The time has officially come for us to meet our inaugural Golden Bachelor, people! During this morning’s episode of Good Morning America, 71-year-old Gerry Turner was announced as the leading man of The Bachelor‘s upcoming senior spinoff, The Golden Bachelor. Describing himself as “71 years young,” the Indiana resident was all smiles when he gushed, “It’s never too late to fall in love again.” *Makes mental note for when I swear off romantic partners for the millionth time.*

Disney’s unscripted TV exec Rob Mills—who, in a truly interesting crossover moment, just helped Kim K pull off a major prank during last week’s episode of The Kardashians—recently spoke with Variety about the excitement behind The Golden Bachelor.

“It’s such a different way of doing The Bachelor because these people are just at a totally different place in their lives,” he said. “There is an interesting thing about people who have hit the other end of the spectrum, who’ve lived their lives, they’ve raised their kids, some have been widowed or divorced and maybe some have never been in love. We thought that would be an interesting dynamic through the Bachelor prism.”

If this makes your ears perk up (or your grandma’s, for that matter), here’s what you need to know about Gerry, including what he’s looking for in a future partner and how supportive his family is about his television debut.

The Golden Bachelor has his late wife’s blessing

You’re gonna wanna pull out some Kleenex for this one. Gerry was previously married to his high school sweetheart Toni for 43 years. Sadly, his late wife passed in 2017 after becoming ill just six weeks after she retired. “She got robbed. Every day that goes by, that’s the thought I have,” Gerry reflected when speaking of her death on Good Morning America.

The inaugural Golden Bachelor maintains that he spoke with Toni about the opportunity in his own way and said she would be “rooting” for him. “I have her picture on a dresser in my closet. Every morning I give her the nod, ‘So what do you think about this?’ For a while it was like I was having a hard time figuring out if she would be okay. But we always told each other, when one of us goes, we want the other one to be happy,” he mused. “She’s saying, ‘Yeah Gerry, do this,'” he added.

His daughters gave him the green light, too

Gerry and Toni shared two daughters—Angie and Jenny—who were actually the ones to encourage him to sign up for the show. Cute pic of Gerry, Angie, Jenny, and Gerry’s granddaughters, Charlee and Payton, incoming:

Obsessed with this support system. 🥺❤️

Here’s what Gerry is looking for…👀

According to Gerry, he’s interested in finding someone who matches his personality and is willing to play sports with him. “I’d love it if I found a partner who was high energy, someone who’s fairly competitive, that they enjoy sports. Someone that maybe plays pickleball, someone that maybe plays golf,” he dished during his Good Morning America segment.

And ABC’s bio for Gerry reads, in part:

“A retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather, Gerry [GAIR-ee] Turner lives in his dream house on a beautiful lake in Indiana. He’s often busy hosting barbecues, playing pickleball, cheering on his favorite Chicago sports teams, four-wheeling, and spending time with friends and family at restaurants and local haunts.”

‘Kay, so when can I tune in to The Golden Bachelor?

Great Q! Back in May, ABC announced that The Golden Bachelor will premiere this fall 2023, as will season 9 of Bachelor in Paradise.

“After more than 20 years of fostering young love on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise, The Golden Bachelor showcases a whole new kind of love story—one for the golden years,” the network said in a statement at the time. “On this all-new unscripted series, one hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities.”

When it comes to how you can watch, The Golden Bachelor will air on ABC, as is the case with pretty much all Bachelor franchises. However! If you don’t have cable, there’s no reason to sweat it. You can stream all the episodes on ABC’s website and on Hulu the morning after.

Assistant news editor

Gretty Garcia is the assistant news editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers all things news, entertainment, and pop culture. Before joining Cosmo, Gretty was a social strategist for Mrs. Dow Jones and a features and special projects editor at Editorialist. She holds an MS from the Columbia Journalism School and studied art history at Harvard College.