While most contestants on “The Bachelor” franchise dread the all-night filming that comes with Night 1 introductions at the “Bachelor” mansion, “The Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner was energized enough to keep the party going, even after 10 hours.
“The biggest surprise was that from 9 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. the next morning, I had energy. I was focused and alert and enjoying every moment,” Turner told TheWrap. “I do remember it was about 7:30 in the morning [when] the producers told me I had to leave. I would have stayed another two hours. I was loving it.”
He recalled participating in memorable bonding moments with the women he would be courting over the coming weeks, including reciting a certain profanity as a mantra with Sandra, dancing with fitness instructor Leslie or shooting a glitter cannon with Edith, to name a few.
While Turned admitted to host Jesse Palmer that he was a tad anxious to start meeting the women, Turner said nervousness was not a factor in his journey of love — at least, not until the “very end.”
“People asked me frequently about nervousness — what was I nervous about? Was I nervous in the moment? Nervousness wasn’t part of it for me,” Turner said. “I would get energized, I would be focused, but I really haven’t been nervous until it got to the very last part of the journey… but otherwise, it was exciting.”
Prior to coming on the show, Turner heard advice to “stay calm” and “enjoy the moment,” and would have given himself similar advice for Night 1 as well.
“If I could go back to first night Gerry, [my advice] would be [to] really embrace that — don’t just feel like you’re going through the motions of it because it took me a while to get to that point,” Turner said. “I think back to that first night, and I can’t remember nearly as much of it as I’d like to, so really slow things down and live in the moment.”
“The Golden Bachelor” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.