Exclusive: One on One with Gerry the Golden Bachelor

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome back to Bachelor Happy Hour. We have an extremely special episode for you. Right now, we have the man himself, the Golden Bachelor. Gary is Hair. Gary, How the hell are you?

00:00:17
Speaker 2: I'm doing better now than I was this morning. There was a little bit of panic early on, but much better now. Thanks for asking.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: What do you do when do you start panicking? Do you have any breathing techniques?

00:00:30
Speaker 2: Well, after I run out of peanut butter, M and MS, I'll just pretty much go to anything I'll nervous eat.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: You're a snacker. You're a nervous snacker.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what.

00:00:42
Speaker 1: I've done a decent amount of interviews on this podcast and the prior one before, and I'm nervous for this. I don't know, you know, this is this is a big it's new territory.

00:00:54
Speaker 4: You know, we've had Bachelor, Bachelorrette, Bachelor in Paradise, but you are the first ever goal bachelor ever to exist and for us to interview, So this is super exciting for us as well.

00:01:06
Speaker 2: Well. Thanks for that. That's pretty sweet of you. So I'm excited for it as well. This is one of the rare times I've ever been on a podcast. No, wait, I've never been on a podcast.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: This is your first one?

00:01:19
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this is it. This is the first one.

00:01:22
Speaker 4: Well, welcome. We're just gonna have a great chat today. We want to get to know you better, We want our listeners to get to know you better, and we just want to show everyone why they should be so excited to watch your season, which is coming up.

00:01:35
Speaker 1: Yes, and before we jump into it, I'm Joe Serena and we met on Bachelor in Paradise. So how familiar are you are you with the Bachelor franchise and all the shows?

00:01:49
Speaker 2: Well, I do remember the two of you from your episode. I probably wasn't as religious a watcher back then, but I've become more and more, uh more and more of a routine to watch pretty you know, I'm pretty hooked now.

00:02:09
Speaker 1: Well yeah, now you now you gotta be you are? Are you from Indiana?

00:02:14
Speaker 2: I'm not from Indiana. I spent most of my life in Iowa along the Mississippi River, and when my wife and I were talking about retiring, we wanted a house on a lake to be the interesting destination for our kids to come back to. So that's what brought us to Indiana. Plus my dad lives in Fort Wayne, so I can still look over him a little bit.

00:02:37
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm I'm from Chicago. You go often? Ever been?

00:02:42
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, my career took me there a number of times. My oldest daughter lives in Yorkville, which is west of Chicago.

00:02:52
Speaker 1: So yeah, And what was what was your career? What did you do?

00:02:58
Speaker 2: Early on? I was a restaurant owner and operator, and it was nothing glamorous. It was fast food. And then I sold my business and spent the rest of my career in food distribution. And that's what took me to Chicago. A number of times. I worked with salesmen and did sales training and so forth.

00:03:20
Speaker 1: Nice. Nice And how old were you when you and your wife got together.

00:03:26
Speaker 2: When we first met, I think we were sophomore in high school. Wow, we didn't you know, we didn't start hanging out or dating until I was a senior in high school. But yeah, it goes back to nineteen sixty nine, nineteen sixty seven, a long time ago.

00:03:48
Speaker 1: So you don't have much experience in dating, do you.

00:03:53
Speaker 2: I have very little experience in dating, and you know, it's not something you can do on the run. You need a little bit of a primer with it, and it's been, you know, a tough process for me, I got to admit.

00:04:05
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:04:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, So is that what led you to decide to be the Golden Bachelor. You're like, this is a little too tough, so let's just do all thirty women at once, and then we'll just fast track the process to finding a wife.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: And on TV too.

00:04:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was about three years ago and I wasn't dating anyone, and at that time, I hadn't developed the good circle of friends that I have now, and I have a really good group of friends now. But we were kind of watching The Bachelor Bachelorette, and by we, I mean my daughters and we text back and forth and you know, we'd mac on somebody and so forth, and the and for the Senior Bachelor came on and I looked at it and my girl said, won't give it a try? And like I said, it was like I had nothing going socially, kind of probably feeling sorry for myself a little bit. And I answered it, and uh, you know, I got a call back, I had a few zoom calls and so forth. Well, and of course then it died because of COVID.

