'Golden Bachelor' Gerry Turner is engaged after finding love again: 'You're the person I can't live without'
Gerry Turner gave his final rose and proposed in Costa Rica on 'Golden Bachelor' finale
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WARNING: This article contains spoilers from "The Golden Bachelor" finale.
Gerry Turner proposed and became the first engaged "Golden Bachelor."
Turner, 72, dropped to one knee and asked the woman of his dreams, Theresa Nist, to be his bride.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I came to the realization that you're not the right person for me to live with," Gerry told Theresa before a long pause. "You're the person I can't live without."
"That was so good," Theresa said.
‘GOLDEN BACHELOR’ FINALE: 5 BOMBSHELL CLAIMS ABOUT GERRY TURNER
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gerry Turner proposed on "The Golden Bachelor" finale Thursday. (John Fleenor/ABC)
Turner continued, "Theresa, I love you 1000%. I'm never going to stop believing it. Every day I choose you. Will you marry me?"
The retired restaurateur flashed the show's signature Neil Lane engagement ring before Theresa screamed "yes."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"You make me the happiest woman in the world," she told her new fiancé.
Gerry Turner proposed to Theresa Nist in Costa Rica on the finale of "The Golden Bachelor." (ABC)
Turner told Nist she was the person he couldn't "live without" before asking for her hand in marriage. (ABC)
Following their engagement, Turner said he knew both of their late spouses had given their blessings for the union.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We know that Toni and Billy would absolutely be happy for us right now," he boasted moments after proposing.
Turner's late wife of 43 years died in 2017 following a bacterial infection. Nist was married to her husband for 42 years before he died from kidney failure.
Theresa later joked that it was during their fantasy suite date when everything changed for the couple. (ABC)
While chatting with host Jesse Palmer in front of a live studio audience, Theresa remembered a turning point in their relationship.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If he's not going to tell you what happened in the fantasy suite, then I'll tell you," she said. "I knocked his boots off."
The newly-engaged couple giggled before Theresa clarified, "with my kisses."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wedding bells will ring on Jan. 4 during the "Golden Wedding," another milestone event for the franchise with the first televised live nuptials in a decade. Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici said "I do" with cameras rolling in January 2014.
Love was in the air for Gerry and Theresa, but moments before, viewers watched as runner-up Leslie Fhima admitted she was blindsided when Turner broke up with her.
Gerry Turner told both of the final two contestants, Leslie (left) and Theresa (right), that he was in love with them. (ABC)
Leslie was blindsided by Gerry after he chose Theresa during "The Golden Bachelor" finale. (ABC)
"The heartbreak that I experienced, the blindside … I was devastated," Fhima told Palmer. "I was vulnerable. I broke down my walls."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Leslie sensed something was off about Gerry in Costa Rica, and confronted him after their fantasy suite date.
"It’s been difficult and I’ve kind of made a decision about how I want to go about this," Gerry told Leslie. "I have fallen in love with Theresa and that’s the direction I’m going to take."
"So everything you told me the other night was a lie?" she asked. "No, it wasn't a lie," he insisted before adding that things had "evolved" in another relationship.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Leslie, I am so sorry. Believe me, had I known this is how much pain I would cause someone, I would never have taken this journey," Turner said.