Former Bachelor Nick Viall Questions the ‘Entire Narrative’ of ‘The Golden Bachelor’
Former Bachelor star Nick Viall said he has “mixed feelings” about The Golden Bachelor, given the conflicting reports about Gerry Turner, the lead of the Bachelor spinoff’s first season.
“It’s tough to watch an entire season of Gerry selling this entire narrative that all he’s been doing since the passing of his wife was cry, play pickleball, and occasionally [have] this weird one-on-one moment with some hand lotion,” Viall said in the latest episode of Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast. “And in reality, we come to find out that the body was barely cold before he started dating. And it opens up a lot of questions about what was going on.”
On the eve of The Golden Bachelor’s dramatic season finale, The Hollywood Reporter covered allegations that Gerry had a lengthy romantic relationship that started within months of his wife’s death, despite the show presenting him as a man who hadn’t kissed a woman in six years. That other woman, whom THR codenamed Carolyn, also told the magazine that Gerry criticized her for gaining weight and dumped her soon after.
As a veteran of The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and The Bachelor, Viall (pictured above) has an insider’s perspective on the franchise — a franchise that, he said, “sometimes tries to craft a narrative about their leads that even the leads are a little uncomfortable with because it almost feels like, ‘I’m not that squeaky clean,’ type of thing. Because no one really is, right, you know?”
He went on: “So I think sometimes that is the fault of the show, this kind of narrative. [Gerry] was allowed to date. He didn’t cheat on anyone, from what we know.”
Still, Viall contended, Gerry’s Golden Bachelor journey made for a “fantastic season” of television.
“This season was very inspiring,” he said. “And I don’t think Bachelor Nation or the audience really wanted to hear Gerry talk about his dating life post-the death of his wife. We wanted him to celebrate his wife, we wanted him to talk about that love. And so it just made better television.”