00:05:14
Speaker 1: So okay, so yeah, I guess this has been going on. Did you so once COVID hit and it kind of just like died down, did you think that was it?

00:05:23
Speaker 2: I did? In fact, I recall, you know, kind of waiting and waiting, and I had a phone number for one of the producers at that time, and I finally sent him one last message and I and I included a picture and I said, who wants to be the first Senior Bachelor? This guy and they I think the message back was something like, Okay, we've all been released from responsibility. It doesn't look like the project is going to happen now and and and that was it. So then fast forward two plus years to February of this year when I get a call and I mean that one was out of the blue. Yeah, but anyway, I get the call, are you still interested? And at first I said no, as I'm over it, I'm good to go, I'm fine, And the conversation kind of quite honestly, I didn't want to hang up. I wanted to see, you know, how the conversation would develop and evolve and lo and behold, I probably was pretty easy to be talked into it, and you know, so that was the slippery Slopes frace. So you got.

00:06:40
Speaker 4: Produced so once in a lifetime, incredibly unique opportunity. So if you're an experiential person, it's understandable that you're like, Okay, you know, I'm kind of over this, but at the same time like, tell me more.

00:06:55
Speaker 2: Oh, that's exactly what it was. And then you know, I recall hanging the phone up. I mean, I remember exactly in the house where I was, and so when I hang the phone up and I go, what did I just do? And then with literally with every passing moment, I got more and more excited about the possibility. And then of course as things happened, you know, phone calls and interviews and zoom calls and everything. I mean, it's just really it's ramped up day by day by day.

00:07:28
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, because you're investing more and more time into it, and it starts to become more and more real, and you're like, wow, maybe I will be the Golden Bachelor, and here you are.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I think the time between that phone call and subsequent meetings and so forth to the time that I actually got the news officially from Jesse Palmer, and it was a Memorial Day morning. That was the most difficult period of this whole thing, because you don't know is it a yes that to know? Should I just give up?

00:08:01
Speaker 1: Hope?

00:08:02
Speaker 2: Should I keep hanging on? The emotions are just all over the place for that couple of months.

00:08:08
Speaker 1: So how are you well? I have so many questions for you, Like, first of all, you look, you look fantastic. What do you what are you doing? Are you are you going to the gym? Are you doing like cold Debs? Like what's your routine? Yeah?

00:08:26
Speaker 2: No, I I drink a lot of beer, I eat peanuts, I stay up late. I don't know. I'm just kidding. I play Okay. I think the real secret is genetics. But I was a marathon runner, you know, high school college athlete. I try to eat well, but I fail a lot at that, you know. But I think it's just in general trying to stay healthy. I probably spend ten hours a week playing pickleball, so that burns off a lot of energy.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: You're definitely going to get You're going to get some social media deals for pickleball for sure. That that is definitely coming coming your way. Okay, So how how are you prepping to date thirty women?

00:09:19
Speaker 2: Wow, that's you know, that's a really good question, and I have given it a lot of thought. I mean, it's almost you can't get away from it. But I think the thing that I spend a lot of time doing is trying to figure out what are the good questions to ask that will reveal character and reveal whether or not someone is genuinely a high energy competitive person or you know, really important is how close are they to family. You know, I've dated a few women along the way, and it's very revealing when someone doesn't have good friendly ties with their children. It's like, really, it manifests in a number of negative ways.

00:10:11
Speaker 4: So so that's kind of in terms of people's character, what's important to you? Do you have like a type in terms of physical appearance or something specific that you're looking for other than like strong family values.

00:10:33
Speaker 2: I guess I kind of do. I would want someone that, in their own way, is fit. If they're tall or short, you know that those kind of things don't matter. It's are they using the most or or getting the most out of their their physical attributes? Are they pushing themselves? Are they refusing to give up?

00:10:59
Speaker 1: If your wife's looking down on you. Now, what do you think she would say? I think she would be very pleased. I have a picture of her in my walk in closet, so every night I'm in there and I see her picture. It's the only one now that I have in the house. And in the mornings, I see her picture, and you know, we talk. You know, I'll make a brief comment or you know, sometimes that talk is silent, but here lately, in the last couple of months, you know, my question for her is always, so what do you think of this? Am I doing the right thing? And I really have strong positive feelings about it. I think she would be very happy. I think she's probably seen me fail at a number of attempted relationships and dating, and I really think she would be approve of this. It's positive, it's energetic, it's a way of communicating and finding the connection with a number of people, but specifically one special person.

