Costa Mesa senior community gathers for 'The Golden Bachelorette' with food, bubbly and trivia game

Marilyn Giss, front and Peggy Bartkowski, right wait for the Golden Bachelorette Premier Party to start.

Sept. 20, 2024 5:23 PM PT

The Coastal Heights Senior Living community in Costa Mesa had been thrilled to have been chosen by ABC to help celebrate the television premiere of “The Golden Bachelorette” on Wednesday night.

All dressed up for the 5 o’clock invitation to view the program — following an on-site “prom” that had been held the same afternoon — about 50 residents sat together in anticipation of the main event, the first time in the history of the “Bachelorette” franchise that a woman in her 60s, Joan Vassos, would be looking for love in what must be one of the most public ways possible.

Heidi Peter serves desserts to Coastal Heights residents at the Premier Party of "The Golden Bachelorette."

“It’s quite an honor to be selected out of hundreds of senior communities nationwide to host a wonderful viewing party,” said Catherine Ratelle, the senior living community’s executive director. “And ABC sent a kit with give-aways and decorations.”

However, the television viewing party hit a snag. It seemed the broadcast would not be shown until 8 p.m.

“We weren’t able to connect to the show,” Ratelle said about a communications breakdown over the viewing logistics.

But the evening wasn’t a total loss, Ratelle explained. “They still had fun playing trivia with the questions sent by ABC [as part of the promo kit], such as ‘What was she wearing?’ ‘Who was first out of the limo?’”

After enjoying the food and champagne that had been provided for the party, most of the residents went back to their rooms to watch the show on their own televisions, while a handful trickled back into Coastal Heights’ media room to give it another try at 8 p.m.

Resident Marilyn Giss told the Daily Pilot she thought it would be fun to attend the watch party for the premiere of the program. “I know they give a rose to someone they want to be with,” said Giss, who was vaguely familiar with the show format. “It’s been fun getting all gussied up.”

Catherine Ratelle, from left, Cindy Contreras and Heidi Peter during Wednesday Golden Bachelorette Premier Party.

Giss ended up watching the whole show alone in her room. “Overall I was impressed,” she said. “The concept that prevailed that I felt throughout the show is that it’s important to recognize that older people still want to have a loving relationship.”

Peggie Bartkowski also watched Wednesday night’s premiere in her room. “We were all disappointed after expecting a viewing party,” she said, before giving a brief review of the show itself. “The first episode was just vanilla, just like all the others. And I heard several people say they were never going to watch again because they didn’t like the first episode, but I will continue to watch it.”

Another loyal fan, Diane Nicholson, said she’d watched “The Bachelorette” for years. Although she played the trivia game with the other gathered Wednesday, she was a little disappointed that they didn’t end up viewing the show together but she took a philosophical approach.

“Those things happen,” she said, “[One has to] go with the flow.”