The Golden Bachelor made history during its series premiere on Thursday night, and not just because of its groundbreaking premise and casting. Like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette premieres before it, Gerry Turner‘s first night in the mansion ended with the season’s first rose ceremony — but unlike past Night 1 eliminations, one Golden Bachelor goodbye in particular made my jaw drop.
Premiere limo exits, meet and greets, and cocktail party conversations are fun to watch, but the first episode of a new Bachelor season speeds by so fast that viewers rarely have time to grow attached to contestants by the end of the night. As a result, the first round of eliminations rarely hurts — but this time, the rose ceremony left me screaming, “WHAT?!” on my couch.
Ahead of The Golden Bachelor’s premiere, members of Bachelor Nation were personally invested in one woman: Mama James, mother of former Bachelor lead Matt James! When ABC revealed Patty James was one of the 22 lucky ladies cast on The Golden Bachelor‘s first season, Bachelor Nation rejoiced! The 70-year-old single mom and retired real estate professional from Durham, North Carolina appeared on her son’s season of The Bachelor to comfort him, chat about their family, and offer advice, so fans were excited to see her again. But from the moment she first appeared in the episode, something felt off. And though it defied all expectations, Patty was one of the six women Gerry sent home at the end of Night 1.
After her casting announcement received such a warm reception from fans, I assumed Patty would play a major role in the premiere, and potentially the season! Instead, her limo exit and one-on-one time with Gerry were barely shown (something that felt deeply bizarre while watching, but makes perfect sense in hindsight). And though we got a glimpse of Patty telling Gerry she believed in this process because her son was once The Bachelor, it seemed Gerry was fully unphased by the news. Later in the episode, we saw the two share a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hug. And next thing we knew, she was hugging Ger Ber goodbye. Again, WHAT?!
The franchise has long been accused by fans of making show leads keep key contestants on the show — perhaps longer than they needed to be — to create more enticing television, so the fact that Gerry said goodbye to such a prominent name with ties to Bachelor Nation was a real surprise.
Per Patty’s official ABC bio, she has been single for nearly 30 years, has an open heart, and was “ready for her turn to find love.” She loves playing ping pong, which is kind of like table pickleball (don’t come for me, pickleballers). She’s a boy mom, he’s a girl dad. She loves sailing and he lives by water! Ugh. I really thought she and Gerry could have hit it off. But Mama James for The Golden Bachelorette?! Sounds good to me.
New episodes of The Golden Bachelor premiere Thursdays from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC with next-day streaming is available on Hulu. And be sure to read our interview with Gerry Turner for more Golden Bachelor tidbits.