00:12:06
Speaker 4: I'm pretty confident nice she would want you to find your pickleball partner.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that would be great.

00:12:14
Speaker 1: I love that. And I think that's such a healthy, healthy outlook. And I mean, I think I think you're gonna I think you're gonna find your person. How about friends? Now, I know you got to have some some seventy year old guy friends who are like, I think you're the luckiest man in the world right now.

00:12:33
Speaker 2: Uh, yeah, there's a few.

00:12:36
Speaker 1: Any bad advice I want to hear some bad advice from those friends. What are they saying?

00:12:41
Speaker 2: Oh, you know, some of that bad advice I can't put on the air. It's so bad.

00:12:46
Speaker 3: That's fair, Yeah, that's fair. It is a family show to an extent.

00:12:51
Speaker 1: Let's go, let's go daughters, then a little bit. How about your daughters and grandkids. What are they saying?

00:12:56
Speaker 2: Oh, they are over the top supportive of this. The experience of having them in Los Angeles with me a couple of weeks ago when I was doing the promotions and so forth, I mean, we'd laugh and we'd cry, and it was just an amazing, amazing experience. And today, you know, I have two daughters. One is our granddaughters, one is twenty one one, sixteen, and they're very adept at finding comments and the things online, and so they're firing me stuff NonStop about the things that are being said, and it's hilarious. But they are loving it. And you know, my two daughters. Then of course they're a little bit older. You know, I have one that's forty and forty six, and you know, they're sort of in between, so they're they're getting some of the online stuff, but an awful lot of feedback from their personal friends. So that is genuinely part of the fun of this experience is seeing all the people that are my clothes circle having so much fun with it. Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised that there's been almost no jealousy about it. No one's saying I wish it was me and mentally wishing, you know that I wasn't in that spot. Everybody is so positive and supportive.

00:14:19
Speaker 3: That's great, that's great.

00:14:20
Speaker 4: That's something that people don't talk about that much going on the show, and it has been something that I experienced, I know you experienced. Is it really just brings people together, like your circle of friends and family really surround around you, and they get excited about it and they want to be involved, and it is It is really fun for not just you and your journey, but all the people in your life to get to enjoy and celebrate as well.

00:14:44
Speaker 2: There's a little story that I think really epitomizes. You know what we're talking about here. But I have a neighbor whose husband passed away last November, and we were outside last Saturday, they were having a memorial for him. She's eighty years old and was feeling kind of bad. And literally it was six years ago on that Saturday that I took my wife to the hospital when she never came home, and we had a good cry, you know, hugged it out a little bit, had a good cry. About three hours later, she calls and she goes, my daughter is here, my daughter in law is here. Can we come over and have our picture taken with you? And so we're doing selfies. I wish I could show you the sequence of three, because there's three women in me in the first picture kind of normal. And then in between that picture and the next, I turned to her and I say, just give me a little kiss right here, and as she does, I turn and so we kissed, and then the last picture her face is lit up and busting out with laughter. And it was really a great experience to watch her have a bad morning and then a great morning because of basically because of the Golden Bachelor experience.

00:16:08
Speaker 4: So it was fun that's amazing. It's bringing people together in your life. It's going to bring people together on the show to hopefully find a second chance of love.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: So there's lots to be excited about.

00:16:18
Speaker 1: I saw you better, you better stop start stop kissing women right now?

00:16:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're kissing your neighbors.

00:16:24
Speaker 2: You have a lot of women getting I'm going to reread my contract because I don't think that's in there.

00:16:31
Speaker 1: You're right, Actually, can can you tell us, like, what is an ideal date for you? Right now?

00:16:39
Speaker 2: Oh? I think an ideal date is focused heavily on conversation because I'm kind of thinking we're talking an early date, a first date, something like that, where you know, we can talk about priorities, we can talk about whether or not the person is interested in being made. You know, there's many women of my age that that look at marriage and say, you know, it's kind of a complication. Do we need to be married to be committed to each other? And it's an interesting thought. I would want that day to include some activity so that I would know, uh, that we could engage together. It'd be nice if there was an activity where I would know how well we would work as a unit. A pickleball date or a golf date would be great. I think those kind of things are pretty revealing of people's character.

