New Golden Bachelor Mel Owens is addressing his remarks about only looking to date women between the ages of 45 and 60 on the dating show for the first time.
After Mel, 66, said on a June episode of the “MGoBlue” podcast that he planned to cut any potential contestants who are either older than 60 or had an artificial hip, his comments sparked backlash and even reached one of his close friends.
“My friend called me from Michigan. She’s 65, and I went to school with her, and she’s an attorney and a hotshot for the Big 10 in administration. I didn’t know she’s also a big fan of The Bachelor,” Mel told Glamour in an interview published on Friday, August 1. “She said to me, ‘Mel, no. What are you doing?’ She goes, ‘I’m reading all about it.’ I didn’t know that it hit that hard. She goes, ‘You’ve got to right the wrong.’ So, I listened to her. She said, ‘What you said was insensitive, and it’s just not who you are.’”
According to Mel, he “didn’t know” about the Golden age range when he was cast as the show’s next lead. (Mel, a former NFL star turned lawyer, will succeed Gerry Turner as the second Golden Bachelor star. He was announced by ABC in April after no previous reality TV experience.)
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“I had watched the first show when I was younger, when it first launched or something in 2002, until my son was born. But then when he was born, I didn’t watch it anymore,” Mel, who shares two children with his ex-wife Fabiana, who is 19 years younger than him, told Glamour. “So when these people talk about, ‘Hey, this season and that season,’ I didn’t know the age range because I wasn’t watching it. I’m thinking, to me, the age range was 45 to 60. That’s my age range. I’m thinking that’s the gold years for me. My reference, again, was when I was dating at 39, 40. I hadn’t dated in 26 years, so I had no clue.”
He added, “My reference of dating was [at] 39, 40 years old. That’s what I told [my friend]. She goes, ‘It doesn’t matter. You’ve said some things that are just incredibly wrong.’ And I go, ‘I’ve got to apologize.’”
When Mel began filming his season last month, he made sure to apologize to the women.
“When I first walked in [to the Bachelor Mansion], I addressed it. I apologized to them,” he told the outlet. “I said, ‘It was unfair, insensitive. I want to earn it back. Just give me the chance.’ And hopefully, these last two weeks I earned some of that back.”
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Mel further revealed that during his one-on-one dates, several of the participants told him that they appreciated the apology, and it “meant a lot” to them.
“They also had a roast. One of the dates was a roast. It was brutal. They were killing me,” Mel teased. “One said, ‘Oh, when Mel was walking with me, he was using me as a cane.’ [Since] I’m from Detroit, one said, ‘Like a Detroit pizza, he’s doughy, squishy, square, and crusty.’ It was good because I earned that, and I took it, and I deserved it, and it landed squarely on me. They were throwing haymakers. It was good.”
While speaking with Glamour, Mel also walked back his podcast comments about eliminating any contestant who previously had a hip or knee replacement.
“People run marathons. I’m an attorney. I represent athletes with injuries, and most of them are football, hockey, a lot of them have artificial [joints],” he said. “So, I know that people have them.”
All in all, Mel was “absolutely shocked” by the caliber of women brought in for his season.
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“[I was surprised] how active they are,” he said. “They’re brilliant. It’s shocking how brilliant they are. … There’s some wonderful women. They’re amazing. There are five [right now] that I really connect with, and I got to find out that they’re connecting with me. That’s the important part.”
He continued, “So, my partner could be there. Last night was a rose ceremony, and you have to make some tough decisions. You don’t want to see them go because you know their stories. It hurts. … It’s been such a great experience. It’s life-altering for me.”
Mel even addressed the false reports that the network replaced him because of the backlash.
“My friend who I went to school with told me. She was my conduit to that world,” he said. “When people said to me, ‘Hey, are you getting replaced?’ I go, “Not that I know of.’ And I wasn’t actively searching frenetically, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what’s going on?’ … It’s such a great experience for me, so, yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted to be recast.”
The Golden Bachelor premieres on ABC Wednesday, September 24, at 8 p.m.
