Nov 14: The Golden Bachelorette in These Foolish Things

[Athena] and I watched The Golden Bachelorette finale last night via FaceTime.

And it did NOT disappoint!

If you don’t know about the Golden Bachelor or Golden Bachelorette, they are spinoffs of the long-running series, The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. The idea is that a single bachelor or bachelorette is matched up in a house full of (I think) 24 or so eligible suitors or partners and each week, the the bachelor or bachelorette has dates with these people in an effort to get to know them in a matter of weeks. He or she then eliminates the potential partners one by one and many times it’s a drama-filled free-for-all with lots of booze, tantrums, back-stabbing, and clawing to get to the bachelor or bachelorette. In the end, the bachelor or bachelorette picks one person to (usually) become engaged to marry.

Spoiler: they rarely work out.

The “Golden” part of these spinoffs is that the contestants are 60+, with a lot of aches, pains, and baggage that goes along with being older and single.

And I LOVE to watch these Golden shows because I can relate to these folks. I am so very, very close to being eligible to be on a “golden” show!

The first season of The Golden Bachelor spotlighted this guy, Gerry and he had a gaggle of older gals trying to impress him to win his heart. There was some drama amongst the chicken coop, but mostly the ladies became friends, and it was fun to watch them compete for this old semi-geezer’s heart. In the end, Gerry turned out to be gross. He married one of the ladies (on National TV, and at the expense of the network, no less) and got divorced, what, three months later? Ew.

And the next installation of the Golden series was The Golden Bachelorette, where one of Gerry’s potential partners (Joan Vassos, who “had” to leave early due to a family emergency…which I don’t believe…I believe it was to set her up to become the next bachelorette).

Regardless of how anyone got to be there, the Goldens have been so fun to watch because they just feel so…I don’t know… ridiculous and yet, kind of charming.

Here’s the thing about The Golden Bachelorette that I’ve read has actually reduced ratings, and that makes me sad: this time, the Golden Bachelorette (Joan) was the epitome of grace, decorum, and class. There was never a moment of backstabbing, trash talking, or uncontrolled crying. She was empathetic to each of the men and seemed to do the right thing every step of the way - including not saying that she loved any of them until the final one was chosen AND not sleeping with any of them on the Fantasy Suite nights (IYKYK).

And the other thing that was so precious about this season’s storyline is that ALL of the men got along so famously!! They became a hilariously clumsy, goofy, and elderly band of brothers! It was the epitome of old-guy bromances happening all over the place, and I was there for it.

And sure, there were uncomfortably cringy moments - on one of the group dates the guys had to dance like Chippendales strippers. There was a lot of shirt-ripping and old guy gyrations and even giving grinding lap dances to Joan. Ew. But it was all in the name of a cancer charity, so I couldn’t knock them for that.

And other things happened that annoyed me. Most of the bachelors were widowers (as Joan was a widow herself), so there was a lot…and I mean a LOT… of talk about dead spouses. Sooo much talk about dead spouses and am-I-doing-the-right-thing and letting go and yada yada. It’s not that I’m not sensitive to that, I certainly am - especially after cancer! But it was just SO PLAYED UP that it became eye-roll-inducing.

But in the end, Joan picked the right guy. At least I think so! I won’t spoil it in case you want to watch it from the beginning, but just know, I was rooting for him the whole time!

There’s just something about this silly little show that makes me happy. Maybe it’s the fact that there really do seem to be very eligible, healthy, attractive, and interesting people still out there who are 60+ and ready to find love at this stage of the game.

I’m still hopeful. I just need to get serious and get out there!

xox,
GS