Last September, I was right there with the rest of America, tearily cheering The Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner on as he searched for love again. However, as a longtime Bachelor fan, I wasn’t exactly surprised when he and Theresa Nist announced their divorce. Emotionally devastated? Sure. Just not surprised. So as Joan Vassos’ season of The Golden Bachelorette is set to hit the 2024 TV schedule, I completely understand why Bachelor Nation feels burned. However, there’s one huge reason why viewers shouldn’t be deterred from watching, and it has to do with the history of the franchise.
It turns out the first season of The Bachelor didn’t end in a “till death do we part” fairy tale either, but The Bachelorette has always been a whole different story. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
Could Gerry and Joan’s Seasons Mirror The First Seasons Of The Bachelor And The Bachelorette?
Back in 2002, Alex Michel and Amanda Marsh became The Bachelor’s first official couple. Never heard of them? Yeah, they are definitely not amongst the most famous Bachelor alums, and that might be because their relationship ended less than a year after they filmed the Season 1 finale. But you know who else was on that inaugural season? Trista Sutter.
When she appeared as a contestant on Alex Michel’s season, she was still Trista Rehn, and after she finished in second place, ABC decided to make her the very first lead of The Bachelorette. The rest is history, because to this day she remains married to Ryan Sutter (pictured above with Trista), who was a 28-year-old firefighter when he proposed back in 2003.
Think about it, if we’d given up on The Bachelor after Alex Michel’s breakup, we wouldn’t have gotten Trista Sutter’s decades-long love story or the incredible highs and lows of the other 47 seasons that have aired on ABC since then. So we can’t give up on Joan Vassos and the Golden franchise just because Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist didn’t last.
The Bachelorette Couples Have Historically Been More Successful Than The Bachelor’s
It’s not just the first two seasons of the flagship series either. The Bachelorette has resulted in more marriages between the lead and the man they choose in the end than its counterpart, and as far as successful relationships go, until recently, it wasn’t even close. Sean Lowe remains the only Bachelor to make it to the altar with the woman he proposed to on the show. Compare that to five weddings for The Bachelorette in fewer seasons.
When you break it down a little further, however, the women don’t have quite as much of an advantage. Of the five Bachelorette couples who married, only three remain together:
- Season 1’s Trista and Ryan Sutter (married in 2003)
- Season 9’s Desiree Hartsock and Chris Siegried (married in 2015)
- Season 12’s JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers (pictured above, married in 2022 after a six-year engagement).
The other two have since gotten divorced, with Season 7’s Ashley Hebert splitting with J.P. Rosenbaum after eight years of marriage and Bryan Abasolo filing for divorce from Season 13’s Rachel Lindsay in January 2024 after four years as husband and wife.
Then there’s Season 25’s Charity Lawson, who is currently engaged to Dotun Olubeko. Will they be the sixth Bachelorette couple to say “I do”?
Over on The Bachelor side, as previously mentioned, Season 17’s Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici have been married since 2014. While they’re technically the only final couple to marry, some may count Season 13’s Jason Mesnick and Season 22’s Arie Luyendyk Jr., who each changed their mind following their finale proposal and ultimately married (and remain married to) their runners-up, Molly Malaney and Lauren Burnham, respectively.
You’ve also got several final Bachelor couples who are still together but not married (yet?). Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell are still together after their roller coaster of a season in 2021, and the two most recent Bachelors — Zach Shallcross and Joey Graziadei — remain engaged to Kaity Biggar and Kelsey Anderson, respectively.
The Golden Franchise Is Bigger Than Its Relationships
Looking at it through the lens of history and women seeming to have more success than the men does give me hope that Joan Vassos might just find what she’s looking for. However, even if you take the romance out of it, there are other important reasons why we can’t give up so soon on the Golden shows. Simply put, too much good came out of Gerry Turner’s season to reduce it to his divorce from Theresa Nist.
The Golden Bachelor did appeal to viewers because of its love story, but it was so much more than that. The series was wholesome and full of heart, but it was tragic in a way as well. It gave its contestants a platform to discuss grief and loss in an honest way with peers who could empathize, and that’s simply something that isn’t seen on TV.
Not only did the dating spinoff give people hope that love can be found no matter how old they are, it let us witness eye-opening conversations about sex, friendship and aging. It allowed people like Joan Vassos to not feel invisible.
Sure, I’ve still got some skepticism going into it. Joan opened up about a conversation she had with Gerry Turner on his season regarding her unwillingness to move away from her family. Location is likely to be an enduring issue for the Golden seasons, as people with children and grandchildren aren’t going to be as willing to pick up and move for a relationship as singles in their 20s and 30s. Still, at least we’ve got history on our side.
I’m trying to remain optimistic that The Golden Bachelorette will end in success, even in the wake of Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist’s failed marriage, the same way that Trista Sutter followed Alex Michel. Either way, we don’t have long to find out now. Joan Vassos’ journey kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, September 18, on ABC and can be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription.
