Golden Bachelor Has Inspired Older Dating and Widened Age Gaps

Admittedly, I don’t watch any of The Bachelor franchises, but you would have to be Aaron Rodgers at a darkness retreat to have not at least heard about The Golden Bachelor. The premise is the same: attractive, single guy/girl dates about 22 people over the course of the season and ultimately chooses one to fake-marry. The twist is that the man-of-honor this time around was a 71-year-old retiree from Indiana.

Gerry Turner, a widower and grandfather, was the titular character of the inaugural series.

As he broke the hearts of potential wifeys every week, he also captured the attention of the 30+over crowd watching from home.

According to a matchmaking site called DateMyAge, 70% of singles who are 55 and over cited wanting to meet their future partners after the show’s debut.

The website, who caters to people 45+up, surveyed their members and found that 53% of adults over age 50 are looking for love. Only 10% said they were seeking casual hook-ups.

The app also saw an increase in age gaps. 40% of ladies under 30 are okay with dating men up to age 45. That 15-year difference is a 10% increase over last year’s participants who were asked the same question. Women also had more positive experiences with older guys than with younger ones. In fact, 60% of them described their dates with men of the same age as them or younger as “overwhelmingly negative.”

I’ve always been a proponent of dating mature men. My ex-ex was six years older than I was. My ex was 15 years my senior, and my boyfriend of over two years is 12 years ahead. (Although he’ll convince you that it’s only for four months out of the year and try to talk it down to an 11-year difference. Lol.)

I think the stigma of age gaps is falling out of fashion. More celebrity couples are doing it, and it does indeed go both ways. Look at Madonna. And Kris Jenner. And Cher. And plenty of other cougars. Besides, why is it up to strangers to determine which partner is right for you? DateMyAge also states that a 10-20 year difference is socially acceptable by today’s standards.

I say you should do whatever makes you and your partner happy because ultimately that’s who you’re going to be spending your time with. Plus, you might even teach each other new things and even better… learn stuff together!

Just enjoy it while you can because we all know youth is wasted on the young.