Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist became engaged on the season finale of 'The Golden Bachelor'
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"The Golden Bachelor" winner Theresa Nist felt emotional watching her love story unfold on the small screen.
At the For Your Consideration screening and panel at the Times Center in New York on Monday night, Nist admitted she was "horrified" watching herself on television.
"So actually, I watched it with my family: with my daughter and her husband, my three grandsons in New Jersey," Nist said. "I was horrified every time. I would get over that and the next night I would watch it alone."
Gerry Turner proposed to Theresa Nist on the season finale of "The Golden Bachelor." (John Fleenor/Disney via Getty Images)
Theresa shared that she was talking on the phone with Gerry Turner "all the time," who helped prepare her for what she was going to see on TV.
"There's some things you just couldn't prepare me for," she noted. "I cried over a few things, but no, not that I didn't know anything that was going to happen, but it was a little hard sometimes because I loved these women. I loved all of them and I still do."
Turner proposed to Nist on the season finale of the show. Leslie Fhima was this season's runner-up.
The "Golden Bachelor" addressed watching the rose ceremonies back with the rest of the world and shared that it was "soul crushing" to send the women home.
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's wedding will be aired live on Jan. 4. (Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images)
"I've said it often… You form good friendships, good relationships, good connections, and you work really hard to do it because you want to be open to every possibility that's in front of you," Turner began. "At the end of the day, when you know you have to send some of those women home — it was just soul crushing."
Turner pointed out that's what they all "signed up for, and there's no other way to do it."
Turner and Nist discussed their upcoming wedding, which will be aired live on Jan. 4. Turner said that "wasn't always the plan."
"No, we had to think about it," Nist chimed in. "It really wasn't the original plan to do that, but when we really thought hard about it, we said, ‘There are so many people that have been affected by this show.’"
Gerry Turner is surrounded by the leading ladies in his life - his two daughters and granddaughters - in a promotional picture for the first season of the "Golden Bachelor." (Brian Bowen Smith/ ABC via Getty Images)
She continued, "We wanted to bring them along and bring them into it and still try to make it a really intimate experience."
Turner said that he felt "a little bit of responsibility" to publicly share their wedding.
"The wedding is just kind of the payday proof that it works," he noted.
The "Golden" couple discussed how quickly their relationship has progressed since getting engaged. Turner and Nist are tying the knot six weeks after he got on one knee.
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist said they feel a "responsibility" to air their wedding live. (John Fleenor/ABC via Getty Images)
"With our age, we were also aware of how precious time is," Nist said. "At this age, we're much wiser. That's more critical to us, and we realized how we need to spend every moment living the life we want."
Both Turner and Nist agreed that their families are "thrilled" that they're getting married, and having a televised wedding.
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Both Turner and Nist agreed that their families are "thrilled" that they're getting married, and having a televised wedding. (RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images via Getty Images)
Nist shared that she would love "all the women" who were on the first season of "The Golden Bachelor" to attend their wedding. At one point during the "Bachelor" event on Monday evening, Nist and Turner shared some PDA, standing up to share a sweet kiss in front of the audience.
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Prior to the screening and panel in the Big Apple, Turner and Nist attended a holiday party together in New Jersey. (John Fleenor/ABC)
Prior to the screening and panel in the Big Apple, Turner and Nist attended a holiday party together in New Jersey. Turner posted a photo of himself with Nist and another man at a holiday party on Friday. He captioned the photo, "People in New Jersey are AWESOME. And they know how to throw a party. Thanks TFS."
TFS is Nist's place of employment. Located in Lincroft, New Jersey, it is a business that works in wealth management. "TFS" stands for Tomorrow's Financial Services.
Earlier this month, scandal marred the "Golden Bachelor" finale. The day before the episode aired that showed Turner proposing to Nist, an article from The Hollywood Reporter was released that claimed he'd had a secret girlfriend, despite saying on the show that he hadn't seriously dated since his wife died in 2017.
In an interview with Katie Couric, Turner addressed these allegations, saying, "I wanna focus on what's going on now. The important thing for me is where I'm at today. And looking back on those things, to me, is no benefit."
Fox News Digital's Emily Trainham contributed to this report.
Janelle Ash is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital.
