Ellen Goltzer’s romance with The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner didn’t work out, but she’s not letting her heartbreak get the best of her.
Ellen, 71, reflected on her future after her elimination aired on the Thursday, October 26, episode and said her time on the show has only made her more optimistic about finding love again. “This experience taught me so much, and I am so thankful to everyone at @goldenbachabc!!!” she wrote via Instagram after the episode aired. “I have a new lease on love, I know I can fall in love again, and like my best friend Roberta said — never say never!!! I’m so ready to find my forever person, I wasn’t ready for so long, but I’m so ready now!”
She went on to say that saying goodbye to Gerry, 72, was “not an easy thing” for her to do. “I was falling in love and I hadn’t felt those kinds of feelings for a guy in years,” she wrote.
Gerry sent Ellen home during Thursday’s rose ceremony along with Sandra Mason and Susan Noles. Earlier in the episode, Ellen confessed that she was falling in love with Gerry and could see him fitting into her life after filming.
“I feel like a weight is off my shoulders with you. I feel like it’s a team,” Ellen told Gerry during the group date. “I can’t wait to have my children, my best friend Roberta [meet you] — I know they would adore you as much as I do.” (Roberta died sometime after The Golden Bachelor began filming.)
Gerry was touched by Ellen’s words, but he ultimately decided to send her home, leaving Leslie Fhima, Theresa Nist and Faith Martin as his final three women. After the rose ceremony, Gerry offered to walk Ellen out of the mansion and told her that eliminating her was “the most difficult decision” he’d made in his journey so far. “I hope you stay positive,” he added. “Because that’s you.”
Ellen seemed grateful for the conversation, but she later admitted she was shocked by Gerry’s choice. “I just thought he was The One,” she told the cameras.
Despite the heartbreak, however, Ellen said filming The Golden Bachelor gave her the confidence to keep looking for romance elsewhere. “This experience has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she explained. “I have a lot more optimism about love and the possibility of finding love at this stage in my life.”
The Golden Bachelor airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
