Subscribe
MINNEAPOLIS – Laura Davis had never watched “The Bachelor” or its many iterations. But the 63-year-old Minneapolis resident tuned in for “The Golden Bachelor,” starring daters with hearing aids.
Her hope didn’t spring from Gerry Turner, the weepy 72-year-old widower at the reality TV show’s center. It came from the women. Those daring, darling women, some of whom “didn’t think they would ever be able to actually have feelings for a man again,” said Davis, who was briefly married in the ’80s. She watched as they fell in love.
The hit ABC-TV reality series, which culminated last week with the live broadcast of Turner’s wedding to 70-year-old widow Theresa Nist, has sparked conversations about the love lives of older adults, about what it means to pursue sex, romance and marriage in your 60s and 70s. It has rekindled a few of those love lives, too.
The show comes at a time when more seniors are single: Roughly half of women over 65 are unpartnered, according to a 2020 Pew Research survey, thanks partly to men’s shorter life expectancy. But divorce rates are up for older Americans, too.
Subscribe
It’s Just Lunch Minneapolis, a matchmaking service, hasn’t seen an increase in memberships it can attribute to “The Golden Bachelor.” But the show has come up in conversation with several new female clients, said Natalie Fry, membership director and matchmaker.
In many ways, “The Golden Bachelor” hewed closely to the world built over two decades of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” with its glittery dates and its princess-cut engagement ring. Continue reading ‘Golden Bachelor’ inspired older adults to seek romance, busted dating stereotypes