It’s never too late to find true love, according to the PR flacks for ABC.

Whether it can be found within the confines of the reality dating show The Bachelor is another matter, one that Indiana Resident Gerry (pronounced ‘Gary’) Turner will discover as he appears on the venerable matchmaking show’s mature spinoff The Golden Bachelor.

Turner, a 71-year-old father and grandfather who hails from Indiana, will star as ABC’s first-ever senior leading man when he trys to make a connection with an eligible bachelorette on the television program this fall.

The Bachelor franchise has aired 60 seasons since it debuted in 2002, but this newest iteration promises a “whole new kind of love story — one for the golden years,” according to ABC’s synopsis. The show’s description calls its star a “hopeless romantic [who] is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life.”

The spinoff will air this fall, Mondays at 10pm Eastern, and is a new twist to ABC’s long-running dating show empire, which until now had featured casts that were in their 20s and 30s, for the most part.

Turner is described by the network as a “charming 71-year-old patriarch,” who will show that love stories “only get better with age.” He is a retired restaurateur who loves barbecues, playing pickleball, and Chicago sports teams.

He’s also a widower. In 1974 he married his high school sweetheart, Toni. They were together for 43 years, and share two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton. Toni died in 2017. Turner said in an interview on Good Morning America that he was pushed to join the show by his two daughters. The spinoff was originally announced in 2020 but production was delayed due to Covid.

Though the pressure could make any man nervous, he told GMA that being the first elderly man to lead the show “feels amazing and it’s still sinking in.”

In case you were wondering the ages of the women vying for Turner’s affection, rest assured that he won’t be choosing from women his granddaughters ages: he will be looking for love among a group of eligible women 65 years and older.

According to ABC, “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. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”

The 25 women in his dating pool have yet to be revealed, but Turner already has his preferences. He said on GMA that he is looking for someone to match his lifestyle.

“I’d love it if I found a partner who is high energy,” Turner said. “Someone who was high-energy. Someone who maybe plays pickleball; someone who maybe plays golf.”

Whether he meets his dream women or not, the odds are against him. 27 seasons of The Bachelor have only resulted in one marriage between the Bachelor and his final selection: Season 17’s Sean Lowe married Catherine Giudici on January 26th, 2014. They have three children together. A couple other Bachleors have married runner-up contestants. Over on companion series The Bachelorette, things look rosier: five out of the 20 leading ladies who used the show to look for love ended up marrying their first choice.