Although their rose wilted, Theresa Nist has no hard feelings toward Gerry Turner.
Becoming the first-ever “Golden Bachelor” winner is no small feat, and it’s a journey that Nist, 71, doesn’t take for granted. And although she and the “Golden Bachelor” star, 72, have gone their separate ways, she wishes him well.
“So Gerry and I have spoken,” Nist exclusively told The Post. “We don’t speak regularly. I would say I wish him all the best, and I can see that he has so many friends, and I’m so happy for him that he does.”
The New Jersey resident also hopes that Turner takes another shot at love.
“I truly hope he finds his person,” explained Nist, “because he wants that, and he deserves that, and I’m rooting for him. I’m in his corner.”
And the finance whiz herself is very much open to looking for love again.
“Oh my gosh, yes. Yes! Yes!” Nist exclaimed. “I think we need to go through this life with a partner. It’s so much more fun. I want to do so many things, and to me, it would be so much more fun to do it with a partner, so absolutely I’m open to it.”
But there are some exceptions to the golden rule.
“I can’t try in all the old ways that I did before,” she admitted. “I don’t think that at this point I could go on a dating app, so I don’t know, somebody’s going to have to magically fall from the sky, but I’m definitely open to it.”
And if the perfect suitor dropped down from above, Nist knows exactly what she’s looking for.
“Sense of humor,” she stated. “Let’s laugh together. Smart. Somebody smart. And then I have to be physically attracted to the person, so there has to be chemistry. And that’s something that you can not define, it’s undefinable. You just either are attracted to someone, or you’re not.”
Nist added, “It’s just the ability to have fun together and to support each other, make each other laugh, and have each other’s backs.”
In the meantime, Nist is perfectly content in her everyday life.
“After the show, I just got back to my normal life, just spending time with my family and friends, and I got back to work,” she confessed. “So the normal routine of what I was doing before. And I’ve actually been spending a lot of time working on my house. I’ve been painting, I’ve been gardening and I really keep myself busy. I’ve been enjoying the Jersey Shore.”
And, of course, Nist took the time to visit her bestie, Leslie Fhima, who was the runner-up on Season 1 of “The Golden Bachelor.”
When asked who she is closest to from her time in the Bachelor mansion, Nist responded: “Absolutely, hands down it’s Leslie.”
“We formed a bond initially on the show. We gravitate toward each other. She taught me some exercise routines. We used to take walks together, and we cooked for each other,” she continued. “So, after the show, I tried to reconnect, and we finally did. It’s too bad we don’t live near each other because we would be hanging out every night. But we talk all the time.”
Viewers first met Nist in 2023 on Bachelor Nation’s first edition of “The Golden Bachelor,” where the retired restaurateur became the leading man looking for love after his wife, Toni, died. By the end of the season, Nist and Turner were engaged and went on to tie the knot on television in January.
Three months later, in April, the duo confirmed it was over on “Good Morning America.”
“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations,” Turner revealed during a joint appearance with Nist, “and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation, so forth and we’ve come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage.”
