The Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima slammed Gerry Turner for blindsiding her before he proposed to Theresa Nist.
After fans watched Gerry, 72, and Leslie, 64, break up on the finale episode on Thursday, November 30, they reunited to discuss their relationship during the After the Final Rose. The pair initially seemed friendly and shared a hug, though Leslie didn’t hold back when she called Gerry out for the way he handled the end of their romance.
“I just want to tell you, Gerry, that I fell in love with you for so many reasons. I really did. I mean, the way you looked at me and your eyes sparkled, the way her nose prickled when you talked to me, the way we made each other laugh all the time. You got my stupid humor. I was myself with you completely,” she began. “The most important thing I fell in love with was your integrity. And because of your integrity, your words meant so much to me. I didn’t take them for granted. I took them and I put them in my heart, OK?”
Leslie vowed to keep the conversation they had during their fantasy suite date private, though explained his comments gave her false hope. “Those words gave me 100 percent certainty that I was your girl,” she said. “And your words just meant so much to me, and that’s why I was blindsided. Because I wasn’t sure how it changed or what happened.”
She shared similar sentiments when Gerry explained he was giving his final rose to Theresa, 70, during their breakup earlier in the episode. After he said Theresa was the “right” person for him, Leslie told the retired restaurateur, “You made it sound like you chose me. You led me down a path and then you took a turn and left me there.”
When Leslie called out Gerry during the After the Final Rose segment, he quickly apologized for misleading her. “I’m so sorry, Leslie. I’m so sorry. And when I came onto the show, my head was ready to go through the process [and] send people home,” the reality star said. “But what I realized is my heart wasn’t ready. And with each passing rose ceremony and, especially with you, it became more and more difficult.”
The father of two added that he never intended to “hurt anyone,” though let his feelings get the best of him during the process. “You were the person I believed was my person until I suddenly knew you weren’t,” Gerry explained. “And you asked, or you mentioned, you don’t know where it went wrong. It didn’t really go wrong, Leslie. It just was better with someone else. It was the right person in another direction.”
The conversation concluded with Leslie stating that she wasn’t sure if she could accept Gerry’s apology, though said she “understand[s] it.”
While Leslie left the show broken-hearted, Gerry and Theresa seemed head over heels in love when they discussed their engagement during the After the Final Rose segment. The couple even announced they’re planning to get married in 2024 during a televised ceremony.
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