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Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Breaks Down While Discussing Late Wife in First Trailer
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Charity Lawson’s journey as The Bachelorette hasn’t had a lot of unexpected twists and turns, though Aaron flying to Fiji for a second chance definitely qualifies, but Jesse Palmer more than made up for it in this live finale.
The host filled tonight’s three-hour extravaganza with lots of surprises and reveals that kept the audience on their toes. This included Charity picking her winner, of course. But there is also someone joining Dancing with the Stars, someone from the audience joining The Bachelor, the reveal of said Bachelor — and one more cryptic twist.
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But before we can get to what’s coming next, we need to finish up what’s gone before and help Charity wrap her journey. Honestly, we’re surprised she didn’t call us up for advice on what she should do. She certainly was hoping her mom would tell her!
Props to Mama Vickie for standing firm and making it clear to Charity that she wasn’t going to help her at all. This was Charity’s journey for love and the only one who could make this final decision was Charity. It’s either that, or see if the boys are interested in polygamy.
You could meme Joey’s reaction at the Rose Ceremony when he figured out what was going on. Aaron had flown to Fiji as the dramatic close of the last episode, but did Charity welcome him with open arms? Well, she didn’t slam the door in his face.
It didn’t help that Xavier’s infidelity reveal had her questioning sending Aaron home even more. Had she kept him over Xavier, they might have been in a different position. As it stands, Aaron did not get a Fantasy Suite and she’d not declared her love for him. Both happened with Joey and Dotun.
Nevertheless, she felt she owed it to Aaron to hear him out, so they had an impromptu date in her hotel room to chat and see how far things could progress. That’s why Joey was so meme-worthy when he looked down and saw Aaron there.
On top of Aaron being suddenly back, neither Joey nor Dotun had known that she’d kicked Xavier to the curb at Fantasy Suites. They went from sure things as the FInal 2 to suddenly facing off against a guy who’d already been eliminated.
In the end, though, it didn’t matter. The progress and time she’d had with Joey and Dotun could not be overcome by one conversation, so Aaron had to say goodbye again. She did leave poor Dotun seating up there rose-less while she said goodbye, though. Savage!
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With her final two settled, it was time to meet the parents; in this case referring to Charity’s parents, Vickie and David, and her sister Mia. Hilariously, David seemed the easiest one to get along with. If they could talk sports with him, they were a-okay in his book.
Vickie and Mia were a little more discerning. Joey came in first, and right away, he was so relaxed and confident with the family, quickly putting them at ease. He was candid, forthcoming and honest about his feelings for Charity and what mattered to him.
We were right there with Mia in being pleased and impressed that he just came right out and asked her how she felt about an interracial relationship. These can be uncomfortable conversations to have, but they are important. And Joey is so respectful in how he approaches them.
Suffice to say, the whole family was more than smitten with Joey, ready to invite him into their family. He did light up in a way that was so sweet to see while interacting with all of them.
When it came time for Dotun’s turn, he was much more reserved. He was also very sincere and forthcoming and sweet, but just a bit more stoic and “professional” in his demeanor. This did not endear him quite as much to the family as Joey, but they didn’t really want to say that.
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Well, Mia did say something about Charity having more of a glow when she was with Joey, but she also said that Dotun made her laugh more and harder. Poor Charity was so roadblocked, she couldn’t decide, and seemed to be looking to her family not just to kick her into gear, but kind of push her in one direction.
To her credit, Vickie very lovingly and very firmly refused to do it, even as it upset her daughter to no end. Charity almost had a full-on temper tantrum, pleading with her mother to give her something, but Vickie wouldn’t do it. Secretly, she was leaning more Joey, but after one afternoon, who is she to say?
Ultimately, as she kept telling Charity, this was her decision to make, for right or wrong. If Vickie makes it for her, or even weighs in, suddenly what happens good or bad is in some small way on her, too. Charity needs to know this was her decision alone. Vickie also believed that deep down inside, Charity knows, too.
We have to imagine she did, too, because we’ve had a feeling from almost the beginning based on observing all of her interactions and interviews from the outside. If we could see it in her, how did she have so much doubt and fear she couldn’t see it in herself. Or did we just answer our own question?
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Jesse is good at hyperbole, but he was on the money with how brutally heartbreaking this final breakup was. The audience even gasped as Charity said how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to this amazing guy … and Joey’s shoes were shown.
Joey had been so confident all night. They were in love, they were so perfect together, this was going to be the ending to their fairy tale story. He had the ring, he was ready to propose. And then it all fell apart and he took it with such grace and poise, never losing sight of her feelings and heartache.
Joey is a class act all the way, and it’s easy to see why her family fell in love with him so quickly, and why Charity fell in love with him. This was truly a case of Joey having done nothing wrong. There was just a stronger connection.
That left Dotun, the guy she’s had this connection with since the very beginning. Their relationship has just been so easy from the very beginning, as if they’d aleady known each other for years and years.
This is one of those endings that’s both heartbreaking and wonderful because both of these final two guys are really great guys. Joey absolutely deserved his shot at happiness, but so did Dotun. It was going to be brutal either way, and this journey didn’t go Joey’s way.
Bonus shout-out to whomever decided to put Charity on a box for her post-engagement interview with Dotun so they could be standing closer together in height. It was ridiculous and obvious and we’re glad you at least owned it and pointed it out yourselves.
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Bachelor in Paradise: Aaron may not have gotten a Rose from Charity, but he is getting a consolation prize of getting to go to BiP, where he’ll be joined by all kinds of Bachelor Nation favorites.
Pre-Honeymoon: After seeing Charity lament that she didn’t get to pick her travel destinations during her season, and saying she would have liked to go to Greece, Jesse (and the show) hooked them up with a trip there as a pre-honeymoon of sorts.
Dancing with the Stars: Joining Ariana Madix on the upcoming season, returning to ABC, Dotun got to surprise his fiancée by telling Charity that she would be joining the cast this season … which is apparently something she’d been wanting and hoping. Is this going to be every Bachelorette now?
The Next Bachelor: It could have been anyone from Charity’s season or even past seasons. But the show didn’t dig too deep into its own archives. Based on the audience reaction to his rejection, we suspect Joey Graziadei will do just fine as the Bachelor. He even got a head start.
First Bachelor Contestant: Teased all night, Jesse revealed that one lucky member of the audience was going to be joining Joey on his journey to find love. We met a couple along the way, but in the end it was Hawai’ian native Lea who got the nod. She handled herself well enough on the big stage chatting with Joey, who did a great job of keeping her calm.
Bachelor Mysterious Envelope: For his last trick of the night, Jesse handed Lea an envelope he promised would change everything. So is it for her or for the whole season? We’ll have to wait until Night One of The Bachelor to find out as he told her she could not open it until then.
The Golden Bachelor: This one wasn’t so much a trick or surprise from Jesse, but at this point, any glimpse into the upcoming season of The Golden Bachelor just makes us smile. Gerry Turner is just the sweetest man and we love the support he’s getting from his family.
Oh, we suppose there was one big reveal related to his journey. We got Gerry’s premiere date, and it looks like The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise are going back-to-back with both of them premiering on September 28.
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The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise both kick off on September 28.
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