Indiana ‘Golden Bachelor’ Announces Divorce Months After TV Wedding

I'll be honest, I didn't watch ABC's The Golden Bachelor. However, I was fed details about each episode at the water cooler when the show officially kicked off last year. Essentially, the series is a near-carbon copy of The Original Bachlor, which is a reality TV series and dating competition that has been on air since 2002. Both shows feature a single male looking for love who goes on one-on-one and group dates with several women. The single guy featured each season eliminates one woman every week until he finds "the one."

The Bachelor has had multiple spinoffs, including The Bachelorette, which is a gender-reversed version of the show. Another spinoff, called Bachelor in Paradise, takes previous contestants from both shows and allows them the opportunity to have another chance at falling in love. However, The Golden Bachelor brought a whole new twist to TV screens by only featuring contestants in their 60s and 70s. Indiana native Gerry Turner was the series first "Golden Bachelor."

According to ABC, Turner is a father, grandfather, and retired restaurant owner who married his high school sweetheart in 1974. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2017, leading to Turner's second quest for love. He currently lives in a lakehouse in LaGrange County, Indiana, which seemed to be a pivotal factor in his latest life event.

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As The Golden Bachelor was airing, Turner made an appearance at the 2023 CMA's, where he told reporters he was happy with how things ended on the show. When the final episode eventually aired, he proposed to Theresa Nist, who earned his final rose. They were later married on live TV, but on April 12, 2024, the couple made a shocking announcement.

According to People Magazine, Turner and Nist are calling it quits after just three months of marriage. The couple attributed the split to distance. Turner lives in Indiana while Nist lives in New Jersey, and although the couple said they planned to move in together, both had difficulties leaving their own family commitments in their home states. Both said they still loved each other, but that apparently wasn't enough to keep the marriage intact.

As I said before, I've never watched The Bachelor or any of the subsequent spinoffs, but it does seem somewhat disappointing to see a couple call it quits after overcoming many obstacles on reality TV. Additionally, both had to know that distance was going to be a factor before they started their relationship, so one has to wonder if there were any other reasons it didn't work out. Did you watch the show, and if so, what do you think?