East Haven Dental Hygienist Eliminated From 'Golden Bachelor'

EAST HAVEN, CT — Peggy Dercole, the 69-year-old dental hygienist from East Haven who set out to find love on the first season of ABC's 'The Golden Bachelor,' has been eliminated after a short stint on the show.

The blonde with a big smile was one of three women whose time on the show ended Thursday after they didn't get a rose from the face of the show and The Golden Bachelor himself, a 71-year-old widower from Indiana named Gerry Turner.

Thursday's episode saw Dercole grilling hot dogs while the group of competitors threw Turner a birthday party—an unusual bonding activity for 16 women, all between the ages of 60 and 75, vying for the same man's heart.

The bunch also participated in a group date in which Turner posed with all the women for a romance novel cover shoot wearing peculiarly themed costumes, like medieval times and the '70s.

Since the show premiered Sept. 28, viewers have been tuning in to 'The Golden Bachelor,' a spinoff of ABC's 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette,' to follow Turner as gets to know what started as his nearly two dozen suitors in an effort to determine to whom he wants to give his final rose.

That pool of options has since shrank as multiple eliminations occur every week.

The first-ever 'The Golden Bachelor' aims to show that "love stories, like so many other things, only get better with age," according to ABC.

Turner is described in his biography on the ABC website as a retired restaurateur and doting father and grandfather.

The competition continues next Thursday, Oct. 12 on ABC.