00:17:41
Speaker 1: So I gotta I gotta come out to Indiana and play in a little pickleball. I'm pretty good myself.

00:17:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't want to mislead you. I'm not sure we're good. We're just all about the same levels. So we have a heck of a good time being competitive with each other.

00:18:00
Speaker 3: You can definitely be a.

00:18:05
Speaker 4: So going into this process, what are you the most excited about?

00:18:10
Speaker 3: What are you the most nervous for.

00:18:13
Speaker 2: I'm really most excited for that first night when I get to see all of the women and get a first impression that that is really a moment that I think, you know, sort of sets the tone mentally for me. And then what I'm most nervous about. You know, people have asked me so many times, are you nervous that? And I've said, no, I'm really not that. I'm beginning to think I'm super naive and I need to be more nervous. But I'm more nervous about stepping on a rake and breaking my nose here at home that I am anything about the show. It doesn't make me nervous. It makes me excited. I feel energized. I can't wait, of course, but but I'm not feeling too nervous about it.

00:19:01
Speaker 4: I feel like that's a good thing because as much as you know, maybe you just don't know what you don't know. Like, I'm sure there's things that are going to come up that make you nervous that you just couldn't expect. It definitely just means you're going to go into it with like an open mind and open heart enthusiasm. I feel like that's the best way to go into it, whereas you're not overthinking it too much, you know. I feel like people get really nervous when they really overthink it. At the end of the day, you're just you're just trying to find love and that should be fun. Yes, I kind of want life to slow down. I want to enjoy every moment.

00:19:35
Speaker 2: I want to be able to make a mental note or write in a in a log book at night some of the high points of the day and remember those moments. And if I can do that, it'll be it'll be pretty fun.

00:19:49
Speaker 1: That's great. You're you're not going to get nervous. You're a confident man. And you've got you got enough experience, so I'm not worried about you. We're going to jump in Gary, We're gonna play game before we do. Do you have any questions for us? Because we did fall in love on the show.

00:20:12
Speaker 3: We did. We're married now, we've been together just over two years.

00:20:14
Speaker 4: We got engaged just over two years ago, and then we got married in the fall, and we have our wedding coming off in September.

00:20:23
Speaker 2: How long after the show did you realize you were the right people for each other.

00:20:31
Speaker 3: That's a good question.

00:20:32
Speaker 4: So my answer to that would be, I mean, obviously we left the show believing we were the right people for each other. We got engaged on it, but you know, you hit the real world and there's still new tests and experiences to go through. And I went and stayed with Joe for ten days, and we were we had to hide because no one can know we were together. So I was basically stuck in his apartment with him for ten days straight. And well the first day, yeah, that's a whole other story. And when I left after the ten days to go back home, I was so sad to be leaving. We'd had the best time. I couldn't get enough of him, and that's why I knew. I was like, yeah, I made the right decision. You know, this works just as well in the Bachelor world as it does in the real world.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: That's awesome. I'm so glad to hear that. Yeah, Joe, how would you answer the question?

00:21:24
Speaker 1: I wouldn't know. I well, you know, I feel like I knew on the show, but then you know, you obviously you have to test it once you step into the real world. And it was in that ten day period where I was like, Okay, this is going to work or I believe this has a really good chance, and all my feelings that I felt on the show were as real as they are now, Like, and it's you know, you just have to be like, just you're an honest guy, Just be yourself, and I believe you will find your match in the person that's also being honest, and that's really you need. You just need two people that are being themselves and that will click.

00:22:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, because when we left the show, there was no surprises on like finding out he wasn't who he said he was or wasn't acting how he usually acts because we're on a TV show, And that was that is what made it so easy to fall in love with each other on the show and then just have our love grow and get even better off the show.

00:22:21
Speaker 2: What the comments you've just made, I will hold close and certainly remember as I go forward.

00:22:28
Speaker 1: Good good. And also another comment I'm going to make, and this is important, download Instagram because you will make some will get some pickleball deals. Okay, before we before we let you go, we're gonna play a quick game rapid fire. First thing that comes to your head.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: Okay, you ready, There's nothing tough here. It's all just fun, fun questions.

00:22:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, what is the first thing you do when you wake up?

