SHREWSBURY, NJ — It's official. Local resident Theresa Nist is now a bona fide celebrity - the first golden rose winner in "The Golden Bachelor" television show.
And Theresa, 70, and Gerry Turner, 72, announced on the show Thursday night, "We're engaged!"
The couple - and many of the participants in the show - have now become national personalities, with stories and photos about them cropping up from a variety of media outlets. There were even paparazzi-type shots of Theresa online as she emerged from a local store in Shrewsbury after a shopping trip recently.
In real life, Nist is a financial services professional and Turner is retired, having owned a restaurant at one point.
But in the finale of the show Thursday, emotions were the focus as Turner and Nist, both of whom were widowed, came to the mutual decision that they cared enough for each other to make a commitment.
Find out what's happening in Red Bank-Shrewsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Their relationship deepened on a trip to Costa Rica, filmed for an earlier episode. The final "golden rose" moment also came in Costa Rica when Turner went down on bended knee, proposed to Theresa and was joyously accepted.
But there was one other person in the picture: Leslie, 64, a dancer and fitness teacher from Minneapolis, was the other finalist facing Turner's decision.
And her gentle rejection by Turner felt like anything but. She was upset, she cried when he told her privately that she was not the one. She seemed shattered.
"I was devastated," she told him in the live portion of the show that reviewed the painful moments.
Turner said his decision regarding Leslie - and all the other rejections he had to make in rose ceremonies - was much harder than he thought possible.
"I took a good person and broke her heart," he told show host Jesse Palmer of his conversation with Leslie. "I hate myself."
But a new day dawned, Theresa approached the lushly decorated platform on the island to see if she would be the one. She was not aware Leslie already had spoken to Turner and would not have to face a public rejection.
The moment Turner proposed brought cheers and tears from the live audience Thursday, which included the couple's families.
The couple seemed confident in their future - and were thrilled to learn the show is giving them a trip to Italy - an idea they briefly discussed on their first date at a diner.
And the host, Palmer, made the even bigger surprise announcement of the night: The couple's wedding will be brought to a live audience on Jan. 4 - so there is more to come for local viewers of the show.
"Our trip will be our honeymoon," Turner said.
And the couple's mutual belief that love should be cherished at any time in life was consistently the underlying message of the show - a concept no doubt already familiar to many "mature" couples.
The 22 original women who were chosen for the mature love take on "The Bachelor" franchise all performed with enthusiasm and lots of emotion.
In "The Women Tell All" episode, a common theme was how the experience increased their confidence in finding emotional connections going forward, even if they are in their 70s.
And they too, to varying degrees, all have become social media celebs as they joked, cried and reflected on their journey through the show.
Nist herself, the mother of two with six grandsons, can be found in photos on social media sites. Viewers can spot lots of local places in the photos - such as The Galleria in Red Bank. Earlier in the series, in a visit to Nist's family, there were shots of downtown Red Bank, sailboats on the river and video of a day trip to Seaside Heights.
As Nist said Thursday night, the show has become a "cultural phenomenon." People stop and talk to her and support her and Turner's openness to love again after both lost their spouses to illness.
The two talk on the phone every night for hours and are learning more and more about each other, she said.
"You can't put an age limit on love," Nist said - even, she added "if you have one day left, you have love to give."
And Turner is looking forward to the wedding: "We don't have time to waste!" he joked.
And if you can't get enough of the "mature love" theme, ABC's Palmer did describe this as the "first season" of "The Golden Bachelor" in the Bachelor Nation franchise.
It seems ABC struck gold in ratings with the concept. Variety reported the premiere episode of “The Golden Bachelor” had 11.10 million total viewers across various platforms after seven days, according to Nielsen.
Mature love, it seems, is here to stay.
732-483-4611
Service Areas
