‘The Golden Bachelor’ Is Doing These Seniors Dirty

Before I get a steadily-growing Golden Bachelor complaint off my chest, let me start by saying that I utterly adore the new senior Bachelor spin-off. Since the series first premiered, I’ve been incredibly delighted, moved, and inspired by 72-year-old Gerry Turner, the 22 women he met on Night 1, and their powerful pursuit of a late-in-life love story. It’s because I love the unconventional cast and concept so much that I need The Golden Bachelor producers to be better.

In an undeniably crucial step towards on-screen representation and inclusivity, the groundbreaking series successfully spotlights seniors ages 60 to 75 on their search for love. But the franchise can’t just cast older contestants — it needs to wholly embrace and accommodate senior lifestyles, too.

One of The Golden Bachelor‘s early achievements is reminding viewers that seniors are still full of life and deserving of love. Two episodes in, it’s clear that Gerry and his gorgeous contestants are an incredibly capable, wise, hilarious, and sprightly group. But as the series consistently stresses, they’re also up in age, which means their health, safety, and well-being should be top of mind on set.

As is often the case on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, the first night of The Golden Bachelor ended at around 7:30 a.m., and ahead of a sun-lit rose ceremony, Gerry told the women it was the latest he’s ever stayed up in his life. Was I stressed that these seniors were losing valuable sleep and drastically deviating from their normal routines? You bet. Jimmy Kimmel’s Aunt Chippy was understandably zonked out on the couch half the night! But when I saw how energized and happy the seniors were, I thought, “OK! This is a fun, one-time adventure” and let it slide. But in Episode 2, when the ladies returned to the mansion to claim their bedrooms, I found myself genuinely disappointed in producers for the first time.

While the women were exploring the franchise-famous living quarters, they stopped to discuss a truly outrageous reality: bunk beds. “We’re too old for them,” one woman said, fearful of making her way up and down the top bunk. “I’ve had my knees replaced. That’s a lot of climbing,” another contestant explained. Do you mean to tell me these senior citizens are upending their lives, putting their hearts on the line, and making TV history for this franchise, and producers can’t even rearrange the mansion to ensure fewer than 20 women have beds on the ground and don’t have to put their physical safety in jeopardy? The disrespect.

Volunteers took the top bunks willingly, and later in the episode we even see Gerry and one of his lovely ladies having a top bunk heart-to-heart, so — again — I tried to accept the production oversight. But there’s no coming back from what happened next.

On Gerry’s first one-on-one date with Theresa Nist, the team gave him a classy old-school convertible to drive, which was admittedly cute. But if you’re going to make a 72-year-old man drive AT NIGHT, on the California freeway for THE FIRST TIME, you absolutely NEED to make sure his headlights work!!!! America’s Golden Guy and one of his Golden Girls should have never found themselves in a life or death situation on this show, but Gerry was palpably stressed driving that broken old car on an unfamiliar road with no ability to see highway signs and markings. As cars and massive trucks honked at Gerry, I wondered why producers were consistently failing to show up for these precious seniors. And much to my delight, someone dared call them out at the end of the episode.

After one of my favorite contestants, Natascha, was eliminated during the second Golden Bachelor rose ceremony, she left the mansion and spoke straight to producers in the driveway. “Do the rose ceremony in chairs,” she said. “You have people 60, 70, and above. They have chair exercise [and] chair aerobics. Chair rose ceremony.” And you know what? She’s right! These ladies are on their feet more than usual, and you’re going to make them stand for who knows how long just to get your shots? Think of their knees! Their ankles! Their feet! Think at all!

From small tweaks like seated rose ceremonies to more thoughtful considerations like the timing of dates and transportation assists, it seems producers could have put more effort into ensuring the senior cast was as comfortable as possible in this process. Ask the seniors for feedback! Get them beds on the ground! And at the very least, double-check that their headlights work! It’s common sense stuff! Yes, it’s Season 1 so the franchise is likely fine-tuning the series. But if we don’t see a seated rose ceremony in Episode 3 after Natascha’s smart suggestion, there’s quite frankly no excuse!

The Golden Bachelor‘s cast and love story look drastically different than those on The Bachelor and Bachelorette, so why should the show’s structure or expectations be the same?

New episodes of The Golden Bachelor air on Thursdays from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC. Next-day streaming is available on Hulu.