‘Golden Bachelor’ recap: Gerry finds himself at a crossroads after fantasy suites
It's down to the final two women on "The Golden Bachelor," and this week, Gerry Turner headed to Costa Rica for the fantasy suites.
"I'm in love with both Leslie and Theresa," Gerry said ahead of his dates. "It's going to be an incredibly difficult decision to make. I hope that the clarity will come."
"Do people my age still knock boots?"
Before his first fantasy suite date, Gerry had a conversation with "Golden Bachelor" host Jesse Palmer about what the week meant for him.
"Many people will be looking at [the fantasy suites, thinking], 'Do people my age still knock boots and have a good time behind closed doors?'" Gerry said. "Joking aside, it is the opportunity to talk without filters. The level of communication goes way up because the barriers go way down."
Gerry added that the dates would allow him to figure out what his heart is telling him in terms of what he wants in a relationship for the rest of his life.
"I think you're the one"
For their date, Gerry took Leslie canyoning through the Costa Rican jungle. Leslie expressed her apprehension at first but Gerry promised that he'd be there with her every step of the way as they rappelled alongside a waterfall.
"Gerry makes me feel safe," Leslie said. "Whether it's jumping off a cliff or sitting around having coffee on a Sunday morning. I've never felt somebody like that be there for me."
"He just feels like home," she added.
During the dinner portion of their date, Gerry brought up an observation he made about the time he'd spent with Leslie, and told her that he'd noticed that she hadn't asked him any hard questions. He began with a practical one, asking Leslie what she thinks life would look like together and where they would live.
Leslie, who is from Minneapolis, said that while she wouldn't want to leave her home, she loved Gerry and wanted to be with him, telling him, "We can figure it out." She also got emotional telling Gerry about her past two marriages and the loneliness she's experienced over the years.
"'Till death do us part' is something foreign to me, because I never had that," Leslie said. "I've been searching for it my whole life, and even through two marriages, those words were just so foreign to me. It's like uncharted waters for me."
"Every birthday I say, 'Next year, I'm not going to be alone,' and every year is like Groundhog Day. I'm alone on my birthday." she added. "And I don't want to be alone anymore. You're everything I want."
Dinner ended with a night in the fantasy suite and Gerry telling Leslie that she's "the one."
"Trista [Sutter, the first Bachelorette], gave me a piece of advice," Gerry said. "She said, 'Gerry, you have to find the woman you can't live without, not the one that you can live with.' So, I think you're the one. I have to have you with morning coffee, I have to have you when I go to bed at night. And I don't know how we would decide where we would live, we'd have to figure that out, but I think there's no one I'd rather figure it out with."
"What's Leslie doing right now?"
After his date with Leslie, Gerry had his date with Theresa. Ahead of their date, he admitted that it was getting "difficult to compartmentalize" his relationship with each woman and that "there's so much at stake."
During their date, which included horseback riding through the jungle, Theresa noted that Gerry was being quiet. Gerry told her what was on his mind about not knowing how to navigate the dates that week.
Theresa replied by telling him she understood what he was going through and how much he meant to her.
"Throughout this journey, I've really worked hard at being open-minded and staying in the moment with who I'm with," Gerry said later. "Theresa's so kind, so nice, she's a gentle person, she's a good soul. I don't want to do or say anything that hurts her. But I'm looking at Theresa and I'm like, 'What's wrong with you, Turner? She's the ideal woman for you.' But at the same time, I'm thinking, 'What's Leslie doing right now?'"
Gerry tells Theresa he loves her
During the dinner portion of their date, Gerry posed new questions about his relationship with Theresa and found himself asking whether his relationship with Theresa had gone as far as it would go.
"It feels like we're not moving forward," Gerry said. "We're not exploring new ground."
During dinner, however, Gerry learned more about Theresa, including her career, her decision to embark on finding love on "The Golden Bachelor" and more, which helped Gerry see a new side of Theresa he didn't think was possible.
He said he was touched when he learned that Theresa also talked to her late husband when it comes to making present-day decisions, or talking through big life changes, because he does the same with his late wife Toni.
The evening ended with Theresa saying yes to a night in the fantasy suite with Gerry.
The morning after, Gerry said waking up next to Theresa felt like it was "the first day of the rest of his life."
"All the trepidations I felt about Theresa were gone in the first hour or hour and a half of our conversation," Gerry said. "It was incredible."
He also said during their evening together, he told Theresa that he loved her, leaving him at a crossroads in his relationships with both women.
"With each of them, I can see a life together," Gerry said. "This is an impossible task at this moment. Someone is going to come out of this situation hurt beyond what I can't imagine, and I'm running out of time."
Despite the difficulties, Gerry said at the end of the episode that he believed he'd made his decision.
Who will Gerry choose? We'll find out in two weeks when the women meet Gerry's family and Gerry proposes to the woman he wants to start a new life with on the emotional season finale of "The Golden Bachelor!"
