“Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner was forced to face the wrath of runner-up Leslie Fhima during Thursday’s “After the Final Rose” segment.
“Your words just meant so much to me, and that’s why I was blindsided,” Fhima told Turner, referring to the moment they said “I love you” to each other.
Fhima explained that she “fell in love” with Turner’s integrity, so his words gave her “100 percent certainty that I was your girl and we were going to get engaged.”
“You made it sound like you chose me. You led me down a path and then you took a turn and left me there,” she emotionally said. “I wasn’t sure what changed or what happened.”
Turner apologized to Fima and admitted they “got caught up in moments” together while filming. He furthered that he believed she was his wife until he “suddenly knew you weren’t.”
“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,” he told her.
The two ended their emotional reunion with Fhima seemingly hesitant to accept his apology, but clarifying that she “understands” his decision.
Reflecting on the break-up, Turner told host Jesse Palmer that he “took a really good person and f–king broke their heart.”
“I hate myself and I hate everything right now. I think the only time I’ve ever felt worse in my whole life is when my wife passed away and this is a Goddamn close second. She’s a good person and I f–ked her over,” he told Palmer about Fhima.
Turner, 72, decided to call it quits with Fhima, 64, just before he proposed to his eventual winner and current fiancée, Theresa Nist.
“I have fallen in love with Theresa, and that’s the direction I’m going to take,” Turner told Fhima the night before his proposal.
Upset, she asked him if “everything you told me” during the fantasy suite “was a lie.”
“No, because at that time, that was the truth. Things have changed, things have evolved. It didn’t go wrong. I’ve worked hard to learn as much about you and about Theresa as I possibly could. You’re both wonderful, but only one of you is right. Leslie, I am so sorry,” he replied.
However, Fhima doubled down that Turner “made it sound like you chose me” during their night together.
“You said things to me that made me think that this was going to be it. You led me down a path and then you took a turn and left me there and that’s how I feel. It’s mind-boggling, to be honest, how you can talk to me all night, tell me you love me and then one day — not even a day, 12 hours later — you changed your mind,” she said.
The following day, Turner proposed to Nist, and they revealed during the “Final Rose” segment that they’ll be tying the knot on Jan. 4.
Turner also found himself in hot water over the last week after one of his ex-girlfriends accused him of criticizing her for gaining weight. She also alleged that he used to tell her the same niceties that he used on his “Bachelor” contestants.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, claimed to the Hollywood Reporter that after she put on 10 pounds in their relationship, he refused to take her to his high school reunion.
“I’m not taking you to the reunion looking like that,” she recalled him saying. Turner has yet to address the comments.
