dad Michael Allio, have struggled with that aspect of their lives as well. Michael even left Katie Thurston’s Bachelorette season to return home to his son.

Chances are that the star of The Golden Bachelorette will be established in her life as well, along with her contestants, which could create the same problem again unless the show only casts men who live near the lead or who are definitely willing to move. However, people don’t know how they’ll really react until they’re actually experiencing a situation. This seems to be the case with Gerry and Theresa, who thought that they’d be able to compromise by moving to South Carolina or even living in Theresa’s home state of New Jersey, but then couldn’t make it work. It’s a real problem that must be addressed before The Golden Bachelorette begins filming.

The Golden Bachelor was an inspiring show, which seemed to break the mold of the Bachelor franchise series and gave people hope. On their one-on-one date, Gerry and Theresa even danced with a flash mob to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.” That hope shouldn’t be negated because of Gerry and Theresa’s divorce. However, the suddenness of it after only three months of marriage is disillusioning. It’s hard not to wonder if any of it was real, and if it’s worth investing in The Golden Bachelorette when so many Bachelor Nation relationships fail in the end anyway. Hopefully, The Golden Bachelorette will be different, but right now it’s hard not to stop believing.