Witty and fun, Kathy Swarts of 'Zip it' fame steals show during The Golden Wedding

A star emerged during the live broadcast of “The Golden Bachelor” wedding between Indiana widower Gerry Turner and New Jersey financial adviser Theresa Nist, and it wasn’t the bride or the groom.

It also wasn’t heartbroken runner-up Leslie Fhima, who could have injected plenty of drama but didn't. And it wasn't the exuberant “Golden Bachelor” fan favorite Susan Noles, who took center stage as the wedding officiant.

The star of the show turned out to be the least likely candidate: Kathy Swarts, the 70-year-old Texas woman portrayed as the villain of the season after she lost her temper with Nist for gushing about her dates with Turner. Swarts famously snapped at Nist: "Zip it!"

Much of Bachelor Nation sided with Nist, Swarts failed to get another rose and she was largely forgotten as the season progressed. So it came as a surprise when ABC announced that Swarts would be one of two gold carpet interviewers ahead of Thursday’s wedding in Palm Springs, California.

“Why is mean girl Kathy Swarts even invited to the wedding?” wrote Tammy Vigil of Denver on X. “That broad was so nasty to sweet, lovely Theresa. C’mon Golden Bachelor producers, pick better.”

With many of the show’s fans feeling the same way and no apparent experience in the limelight (she used to work as an educational consultant), Swarts was walking into a mine field of negativity on a national stage. It could have been a train wreck.

But Swarts turned out to be a natural. She was quick with witty comments, she asked astute questions that we all wanted to know. She was charming and self-deprecating.

In short, she stole the show.

From lack of date to stepmother jokes, Swarts' humor landed

Swarts began the evening by poking fun at herself. She asked co-host Charity Lawson (season 20 of "The Bachelorette") whether she wanted to meet her date.

With a flourish, Swarts waved her hand as if to present someone, only to say: “I don’t have one.”

She then said she knew all along that Turner and Nist would end up together, “and here I am tonight standing with a microphone in my hand.”

“Who thought it would be a good idea to put a microphone in my hand on live television?” she quipped.

I sure didn’t.

Swarts was just warming up at the top of the hour. On her next segment, she told one of Turner’s daughters that she must have been “up all night crying because I’m not going to be your stepmother.”

“Believe me, I gave it my best shot,” she said straight-faced. “I did everything I could.”

Where to find Kathy Swarts: At the bar

Swarts only got funnier as the night wore on. When one Bachelor Nation couple talked about how they got married in a rainstorm, she quipped: “I’ll take a tornado, a flood. I’m single. I need a guy.”

When interviewing two other “Golden Bachelor” castmates in another segment, she asked them: “What are you two most looking forward to besides hanging out with me at the bar?”

Later she said she was in one of her favorite places: a bar. But unfortunately, “I’m sober as a judge.”

“Bachelor in Paradise” bartender Wells Adams soon fixed that and brought her a drink.

Kathy Swarts' also showed endearing side

On top of her quick wit, Swarts’ apparent reconciliation with Nist was on fully display. Swarts and Noles were the only two “Golden Bachelor” castmates who went to Nist’s emotional dress-shopping trip with Nist's and Turner's respective daughters.

Swarts gushed about how beautiful Nist was, and when the bride and her daughter sobbed and embraced, Swarts was crying in the wings with the other women. When the camera panned to Swarts during the wedding, she looked both misty-eyed and delighted. And when the ceremony was over and the music started playing, she gamely began dancing and singing the words to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin.'"

By the end of the night’s broadcast, Swarts had won respect and affection from an audience that largely expected – maybe even hoped – that she would be a disaster on the gold carpet.

“Kathy is the Joan Rivers of the Golden Bachelor,” wrote one viewer on X.

Another wrote that “Bachelor Nation should keep Kathy Swarts around for more events after the Golden Wedding. Her commentary was the best part.”

And on “The Golden Bachelor” Facebook page: “Kathy SLAYED!!!! She's a natural and we want to see MORE of her!”

At one point during the broadcast, Swarts toasted her fellow “Golden Bachelor” castmates who remain single.

“We’re toasting to love, to all the single ladies out there,” she said. “May we not be next year at this time.”

Whether or not Swarts finds love, she may just find herself a new job: red carpet reporter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Golden Bachelor wedding broadcast had a clear star: Kathy Swarts