By: Gracie Watkins
For more than 25 years, some of reality TV’s most memorable contestants have declared they’re “not here to make friends.” But on The Golden Bachelorette, the second installment of the Bachelor franchise focused on a romantic lead over 60, friendship isn’t a mere distraction from the main event. The new series follows 61-year-old widow Joan Vassos and a group of men hoping to win her over. In a refreshing break from standard reality TV, especially within the Bachelor franchise, many of the show’s best moments focus on the friendships formed among Joan’s male suitors.
By highlighting the men’s bonds with one another, The Golden Bachelorette builds on the franchise’s exploration of finding love after grief and the ways a person’s identity can evolve in late adulthood. Together, the men offer viewers a glimpse into the social and emotional challenges Americans face later in life – and the varied connections that help them navigate those stressors.
When one suitor announces he’s leaving the mansion after his mother dies, the others rally around him, some tearing up as they offer condolences and reflect on his meaningful interactions with Joan. Another moving exchange involves a fan favorite named Charles, who has spent almost six years racked with guilt, wondering if he could’ve done something to save his late wife from a fatal brain aneurysm. Speaking with Guy, an emergency-room doctor, Charles shares a troubling detail of his wife’s death. Guy reassures him, explaining that there was nothing Charles could have done. Later, Charles tells Joan that “it changed my life.”
These scenes offer a striking contrast to the hostile atmosphere typical of many dating-oriented competition series; they also showcase relationship-building among older men. Instead of keeping to themselves, the men of The Golden Bachelorette prioritize vulnerability and openness with one another. “I came in, arrived at the mansion with sadness, missed my wife,” Charles says as he leaves midway through the season. “After several weeks here at the mansion, it really helped me … the remaining friends, we bond together. We opened our hearts.”
Throughout recent weeks, TikTok has shown the men hanging out in the pool, dancing on the kickball field, and participating in viral lip-syncs. To the public, this batch of contestants genuinely seems to enjoy one another’s company. The biggest tension in the mansion so far has been Pascal asking some of them to do chores for him. But he pays them, so no one is really bothered.
At the end of one week’s episode, as those who didn’t receive a rose (Gary, Charles, Gil, and Dan) gave their exit interviews, Dan choked up while describing the friendship of the house: “I’m a little choked up because I’ll miss everybody. I live alone, and living with a group of brothers is cool. I’ll miss that.” Charles, who says he came searching for love, left with “a different form of love” after spending so much time with his new friends. In the “Men Tell All” episode, they shared that they’ve already made plans to hang out in the future, proving this show was about more than the pursuit of romantic love.
So, what is it about the friendship between these men? Is it the house? Is this some kind of time warp, a window to their 20-year-old selves in a house of guys? Maybe. The only thing we know for sure is that we can’t get enough. The final episode, “The Golden Bachelorette: Finale Part 2 and After the Final Rose,” airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, on ABC.
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