The Golden Bachelor has had an incredible debut season so far, but several contestants have had to self-eliminate due to personal reasons. It’s a far cry from the younger contestants who’ve been perfectly happy leaving the real world behind for the duration of the reality show.
Priorities change as you get older, and that’s never been more evident than on this show featuring charming Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, looking for love. Another contestant who almost had to exit stage left due to real-life calling was Leslie Fhima.
Golden Bachelor’s Leslie is a mother, first and foremost
Leslie, 64, revealed in an interview with E! News that she had called her son and he needed her. However, while she was quite ready to rush off to her boy, she revealed that her son asked her to “please stay” on the ABC dating series and insisted that she continue the journey with Gerry.
Leslie has three kids — Elijah, Chloe, and Zack. She is also the grandmother to three grandchildren.
Ironically, Lesle’s phone call with her son came just days after another contestant, Joan Vassos, left the series to help out her daughter, who just gave birth. Joan said she traded the mansion for motherhood and that “Once a mother, always a mother.”
Leslie described Joan, 60, as one of her “best friends in the house” and shared that if her son hadn’t told her adamantly to stay, she would have followed Joan’s lead.
“With our age comes life,” Leslie shared. “And just because your kids are bigger doesn’t mean they don’t have problems. We’re a mother first. And if son has said ‘I need you now,’ I would have left because that’s who I am.”
First solo date
If she had left, Leslie would have missed her first solo date with Gerry, 72, that same day. The two enjoyed riding ATVs through the California desert and making out in the hot tub (the most sacred of Bachelor Nation spaces).
“My son gave me the gift of staying and having an amazing date with Gerry, which I think changed our relationship,” Leslie said. “I think it took it to a different level,” she added. And she was right! Leslie made the final three and is heading for that coveted hometown date!
So Leslie is staying on longer and getting the chance to see where her and Gerry’s relationship could really go.
The Golden Bachelor continues on Thursdays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
TELL US – ARE YOU GLAD THAT LESLIE STAYED? DO YOU THINK SHE AND GERRY HAVE GOOD CHEMISTRY?
