Mel Owens is the new star of The Golden Bachelor for season two and he caused some controversy before filming ever even started, all due to comments he made about age.
The 66-year-old former professional football player, who became a lawyer later in life, said in a June 2025 interview that he vowed to eliminate any woman over the age of 60.
There are 23 women competing this season and almost all of them are above the age of 60, so that would have been a major problem if he didn’t change his views.
So, what exactly did Mel say? And what did he say in his apology?
Keep reading to find out more…
Mel’s Original Comments
The producers of the show asked him for his preferences when it comes to the women he wants to date. “I just said, ’45 to 60,’ just being honest,” Mel said on Michigan football podcast MGo Blue Podcasts with Jon Jansen.
“‘If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them,’” Mel told a producer of the show. He also added, “This is not The Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor.”
THR reports that Mel added, “[The executive producer] goes, ‘But they’re going to be hot, don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it.’ He goes, ‘You can’t use the word cut,’ I go, ‘That’s an NFL term.’”
Mel also said, “They’ve got to be fit, because I stay in shape and workout and stuff. And I told them to try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs.”
Host Jesse Palmer soon after responded to the controversial remarks.
Mel’s Apology After Causing Controversy
About a month later, Mel broke his silence and apologized.
“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. “She said to me, ‘Mel, no. What are you doing?’ She goes, ‘I’m reading all about it.’ I didn’t know that it anthem 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 Bachelor age range when he was cast as the show’s next lead.
“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 series it anymore,” explained Mel, who shares two children with his ex-wife Fabiana, who is 19 years younger than him.
“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,” he continued. “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 he started filming his season last month, Mel made sure to apologize to all the women.
“When I first walked in [to the Bachelor Mansion], I addressed it. I apologized to them,” Mel recalled. “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.”
He also revealed that during his one-on-one dates, several of the contestants told him that his apology “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.”
Also during the interview, Mel walked back on his hip/knee replacement comments.
“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.”
He also addressed the false reports that ABC almost replaced him because of the backlash over his comments.
“My friend who I went to school with told me. She was my conduit to that world,” Mel 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.”
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