MINNEAPOLIS — "I would like to not date on TV."
That will be hard for 64-year-old Leslie Fhima to pull off, as she and 21 other women — around her age and older — redefined reality show dating on ABC's "The Golden Bachelor." It was a show her daughter dreamed would one day exist.
"She suggested it many years ago and when she suggested it, I said, 'Well, they are 25, and she goes, 'Well, they should do a show for your age,'" Fhima told KARE 11's Jana Shortal. "And I said, 'Well, who really wants to see old people kissing in a hot tub?' And then many years, fast forward, I was kissing in a hot tub."
"I thought it would be really fun, and you never know — you never know where you will find love. So, I was excited to see where that would take me."
Hot tubs aside, Fhima said the search for love has gotten more difficult as her tastes become more refined with age.
"At our age, my age, you get set in your ways and get picky," she said.
So, throwing difficulty on the tarmac at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, to the set of "The Golden Bachelor" she would go, finding relationships — beyond that Indiana guy.
"I mean, I love the women," Fhima said. "We are all really good friends. We have a special bond that nobody else would understand and I'm in communication with them daily. I love that part, too."
We love women supporting women, but we can't help but wonder: What about that Indiana guy?
"Gerry was great and everyone was like, 'Did you really fall in love?' And I did; I actually fell for him," she said.
Well, it's too bad, Gerry, because Leslie has all kinds of options now. And to her, the ages of some of the men in her DMs are just a number.
"There has been plenty in there under 40, but you know, I have a 37-year-old son, so I don't go there." Fhima said. "I just am not in the place right now that I really want to date. Maybe when I get there, I might reach out to a few of them."
Fhima was one of two women left at the end of 72-year-old Gerry Turner's journey to find love, but was ultimately sent home as was revealed on last month's season finale of the show's inaugural season. Fhima was then left to reckon with Turner's decision to ride off into the Bachelor Nation sunset with 70-year-old Theresa Nist, asking her to marry him instead.
"I kinda want to just give it some time," Fhima said adding, "and January and February and March are not the best times in Minneapolis to be meeting people."
Using the winter months in Minnesota to help heal broken hearts, it's with hope that those who love to love inevitably come back swingin' in the spring.
"You know, we aren't dead; we are alive. Love is out there," Fhima said. "There is someone out there for all of us."
And what's not to love?
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