00:22:55
Speaker 2: Brush my teeth? How do you like your pizza? Thick crust, Detroit style?

00:23:03
Speaker 1: Interesting? Best dating advice you ever received?

00:23:07
Speaker 2: It's dating advice ever Go slow?

00:23:12
Speaker 1: What is your go to cocktail?

00:23:15
Speaker 2: Vodka and cranberry?

00:23:17
Speaker 1: Who is one person living or not that you would like to have dinner with?

00:23:23
Speaker 2: Sandra Bullock?

00:23:24
Speaker 1: Oh?

00:23:25
Speaker 3: Why Sandra Bullock?

00:23:27
Speaker 2: Well, I think she's hilarious. She emotes that she has good character and good values, and she's reasonably age appropriate.

00:23:38
Speaker 3: Well, maybe she'll make you guest appearance on yourself?

00:23:41
Speaker 1: Is she is she your celebrity crush.

00:23:45
Speaker 2: Ummm, no, she's probably not. She's like the more sincere person that I would like to speak with or or be with on a date or something like that. Who's your celebrity crush, Penelope Cruise?

00:24:02
Speaker 1: Yeah? You go all right? What is one word or phrase that your friends use to describe you?

00:24:11
Speaker 2: Good listener?

00:24:14
Speaker 1: Do you have any bad habits?

00:24:17
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, I'm sure I do. Let me think bad habits. Yeah. I think about eating sweets way too much at bedtime, and I do it? Do you? So? Oh yeah, I'd love to eliminate that. But I start thinking about dessert the minute I have my first bite of dinner.

00:24:36
Speaker 4: So Joe's a very big frozen yogurt fan, so he can relate to that, because the minute we start dinner, he's.

00:24:44
Speaker 3: Like, I wonder if I'll order pinkberry tonight.

00:24:47
Speaker 2: See if if the property next door was available, I would promote putting a dairy queen right there, and I'd be there every day.

00:24:55
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, that would be dangerous.

00:24:57
Speaker 1: Love that. What is your goat karaoke song?

00:25:02
Speaker 2: Oh, I've never done karaoke. I need to get a karaoke song. I don't have one. Well that the show just got a great date idea. Get Ready karaoke day, now get ready. If you if you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go anywhere in the world.

00:25:22
Speaker 5: I think it would be Iceland, Bridgevik, Iceland, Iceland. Why Iceland, I'm I didn't probably don't have a good reason.

00:25:32
Speaker 2: I just think that would be a great place to go.

00:25:35
Speaker 3: And yeah, I agree.

00:25:37
Speaker 1: What's your favorite place in the world.

00:25:39
Speaker 2: You've been that I've been. I think I enjoyed Hawaii more than anywhere else.

00:25:49
Speaker 4: I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, and we almost were gonna go there on our honeymoon, but we're not.

00:25:53
Speaker 3: But it's still on my like bucket list, I have to go.

00:25:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's that's great. Gary. We are honestly, I cannot wait to watch you. I cannot wait to watch this show. We're so happy for you.

00:26:07
Speaker 2: Thanks you, guys. This was a real pleasure to meet the two of you.

00:26:11
Speaker 3: It was our pleasure. This was amazing. Oh you're such a star. You're You're definitely gonna find love. I know it, I feel it. I'm so excited for you.

00:26:21
Speaker 2: I hope that's the case, because that's the whole point of all of this is to find the right person for me. Yes, you know, I had such a wonderful wedding or marriage that I want to find the next right person for me. You know, being in the fourth quarter life, you don't want to give up, so hopefully it happens. I'm hoping.

00:26:41
Speaker 3: I'm very optimistic, so I'm optimistic for you.

00:26:45
Speaker 1: It's gonna be just don't treat these women like their flavors at Fairy Queen.

00:26:52
Speaker 3: But enjoy yourself. You're gonna have so many beautiful women. Enjoy yourself.

00:26:56
Speaker 1: Bachelor Nation. Thank you guys so much for tuning in, and make sure to tune in this fall to watch Gary's journey.

00:27:05
Speaker 4: Yes, and as always, you can catch new episodes of Bachelor Happy Hour dropping this week. Gary, thank you so much, and everyone thanks for listening.

00:27:14
Speaker 2: Bye everyone, goodbye everybody, and thank you so much.