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Barry \u201cBear\u201d Myrden admits he \u201chas been getting a lot of phone calls\u201d recently. Ever since the infrastructure engineer was unveiled as the first Australian Golden Bachelor, plenty of people have been curious about why on earth he\u2019d sign up for a reality TV dating circus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was apprehensive at first,\u201d says Myrden, who at 61 years old qualifies as a Junior Boomer. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure if it was right for me. I had never watched a Bachelor before, so I acquainted myself with it, and thought, well, it\u2019s a really unique and positive way of getting to meet people. And so I had my three boys\u2019 support, and I decided to jump in. What I always say to my boys is to take risks and jump at opportunity. And I\u2019m here, I am living it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unique is an understatement. The Bachelor is one of the great reality TV formats that has been a hit worldwide. It has been running in the US for 23 years, where the original and its spinoffs \u2013 including The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise \u2013 lay claim to a reported 34 couples still being together after meeting on screen. In Australia, where it premiered on Ten in 2013 before fizzling out ignominiously in 2023, five of the couples from The Bachelor are still together (all married, multiple babies), while none of the couples matched on The Bachelorette has lasted (the only pair to make it to the altar, Georgia Love and Lee Elliott, split earlier this year).<\/p>\n
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Star of The Golden Bachelor Barry \u201cBear\u201d Myrden and the show\u2019s host Samantha Armytage. Credit: Louie Douvis<\/p>\n
Worldwide, the franchises pretty much all follow the same format: a man or woman is matched with 20 potential partners. They go on group dates and compete for \u201cone-on-one time\u201d before they are eliminated, one by one, at a rose ceremony after a long and, usually, emotional cocktail party. It is, essentially, the Hunger Games of dating shows, where connections are prized and the smallest slight can be deemed a catastrophe.<\/p>\n
In The Golden Bachelor, however, there is one major difference: where the original formats all feature contestants in their 20s and 30s, this one skips an age bracket or two. Myrden is 61, while the women are aged between 51 and 66.<\/p>\n
That means there is a lot more at stake, purely because there is more life experience on the line. Myrden is a widower \u2013 his wife Audrey died of a brain tumour about 14 years ago \u2013 and most of the women have been through a divorce or two and many have children to consider as well. It is not easy.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re not fumbling through it at all,\u201d says Myrden. \u201cAnd it was very courageous for the women to put themselves out there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surely, it\u2019s easier to find someone in real life than on TV?<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I tell you, it\u2019s a good process,\u201d says Myrden. \u201cIt\u2019s a positive and I think successful process because I\u2019ve been through the dating scene a bit and you know what? What better way to be presented with 20 lovely, beautiful, intelligent women and put on beautiful, extraordinary dates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Filmed at a multimillion-dollar harbourside mansion in Sydney\u2019s Elizabeth Bay, where the candle budget looks on par with the Vatican, The Golden Bachelor is very familiar viewing. In the first episode, Myrden, a salt-and-pepper-type who still hangs onto his Canadian accent, despite having lived in Australia for more than two decades, is suited up and looking appropriately nervous.<\/p>\n
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The women on The Golden Bachelor at the Rose Ceremony on the show\u2019s first epsiode. <\/p>\n
The women are brought in one by one \u2013 including one on horseback \u2013 and awkward first-date banter ensues. Everyone is jumpy, some of the hugs are too long and there are gimmicks aplenty, but everyone does appear genuine. And they all seem pleased that Myrden has \u201clots of hair\u201d.<\/p>\n
Importantly, though, none of the women are hiding their age. There is much discussion of menopause and hormone replacement therapy, while radio host Bianca Dye, who at 51 is the youngest on the show, happily talks about the effort needed to date as an older woman and how she looks like \u201ca Sharpei puppy when I\u2019m naked\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Bianca Dye meets Barry \u201cBear\u201d Myrden on the first episode of The Golden Bachelor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a really powerful and large part of our society that has been neglected for too long,\u201d says the show\u2019s host Samantha Armytage. \u201cAnd let\u2019s not forget, these ladies in their 50s and 60s, they were the original flower children. They were the rock\u2019n\u2019roll set. They were wild.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThen they had their children. Some of them have grandchildren. And now they\u2019ve got money, they\u2019re empowered, they know themselves. It\u2019s a very, very powerful and interesting demographic, and it\u2019s been ignored by television.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is Armytage\u2019s second crack at hosting a dating show, after she fronted Farmer Wants A Wife on Seven, and her first solo hosting gig on Nine after she jumped ship from Seven last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like nothing anyone\u2019s ever seen before,\u201d says Armytage. \u201cObviously, I have a bit of experience being a TV Cupid, so this was a no-brainer. When it was offered, I thought, \u2018Yeah, this is, this is a really sophisticated-looking show.\u2019 It had been No.1 in the US, so I knew it would most likely do well here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compared to the blokes on the US Golden Bachelor \u2013 where the show was described as \u201csenior citizens go on dates\u201d \u2013 Myrden is a spring chicken. He is younger than the two US leading men: a 66-year-old divorced former NFL player, Mel Owens, and a widowed 72-year-old former restaurateur, Gerry Turner. \u201cI look a bit younger because I\u2019m Canadian and I\u2019ve been frozen for half my life,\u201d Myrden jokes.<\/p>\n
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Barry \u201cBear\u201d Myrden prepares to present a rose in the Golden Bachelor\u2019s first rose ceremony <\/p>\n
And while The Golden Bachelor is all about finding love, the majority of the show is actually taken up with saying no to 19 women.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the most difficult part,\u201d admits Myrden. \u201cHaving 20 beautiful, intelligent, courageous women in front of me and having to say goodbye to them. Samantha was my mentor, and she said, \u2018Follow your heart and see where it leads you.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did he have a clear idea at the beginning who he might fall for?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, no, no, no,\u201d he says. \u201cI found out each and every time I was with these ladies, I got to know a little bit more about them and at the beginning, it was really tough. But, you know, getting to know them and getting to experience different things with them, I knew at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does he know that Gerry Turner, who appeared in the first US Golden Bachelor, and who was married live on TV in the show\u2019s season finale, ended up divorced after only three months?<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I heard something about that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s all worked out then?<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say, you\u2019ll have to watch\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The Golden Bachelor premieres at 7.30pm on Monday, October 20, on Nine and 9Now. <\/p>\n
*Nine is the owner of this masthead. <\/p>\n