"The Golden Bachelor Live" is the eighth episode in the seventeenth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and the 178th episode overall. It aired on August 20, 2025.
Synopsis[]
Host Jesse Palmer walks the audience through Frank's journey up until his final rose ceremony in the "Golden Bachelor" finale. But whom will he pick: a young internet celebrity, a confident woman his age, or a familiar face?
Plot Summary[]
The episode is presented through the lens of The Golden Bachelor's season finale starring Frank as the titular contestant. Jesse Palmer is the host for the live studio audience, and mentions the producers were close to cancelling the entire season due to Frank's personality, but are glad they kept him on.
They recap Frank's journey through the reality TV dating show, where he starts off by rejecting and eliminating every candidate that arrives due to their age. Frank wants a young candidate and cites a TikTok personality named "Cock Chewa" due to her looks and age alone, and the network complies and brings her onto the show. Although Frank immediately wants to choose Cock Chewa as the winner, he is told he must follow the show's structure and consider at least one other competitor. Samantha, a "poultry heiress", is the last candidate and despite being dismissed by Frank, her wit and unwillingness to be offended by Frank catches his interest and she is kept on the show. Frank gets to know the candidates on the set's mansion, where although he enjoys Cock Chewa's looks and having sex with her, she hardly communicates normally and takes her namesake literally in the bedroom. When he has a dinner date with Samantha, he finds her intriguing and enjoys long conversations with her.
"Already I have to deal with two sluts and now a third??"
Jesse Palmer reveals to the audience that when they initially showed Frank's family, they were paid actors due to Frank's hesitance to show his real family in Philadelphia. The show finally takes Frank and his candidates to visit the Gang to help him make a decision on who to choose. Dennis and Dee learn that Samantha is independent from Frank's money, and thus, less controllable. Mac and Charlie simply learn that Cock Chewa has a one-track mind to "Chew on that thang" per her catchphrase no matter what questions they ask her. They all finally have dinner at Dennis and Mac's apartment, like they had previously rehearsed, but quickly spiral out of control as they deviate from their lines. Things come to a head when Charlie's mom arrives unannounced, which was planned by Dennis to introduce her as a third candidate that they could better control. Charlie snaps, having barely holding in his anxiety that someone was going to take Frank away from him, and destroys the dinner table.
Aftermath of the "elephant toothpaste bomb."
For the last round of consideration, Frank organizes having group sex with all three candidates to help make his choice. Before they step into a room, Samantha makes a touching monologue to Frank explaining how she admires his personality and how she has fallen in love with him, and only wanted to "shoot her shot" without sleeping with Frank. Despite being moved, Frank simply slides a card underneath a door to where Samantha is waiting with the word "Dunzo" on it, indicating she has been eliminated. Meanwhile, the Gang attempts to prank Cock Chewa with an "elephant toothpaste bomb" to see if she is receptive to the Gang's humor, and accept her if she does. However, Charlie had sabotaged the prank by adding twenty gallons of Nair to the concoction that was meant to produce a large volume of foam, due to his resentment of Cock Chewa, which had caused the bomb's reaction to set off prematurely. The Gang is shown sitting in the live audience with green skin, harshly altered voices, and large patches of missing hair.
Samantha and Frank kiss.
For the final decision, Frank is to hand out a golden rose. He states reasons in favor of both Bonnie and Cock Chewa, but the scene cuts to a rainy bus stop. Frank has instead chosen to pursue Samantha, and catches her before she leaves town on a bus. He presents the golden rose to her and asks her to marry him, and she responds, "I will." The two then kiss.
The episode then ends with a tribute and memorial to Bonnie's actress Lynne Marie Stewart.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
- Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
- Rob Mac as Mac McDonald
- Kaitlin Olson as Dee Reynolds
- Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds
Guest Starring[]
- Lynne Marie Stewart as Bonnie Kelly
- Carol Kane as Samantha
- Audrey Corsa as "Cock Chewa"
- Jesse Palmer as himself
Co-Starring[]
- David Anthony Hinton as Amazon Delivery Guy
Trivia[]
- This is a crossover with The Golden Bachelor, making this the second crossover in the season.
- One of the opening shots in Frank's narration shows portraits of his past lovers: Shadynasty both younger and older, and his ex-wife Barbara.
- The episode served as a tribute to Lynne Marie Stewart, who played Charlie's mom, Bonnie Kelly, who passed away on February 21, 2025. A small montage of her scenes plays at the end of the episode before the credits.
- An "elephant toothpaste bomb" is a reaction speeding up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) with a catalyst while trapping the escaping oxygen with dish soap, producing a large amount of expanding foam very quickly. The name is popularized describing the large amounts of colored foam looking like an enlarged version of toothpaste.
- This is the first episode of the series that is extended and has three commercial breaks during airing.