Golden Bachelor Mel Owens is narrowing down his list of potential matches ahead of meeting their loved ones.
“There’s only three families that I’m going to meet next week. Choosing is going to be tough. But I’m looking for love, I’m looking for that special feeling with one of these women,” Mel, 66, said during Us Weekly’s exclusive sneak peek of the Wednesday, October 15, episode. “There’s choices that have to be made.”
When asked by host Jesse Palmer how he was feeling, Mel admitted, “Anxious. A little nervous.”
“I know what I have to do. It’s not easy and that’s where the anxiousness and the emotions come in. You’re going to their hometown, meeting their families,” Mel explained, to which Jesse, 47, replied, “I certainly don’t have to remind you what’s at stake. So I’ll leave you with your thoughts.”
Mel Owens Reveals Whether He Thinks His Ex-Wife Will Watch ‘Golden Bachelor’
Mel noted in a confessional that this decision is “the difficult part” of his journey to find love. “What is the best fit for me? I even have reservations this second,” Mel admitted. “I have to make a decision.”
Heading into the episode, Mel has six remaining women vying for his affections after saying goodbye to several women last week, including first impression rose recipient Gerri Flowers. After Mel opted not to give Gerri a rose at the rose ceremony, he walked her out of the Bachelor Mansion — and the pair shared a final moment together.
“I said, ‘You touched a piece of my heart.’ You don’t say that lightly. I wished him luck. The fact that he walked me out — [he’s ] such a gentleman, it was so endearing,” Gerri recalled during an exclusive interview with Us. “It was just like, ‘Will our paths meet again?’ Maybe, maybe not, but who knows?”
Ahead of his stint as the second-ever Golden Bachelor, Mel was married to Fabiana Pimente for nearly 18 years. The pair, who share two sons, separated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after she found love with somebody else.
Golden Bachelor Mel Has a Message for Skeptics Who Don’t Plan to Watch
“Well, it’s never good, right?” Mel told Us when asked about his past. “But, you know, I’m never going to get in the way of someone’s happiness. If you want to find somebody else in a different phase in your life — it hurts — but I can’t get in the way of your happiness. And what’s your happiness may not be my happiness. That’d be a real conflict — you can’t stop somebody, say, ‘I’m over here now.’ You can beg and plead, but I’m fine. Life is short, and if you’re in love with somebody else, that’s fine.”
As for how he navigated the aftermath of the split, Mel explained it’s important to “live in the moment.”
“Plus, I had kids, so I had to think about them before me. So that was the main focus,” he explained. “And there were younger kids at the time — not infants, but teenagers. I let things work itself out, and it did. And have patience and understanding.”
The Golden Bachelor airs on ABC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
