'Golden Bachelor' Couple Divorcing; Contestant Became NJ Celeb

SHREWSBURY, NJ — "The Golden Bachelor" couple Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist announced on ABC's "Good Morning America" that they are getting a divorce, the news outlet reported Friday.

Nist lives in Monmouth County, in Shrewsbury, and Turner met her family here and visited Red Bank and the Jersey Shore during an episode on the show.

The first season of the show was a hit that touted "mature love." Both contestants are in their early 70s and both married young, but were widowed.

But making mutual living arrangements amid family and work needs just proved too much to overcome, they told the morning ABC news show. ABC/Disney produced "The Golden Bachelor."

The show first aired last September. Turner is a retired restaurant owner; Nist is a financial services professional.

Here is part of their Friday ABC interview:

“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation, so forth and - and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to - dissolve our marriage,” Turner told Juju Chang in an interview for “Good Morning America.”

“Get a divorce?” Chang clarified. “Yes,” Turner said.

“We have received so much love and support from so many people who watched ‘The Golden Bachelor,’ and I don’t think we can tell you how many people told us that it gave them so much hope,” Nist said during the interview. “We want none of that to change for anybody.”

The popular show's finale (you can read about it here) had more than 6 million viewers according to Nielsen.

At their Jan. 4 TV wedding, Nist said, now ironically, the wedding meant she and Turner could finally "go home to each other."