Heavy/ABC Gerry Turner is "The Golden Bachelor."
“The Golden Bachelor” star Gerry Turner has been charming the Bachelor Nation audience, as well as his cast of bachelorettes, throughout his season. Viewers are eagerly waiting to see how his journey to find love again ends, and the finale is set to air on November 30.
In the meantime, one of his eliminated ladies just dished on her experience with him. What she has to say may surprise Turner’s fans.
Here’s what you need to know:
April Kirkwood Had ‘Mixed Emotions’ Upon Seeing Gerry Turner on TV
April Kirkwood was one of the ladies hoping to connect with Turner during his journey on “The Golden Bachelor.” During the November 2 episode of Nick Viall’s “The Viall Files,” Kirkwood revealed some interesting tidbits about her experience.
“I had a lot of mixed emotions,” Kirkwood said of the first time she saw Turner as he was announced as “The Golden Bachelor” lead.
She admitted she could tell immediately she and Turner were very different people. He currently lives in Indiana, and Kirkwood noted, “Indiana is not my thing.”
Kirkwood explained, “I do have a different lifestyle, and I love it, I live in South Florida.” She noted, “I could see that this was going to be a real challenge, putting that nicely.”
However, Kirkwood said she was “pleasantly surprised on how good-looking he was and how well-kept he was.” She admitted, “He looked much better in real life than he did on TV.
“I don’t know if it was the suntan or the beautiful clothes or the atmosphere, he has beautiful blue eyes that are dazzling, and of course, he was his charming self.”
At one point, Viall noted, “Just from a viewer standpoint he seems to be good at being empathetic, he’s really always on in a great way.” Kirkwood quickly interjected, “Yeah, I saw Gerry very differently.” She was clearly implying that what “The Golden Bachelor” viewers see on screen is not necessarily the real Turner.
“I think he was well groomed for what he did, I think he was the perfect gentleman,” Kirkwood shared. She continued, “I think he endured as much as he could. I think it got hard for him to stay calm sometimes and keep his cool, keep his wits about him.”
Kirkwood Admitted Turner ‘Hurt My Heart’
Later, Kirkwood revealed a major issue she experienced with Turner. “There were times when Gerry and I talked and he just seemed to look right past me. … He did it constantly to me, there was nothing I could do.”
She added, “As a counselor, I’ll tell you the meanest thing you can ever do to any human being is ignore them. … That hurt my heart.”
Having experienced “When someone looks through my being and my soul and my heart,” Kirkwood realized “That I had to set to be courageous and keep moving forward, and keep looking for love.” However, “The Golden Bachelor” contestant insisted, “I will never ignore anybody.”
As Kirkwood talked about this particular part of her experience with Turner, she admitted, “I’m going to cry because that really hit me when he did that and he did it constantly to me.”
“The Golden Bachelor” star told ET Online on October 20 that good things came out of the experience too. “I have gotten such healing from this experience,” Kirkwood shared. She added, “I got such a healing. I went back to being, like, 19.”