The DC area will not host a hometown date on the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor. Alexandria contestant Nancy Hulkower left the show last night, opting to end her romantic journey with 71-year-old Gerry Turner.
It was a tough episode for Hulkower, a former interior designer. The 61-year-old sustained a stress fracture during a group pickleball date, but it was issues of the heart—not leg—that led to her self-elimination. Later in the episode, Hulkower approached Turner about his more developed connections with the other women, deciding to exit when the Golden Bachelor agreed. (Rockville contestant Joan Vassos also self eliminated the week before.)
We caught up with Hulkower after her final rose to chat about dating advice, her goldendoodle’s rising celebrity, and the Alexandria hometown date we never had.
How has daily life changed for you in Alexandria? Are you getting recognized?
Yes, people have said, “Are you???” and my hair might be up in a baseball cap and ponytail. I went to the vet with my dog, Max. The nurses were like, “Oh my gosh, we saw that somebody was from Alexandria and she likes to walk her dog Max, and we knew who it was!” My day to day life hasn’t changed, except for the fact that now I have all these new friends, and of course my existing friends are like, “Oh my gosh, we want to do that!”
As someone who just completed the ultimate dating experience, what advice do you have for DC-area singles?
You have to put yourself out there—that’s what I learned from the show. You don’t have to go to a bar. You can pick up a new sport, you can play pickleball. I had never played pickleball! I missed like 14, and then I got one over the net and I was like, [pantomimes cheering]. But I would say keep putting yourself out there, and what I learned from the show is it is never too late. If you have a few misses, you’ll have a hit pretty soon.
If you had stayed until hometowns, what would have been your itinerary for your date?
I would have had everybody at my house, and then I would have taken him to DC, done the monument tour, possibly gone to Le Diplomate for dinner. Everybody likes to go there, so I’d take him there. I live near Old Town, Alexandria, so I would have done the Old Town tour, maybe taken the boat to Georgetown.
Your talent show talent was “whip cream catcher.” How—and why—did you decide to showcase that skill?
There were a few funny things we could do, and I talked to my producer, and he said, “The whipped cream, that would be a good idea.” I was so scared of being in front of an audience because Bachelor Nation was there. I missed, then I got part of it in my mouth, and I was like “yay!” That feeling was so great because I never thought it would work on stage. But it was fun, and again, that’s part of what I learned: I wasn’t crazy about doing it, but I did put myself out there, and I was vulnerable. The word that comes to mind is I am revitalized by the whole experience.
Thank you for talking with me today!
And I’m still looking, so just keep your eye open, if you know any cute men.
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Northeast DC.
