The Golden Bachelor Star Gerry Turner Took His First STD Test to Get on the Show

Craig Sjodin/ABC

Safety first, kids. Given how amorous things get on The Bachelor, we're glad to hear the show invests in STI (sexually transmitted infections) tests for participants, according to the Golden Bachelor himself, Gerry Turner.

“I was actually traveling with an old girlfriend—we were just friends—and I got a call from ABC wanting me to initiate the process to go get a STD test,” Turner recounted on Justin Long's Life Is Short podcast, per People. Turner explained that testing felt unnecessary during his decades-long marriage to his late wife, so he didn't know what to expect when he went in for a sexual checkup.

“That may have been my very first STD test…I had no idea what was gonna happen,” he said. “I didn’t know if they were gonna look in the iris of my eye, take a urine sample [or] a blood sample. I had no idea. Did not know.” (Hey, look: the link to Planned Parenthood's testing information. Nice!)

The reality dating show required some less awkward, though no less invasive “background tests” before proceeding with Turner as The Golden Bachelor's lead. “I had to send my fingerprints to the FBI, there were numerous background tests,” the Indiana grandpa revealed. “There was a psychological evaluation that was, like, 360 questions and then another hour of interview. The vetting process is ridiculously thorough.”

Golden Bachelor

Plus, he previews the finale, telling *Glamour* that “you'll see things that haven't happened before.”

Clearly, everything worked out and Gerry Turner was able to win over America's hearts as he cried through weeks of group dates, roses, and Theresa-related drama. Last time we checked in with him, he had no regrets about keeping the controversial contestant around, nor dropping the L-word with each of the season's final three women: Leslie Fhima, Faith Martin, and Theresa Nist. “I really don't because, in those moments, I did,” he told Glamour.

Turner further teased that viewers will be “moved” by the two-hour finale, which airs next week on ABC. “I think you'll see things that haven't happened before in any episode,” he said, adding that it's just another step in his journey. “It doesn't end,” he said. “This whole experience will just move to the next phase.”

The Golden Bachelor

“She's very innocent and naïve…but there's not a malicious bone in her body,” Martin tells *Glamour* of her former roommate.

Originally Appeared on Glamour