Retired restaurateur Gerry Turner, a 72-year-old from Indiana, will be starring on The Golden Bachelor when it premieres Thursday, September 28 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.

RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

On many past seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the show’s leads have fallen for — or thought they were completely “in love” with — multiple contestants.

Charity Lawson, for example, said, “I love you,” to both her runner-up Joey Graziadei and winner Dotun Olubeko, and Ben Higgins memorably professed his love to both runner-up JoJo Fletcher and winner Lauren Bushnell.

But when asked if he had fallen in love with more than one person at the same time on The Golden Bachelor, Gerry responded, “No,” during a Wednesday appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark.

“Actually, in certain moments, you’re in love with the concept of falling in love,” Gerry clarified, “and you get caught up with the glitz and the glamour and the energy of it.”

Gerry continued, “And then all of a sudden, you think, ‘I’m in love here,’ but then the next morning — or later — you realize, ‘No, that’s not it. That’s not the whole package. That’s not what I’m looking for.’ And I had those moments.”

But Gerry confirmed to BachelorNation.com that he did, in fact, develop strong feelings for multiple women on his season.

After all, he had 22 beautiful, poised and “elegant” bachelorettes to choose from.

“It’s so confusing. It’s conflicting,” Gerry acknowledged.

“There’s a need to separate feelings of general affection and admiration for some of the women from the true connection that you would have with a life partner. And that was really difficult to do at times.”

RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ COUPLES NOW: WHO DID ‘THE BACHELOR’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Going into filming The Golden Bachelor, Gerry admitted to Us Weekly that he “absolutely” didn’t even think it would be possible to fall for more than one woman at a time.

“I thought, ‘No, that’s absolutely not possible. That’s silly.’ How wrong I was. Because through the course of the journey, I really felt strong feelings for several of the women,” Gerry shared.

However, Gerry was apparently able to distinguish his feelings of lust from true love.

“In retrospect, I realize that… the setting was such that, yeah, it was easy to look at someone and tell them that you loved them. Then you realize that there is really just one person that really meets the standard in all situations,” Gerry explained to Us.

Not only did Gerry find himself smitten with several women, but he also kissed many of them as well!

In fact, Gerry admitted on Live with Kelly and Mark that he had “screwed up” and “failed” his two daughters — Angie and Jenny — when it came to their rules for him.

“The biggest rule was, ‘Don’t kiss anybody the first night.’ That went out the window. I kissed the first woman out of the limo, I think!” Gerry joked. “No, not quite, but it was bad. Real bad, yeah.”

Gerry signed up to be The Golden Bachelor well after losing his high school sweetheart and late wife, Toni Turner, to complications from a bacterial infection in 2017.

The pair had been married for 43 years, and Gerry now has two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton.

RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

During an interview with TV Insider, Gerry shared what he hoped his future partner might share in common with Toni.

“The parts I’d like to find are character, values, and the ability to be an equal partner. But I’ve cautioned myself and I’m pretty firm with the rule that I’m not going to make those comparisons,” Gerry explained.

“I’m not looking for Toni 2.0. It’s an altogether different game at 70 than with your high school sweetheart.”

And Gerry teased that if he did find the second love of his life, he’d be open to getting engaged again.

“Oh, sure. That’s a very realistic possibility,” Gerry candidly shared. “Let’s face it, you get to 72, the clock ticks a lot faster than when you’re 20. If I’m going to enjoy the rest of my life, I don’t want to waste time. I want to find my girl and move on.”

Click here to read spoilers about Gerry’s The Golden Bachelor season — including his Final 2 women and Final 3 bachelorettes — or click here to see photos and details of Gerry’s 22 bachelorettes.

RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.