Sandra Mason made the difficult decision to skip her daughter’s wedding day for The Golden Bachelor, and she doesn’t regret it.
“My son-in-law said to me, ‘Mom, the ceremony is eight minutes. The marriage is forever.’ He said, ‘Go. Go!’ My daughter, she said, ‘Mom, I found my guy, you go find yours,’” Sandra, 75, told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published on Friday, October 27. “They were both a little perturbed that I was even considering not going because of their wedding. They’d each been married before. She’s almost 51, he’s 53.”
Sandra was one of Gerry Turner’s contestants on season 1 of The Golden Bachelor. During the October 18 episode, she revealed that the group date — which saw the ladies compete in a pickleball tournament — took place on her daughter’s wedding day.
After the competition ended, Sandra explained the day’s significance while chatting with Gerry, 72. “I feel very flattered, but that’s a big event,” he said before pulling out an iPhone to FaceTime the newlyweds.
Sandra later profusely thanked Gerry for arranging the call and gushed about him further via confessional.
“That was so sweet of him,” she added. “He’s always full of these sweet surprises and he’s so thoughtful. This man is something different.”
Gerry Turner and Sandra Mason. ABC/John Fleenor
While Sandra was given the group date rose for her sacrifice, she was eliminated from the competition the following week.
“He didn’t choose me,” Sandra noted to ET about Gerry. “Obviously, his connections with my other sister wives was just a little deeper, stronger, more starry-eyed than my relationship with him. He followed his heart. Great guy. We got along, but it didn’t turn into love on his part.”
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Gerry’s final three are Theresa Nist, Leslie Fhima and Faith Martin — and he later confirmed to Us Weekly that he did fall in love with more than one person on the show.
“I thought, ‘No, that’s absolutely not possible. That’s silly.’ How wrong I was,” Gerry exclusively told Us last month. “Because through the course of the journey, I really felt strong feelings for several of the women.”
Gerry Turner and Sandra Mason. Disney/John Fleenor)
He continued at the time: “In retrospect, I realized that in that particular moment, whenever it was — the setting was such that, ‘Yeah, it was easy to look at someone and tell ’em that you loved ’em.’ But once you get through it all and you look back, then you realize that there is just really one person that really meets the standard in all situations that you want it to be.”
The Golden Bachelor airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
