‘The Golden Bachelor’ Finale: Gerry Turner Is Engaged

Gerry Turner has found love… again! The first-ever star of The Golden Bachelor ended the inaugural season of the show by getting engaged to the second great love of his life, Theresa Nist.

Gerry’s happily ever after, which came six years after the death of his high school sweetheart, Toni, didn’t arrive easily. The retired restaurateur admitted he was in love with his final three women — Theresa, Leslie Fhima and Faith Martin.

He said goodbye to Faith after her Hometown date and parted ways with Leslie after they spent the night together in the Fantasy Suite and she met his family.

As for Theresa, she also had a Fantasy Suite date with Gerry and met his loved ones. The meeting with Gerry’s daughters, Jenny and Angie, and granddaughters, Payton and Charlee, went exceedingly well.

“If Dad proposes to Theresa, I think it’d be a great thing, actually. I’d be very happy for him,” Jenny told the cameras, with Angie adding, “I really do think I could see him getting down on one knee and them getting married.”

During Theresa and Gerry’s last date together her nerves set in, though she told Gerry she didn’t want her to choose her if he wasn’t totally invested.

“I won’t propose unless I’m 1,000 percent committed to what we have,” Gerry assured her.

Gerry proceeded to end things with Leslie in a heartbreaking fashion, clearing the way for his proposal to Theresa. 

“Over the course of this journey, I said to myself, ‘How lucky would I be to find a second love of my lifetime?'” Gerry told the cameras before his proposal, further revealing that he was “pretty comfortable” in knowing that his late wife, Toni, would approve of his choice.

Theresa went into the big moment “so nervous,” but ready to start her life with Gerry, should he choose her.

“I thought I was going to live the rest of my life alone until I met you,” Theresa told Gerry. “… I’m so madly in love with you, Gerry. I feel that for us, life isn’t over. The best is yet to come… I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“When I woke up this morning, it was difficult. I had really mixed feelings… I came to the realization — you’re not the right person for me to live with,” he said with a dramatic pause, before clarifying, “You’re the person that I can’t live without.”

“Theresa, I love you 1,000 percent. I’m not ever going to stop believing that every day, I choose you,” he said, before getting down on one knee, proposing, and presenting Theresa with a golden rose.

Theresa accepted the ring and the rose, and the happy couple celebrated their engagement with Gerry’s family.

During the live portion of the finale, the happy couple was all smiles as they chatted with host Jesse Palmer.

“To be able to be out in the open is an amazing feeling,” Gerry gushed, before Theresa revealed that she initially thought Gerry was breaking up with her during his proposal.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, thank God,'” Theresa said of how she felt when Gerry’s true intentions became clear.

Then the pair discussed their Fantasy Suite date. Gerry played coy about the goings on, but Theresa confirmed, “I knocked his boots off… with my kisses.”

The happy ending to Gerry’s season wasn’t much of a surprise to fans, as Jesse previously told ET, “Gerry showed up wanting to find someone he could spend his golden years with, and I think he found that.”

Look back at Gerry Turner’s journey for love with ET’s coverage of The Golden Bachelor. 

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