“70 to 30, that’s the difference between love and lust.” Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner reflects on age as his journey to love begins

HOLLYWOOD (KABC) – 72-year-old Gerry Turner is enjoying his time as the “first”… the first “Golden Bachelor” in the series “Looking for Love”.

“It was too much fun to get where I ended up. And I want everyone to enjoy it with me,” Turner said.

Turner says he was somewhat familiar with the series, largely thanks to his daughters and granddaughters. They encouraged him to apply… he was selected… and then he was supposed to meet his 22 beautiful bachelorettes.

He tells host Jesse Palmer it’s all about staying hopeful.

“I was a casual viewer of Bachelor/Bachelorette, so I generally knew what was going to happen,” Turner said. “But when it came to the details of the evening, the dates, etc., it was full of surprises. I had been looking forward to this evening for months. And I was so excited I couldn’t wait.” I wanted to hold their hands, I wanted to hear their names and I wanted to know a little bit about their story. And my goodness, that was the best night ever.

Turner says he wanted to have conversations that go “below the surface”… without easy “yes” or “no” answers! “One of the simple questions was: What do you do on a normal day? What is an everyday, not special day? What does he look like? I wanted to know what they do with holidays. That was a big question for me. We We talked about values. We talked about previous relationships, on both sides, hers and mine. I really needed to know some history.”

Turner also knows that with age comes maturity… and other goals.

“Everyone will see a new wrinkle in the franchise,” Turner said. “70 to 30, it’s the difference between love and lust. At 70 we’re really trying to find the emotional and intellectual connection; we don’t look for the physical side of it first.”

Will his show make history with a “TrueLove” ending?

“I’ve always been a happy person, so I would say I was happy throughout the whole process,” Turner said. “But when you end up asking me if I have found my person, you have to pay attention! I won’t give that up.”

“The Golden Bachelor” airs Thursdays on ABC.