\n<\/p>\n
Age-gap relationships are nothing new when it comes to depictions of older men in TV and film plots. But a wave of recent releases, including \u201cBabygirl<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Idea of You,\u201d<\/a> \u201cBridget Jones: Mad About the Boy<\/a>” and \u201cLonely Planet<\/a>,\u201d have zeroed in on romantic and sexual relationships between women in midlife and younger men<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two new reality dating spinoffs are now catching up. Bravo\u2019s \u201cLove Hotel,\u201d which premiered Sunday, features three over-50 \u201cReal Housewives\u201d \u2014 Luann de Lesseps, 59, Gizelle Bryant, 54, and Shannon Beador, 61 \u2014 looking for love among eligible bachelors whose ages range from their 30s to their 60s at a luxury resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Ashley Darby, 36, rounds out the group of bachelorettes.)<\/p>\n In the first episode Bryant asks Wale Alesh, 38, if he wants children. When he responds that he does, the cameras cut to Bryant in an interview filmed after. \u201cGizelle doesn\u2019t have a uterus, so that means we aren\u2019t compatible,\u201d she says, speaking in the third person.<\/p>\n Meeting Jay Bramble, 46, Bryant explained: \u201cMy three daughters are in college. I have the house to myself, so I just walk around naked.\u201d He responded, \u201cYou\u2019re living the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Bryant, who is divorced and who dated the \u201cWinter House\u201d cast member Jason Cameron, 38, on a past season of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Potomac,\u201d said it\u2019s important that audiences see mature women living vital love lives. \u201cHey, ain\u2019t nobody dead because they have, like, jumped over 39,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n Bryant added that the program gives the women a chance to show \u201cwe can spend whatever days we have left in a happy place with somebody that, you know, you really want to rock out with.\u201d<\/p>\n Several of de Lesseps\u2019s relationships and marriages were chronicled on \u201cThe Real Housewives of New York,\u201d but she said \u201cLove Hotel\u201d gives her an opportunity to show that she\u2019s \u201cin the driver\u2019s seat\u201d when it comes to dating. \u201cI\u2019m not 20 anymore. I feel like 20, but I\u2019m at a different stage of dating,\u201d de Lesseps said, adding: \u201cI make my own money, my kids are grown.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Their attitudes reflect the fact that Americans are marrying later<\/a> now than they did 50 years ago, for example, according to median age charts for first marriages from the U.S. Census Bureau. And the experiences of more seasoned daters are not often portrayed on most reality dating shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n ABC\u2019s \u201cBachelor\u201d franchise capitalized on that starting in 2023, when it looked to pair the 72-year-old widower Gerry Turner<\/a> with the 60-and-up contestants of \u201cThe Golden Bachelor.\u201d The next year, Joan Vassos, then 61, searched for love on \u201cThe Golden Bachelorette<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n This summer, the popular spinoff \u201cBachelor in Paradise\u201d will feature 35-and-under singles from the original show alongside \u201cGolden\u201d hopefuls, including Gary Levingston, 66, of \u201cThe Golden Bachelorette.\u201d<\/p>\n The logistics of the show, and whether the contestants will be grouped by age, has not been announced, but the draw of heaping them all into the same show seemed clear to Levingston. Without age diversity among contestants, he said, \u201cyou\u2019ve left out a part of the market segment that\u2019s still out here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n