‘The Golden Bachelor’ Recap: Gerry Deepens His Relationships During Fantasy Suites
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SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Thursday’s episode of The Golden Bachelor.
Things are getting spicy on The Golden Bachelor.
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Gerry has narrowed his choice down to two women, Leslie and Theresa. With hometown dates in the rearview mirror, it’s time for fantasy suites. Gerry is down in Costa Rica, ready to embark on two final dates before he gets down on one knee. But first, he spends some time chatting with host Jesse Palmer about where his head is at.
Gerry says he’s ready to get a bit more intimate with each of the ladies, not just physically but also emotionally. He thinks once they spend the day alone together, they’ll be able to break down some of the barriers that remain and really ask each other the hard questions.
He makes it clear that his feelings are strong for both women, though he hasn’t told Theresa that he loves her yet. He said those three magic words to Leslie after meeting her family in Minneapolis. But, he insists that he does feel strongly for Theresa, he just hasn’t found the perfect moment to tell her.
Naturally, Jesse asks Gerry about the more physical element of fantasy suites, but Gerry isn’t very forthcoming. He says he’s open to it, but he is focused on the comfort level of each of the women.
His first date is with Leslie. The pair kick things off by repelling 170 feet down the side of a cliff to a waterfall, which ends up being pretty precarious. As Leslie makes her way down, she starts to panic as she loses her footing a bit. To be fair, they are just a few feet away from this waterfall and, at one point, Leslie is basically in it. But, Gerry remains very calm and talks her off the ledge (literally and figuratively). They do make it to the bottom, but they are soaking wet.
After spending some time chatting in the pool beneath the waterfall, it’s time for them to make their way back to the resort for dinner. This is when Gerry is hoping to have a more intimate conversation with Leslie. He says in confessional that he thinks they both have rose-colored glasses on, but he wants to remain a voice of reason and make sure they’re thinking logically about this relationship.
Once they sit down, Gerry says that he’s noticed Leslie hasn’t asked him many difficult questions. So, she hits him with one right away, asking how long it’s been since he had sex. He says it’s been a “long time” but doesn’t elaborate. Leslie says it’s been one year for her.
Gerry has some other topics of conversation in mind, though, like where they’ll live if they do get engaged. They are both from the midwest, but Leslie’s entire family lives in Minneapolis while Gerry’s is in Indiana. Leslie admits she doesn’t want to leave Minneapolis behind fully, because her family is very important to her, but she also isn’t concerned with the specifics. She seems confident that, no matter what, they’ll figure it out.
That answer seems to satisfy Gerry, who tells her that he just wants to ensure that they are committed to working through these things together because he takes the “til death do us part” portion of marriage vows very seriously. That makes Leslie emotional, because she says she’s never truly had a relationship that exemplified that level of commitment. She doesn’t want to be alone anymore, and she isn’t afraid to make that type of commitment to Gerry.
Gerry asks Leslie to join him in the fantasy suite, which she accepts. Inside, they toast with a glass of bubbly, and Gerry tells Leslie about some advice he received from Trista Sutter when she made an appearance on the show. She told him to find the women he can’t live without, and he thinks that woman is Leslie.
The next morning, Gerry and Leslie seem over the moon about their night. He says they stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning talking about life. Did anything more happen? We may never know. Gerry tells the cameras that he knows everyone will be interested in what went down in the fantasy suites but, frankly, he doesn’t think it’s anyone else’s business. Fair enough.
Before long, Gerry must leave Leslie to go on his date with Theresa. He says he’s excited to see her, but he is struggling with the back-to-back dates.
Up until now, he’s managed to compartmentalize his time with each women fairly well. But, as he spends time horseback riding with Theresa, he says he can’t help but think about what Leslie is up to. He isn’t sure how to dial in on Theresa when he’s still processing his time with Leslie, but he tries his best to work through that. Eventually, he lets Theresa in on his dilemma. She’s fairly understanding and admits he has a lot to mull over.
Later that night, Gerry is ready to really live in the moment while they’re at dinner. That becomes easier than he anticipated once he and Theresa fall into their conversation. He starts by asking her about her career, and she explains that she was a stay-at-home mom before she began day trading. Eventually, she got a job at a financial securities company. But, she is ready to move into the next chapter of her life and retire, if that’s what Gerry wants.
She also tells Gerry that she’d given up on dating a while ago, and she hasn’t been intimate with anyone since losing her husband. So she takes the fantasy suites very seriously.
Gerry seems pleased with their conversation, admitting that he was happy that Theresa brought up some more serious topics. They don’t hesitate to agree to the fantasy suite.
When they wake up, Gerry says it feels like the first day of the rest of his life. Seems promising! He also reveals that he finally told Theresa he loved her sometime during their night together. He adds that he’s happy that didn’t happen on camera, and it’s something special just between the two of them. He doesn’t have anymore reservations about her.
Theresa seems to feel the same way and, in confessional, says she’s ready to say yes to Gerry if he proposes.
But Gerry has a big decision to make. He has to propose to one of these women, even though he is very much in love with both of them.
We’re almost at the finish line, folks! The finale of The Golden Bachelor is set to air on November 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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