‘Golden Bachelorette’ Contestant’s Past Temporary Restraining Order From Ex Surfaces
Golden Bachelorette star Gil Ramirez, who received a rose from star Joan Vassos during this week’s Sept. 18 season premiere, saw details from his past come to light on Friday.
The 60-year-old educator from Mission Viejo, California, had a temporary domestic violence restraining order filed against him three months ago from an ex-girlfriend over allegations of stalking, People reported. The woman, who claimed to have been dating Ramirez, said, “he made repeated unwanted contact with me, family members and friends” and that he “showed up at places I frequent to confront me on a daily basis.”
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People noted that the court filing was dated June 11, which The Hollywood Reporter can confirm was just days before production started on the hit ABC reality dating competition. The Golden Bachelorette and the Golden Bachelor are senior spinoffs from flagship series The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
A July 2 hearing was then postponed, People reported, because Ramirez was unable to be served — presumably, because he was already at the Bachelor mansion in Agoura Hills, California, filming The Golden Bachelorette. At a later hearing date on July 24, the temporary restraining order was then dropped and dismissed for “lack of prosecution for lack of service.”
Because of the timing, a source close to the show’s production tells THR that the filing “occurred in the brief period between completion of [the show’s] thorough background investigation and exhaustive vetting process, and the beginning of production.”
Now that this information has come to light, the source says ABC and producers Warner Horizon have “further edited his already limited screen time and minimized him in promotional assets moving forward.”
Vassos, who lost her husband of 32 years to cancer in 2021, hails from the inaugural season of the Golden Bachelor with Gerry Turner. After exiting that season early due to a family emergency, she returned to lead the first season of the Golden Bachelorette, making her debut this past Wednesday. On the show’s first night, she met 24 contestants and handed out 18 roses; Ramirez was among them.
Ramirez’s ABC bio describes the father of two as “the perfect combination of romantic, sweet and emotional” and an “educator [who] is ready for love again and misses that feeling of knowing you’re with the right person.”
On Tuesday, one day before the Golden Bachelorette premiered, it also came to light that the winner of the most recent season of The Bachelorette, Devin Strader, was arrested and had a restraining order filed against him by an ex-girlfriend several years before coming onto the reality dating show.
THR reported that, while the affidavit of a burglary arrest was public during Strader’s vetting process, the details in the restraining order had been sealed when Bachelorette producers were conducting their background checks. Strader, who called off his engagement with star Jenn Tran between the pretaped finale and the live After the Final Rose special earlier this month, addressed the allegations that came to light this week, saying, in part, “That restraining order was never granted, and fully dismissed. My college ex-girlfriend and I ended up reconciling and eventually ended our relationship on good terms. This was the first time I ever fell in love and I learned a lot from our relationship. It was a growing experience for both of us.”
Tran, meanwhile, is now competing on Dancing With the Stars, and told THR at this week’s season premiere on Tuesday, after the Strader allegations came to light, that she “healing” and “pouring energy back” into herself while competing on her next reality competition show.
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