The Golden Bachelor‘s newest leading man, former NFL player turned lawyer Mel Owens, had a bit of an uphill battle from the start. A complete unknown to Bachelor Nation, he didn’t come in with a following, or even a connection to the franchise. First introduced to the press in April, the handsome divorcée and father of two seemed like a fine choice, if uninspired.
Given that this was going to be ABC and Warner Bros.’s sophomore season of The Golden Bachelor, Owens—and the franchise spinoff—was never going to puncture the zeitgeist quite like then 71-year-old Gerry Turner did when he was first announced as ABC’s leading man in the summer of 2023. But fresh blood in the franchise is always a good thing, and given The Golden Bachelor‘s real winner that inaugural season (that would be the women), things seemed to be off to a good start.
On June 26, news broke that Owens had appeared on In the Trenches, a sports podcast from his alma mater, the University of Michigan, where the 66-year-old said he’d prefer to date women between the ages of 45 and 60. He also said that he would “cut” women “if they’re 60 or over.” If that wasn’t bad enough, Owens also told host Jon Jansen that he told the producers to “try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs, you know, that kind of stuff.”
The repercussions were immediate, and rightfully so, with fans saying they would no longer watch the upcoming season and calling for Owens’s exit. Then, in early July, podcast host and blogger Steve Carbone (also known as Reality Steve) reported that Owens was out “as the Golden Bachelor due to recent negative publicity surrounding his June 4th podcast appearance.”
The rumor mill went wild, with fans celebrating the report and applauding ABC for making the right decision. The only problem? It wasn’t true.
While ABC and Warner Bros. never made an official comment, sources told Glamour at the time that Owens was still the Golden Bachelor and that production would start later in July. Indeed, as of August 1, Owens is a couple weeks into filming. The two-hour premiere of The Golden Bachelor is confirmed for Wednesday, September 24, 2025.
Until now, Owens and the team behind The Golden Bachelor have remained silent on all the fallout from that June 4 podcast appearance. But in the middle of July, Glamour received word that once filming began—when Owens could address the women on his season first—he wanted to talk publicly about what happened on the In the Trenches podcast.
Which is how, on a Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, Owens meets me over coffee. He’s dressed casually, planning to hit the gym after. He didn’t go to bed until 7 A.M. because the latest rose ceremony went until nearly 4 that morning. With only a few hours sleep, Owens is clearly running on adrenaline as he tells me he’s having the time of his life on this new journey.
“You got to jump right in, right?” he says. “No holding back.” When I comment that it must be awkward, with cameras documenting his nearly every move, he replies, “Well, you’re just being natural as much as you can, and sometimes you forget that it’s there.”
He says he’s learning to be more vulnerable, too, especially with the women who’ve been through so much on their journey to find love again. “I’ve gone through a divorce, but I’m lucky enough not to have a lot of tragedies,” he says, before elaborating that the women on his season have such poignant and heartfelt stories. “It’s life. Let’s get vulnerable.”
And so, that brings us to the podcast, the comments, and the fallout. Owens is not defensive, even if his explanations are rather clunky at times. He’s not calculated, and he seems to genuinely want people to know he’ll do better. But, he says at first he wasn’t even aware there was an issue with his comments. That’s part of the problem right there, though he says he’s committed to coming out of this experience a changed man.
Still, getting Bachelor Nation back on board for his season is a big ask, and Owens knows it. So now, in his first interview, he’s ready to be as transparent as he can.
Glamour: Let’s go back to the podcast in June. Did you have any inkling that people might be upset by your comments as soon as you said them?
Mel Owens: At the moment, no. But obviously a day or whatever later, people listened to it…and my friend called me from Michigan. She’s 65, and I went to school with her, and she’s an attorney and a hot shot for the Big 10 in administration. I didn’t know she’s also a big fan of The Bachelor. 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. That’s how I found out, basically.
Did she explain to you why it was wrong?
She said, “What you said was insensitive, and it’s just not who you are.” My reference of dating was 39, 40 years old. I hadn’t dated in 26, 27 years. That’s what I told her. She goes, “It doesn’t matter. You’ve said some things that are just incredibly wrong.” And I go, “I’ve got to apologize.”
Did it make sense when she was telling you this?
Yeah, of course. I’m getting [this feedback] from a great friend of mine who’s 65, and she’s a woman. She goes, “Come on, that’s insensitive.” I told her, “I said it because of my frame of reference,” which I now know was incorrect.
What was some of the other feedback that you heard? Did you start looking up what was being said about you online?
I didn’t. I did not because I’m not on the…I’m on TikTok because my boys [send me stuff], and I’m on ESPN and whatever’s on Apple News.
So you had no idea…
No. She told me, and she started naming the publications, like TMZ and E! and all of those. And she says, “Don’t even go on. There’s a lot of pushback and blowback.” So I don’t go on. I had never been on any dating apps either, so I’m not on the internet for those kind of things.
So let me ask you this: It’s totally fair to have an age range that you feel comfortable with for dating, but why did you decide to go on a show called The Golden Bachelor if you didn’t want to date women that were over 60?
Because I didn’t know anything about The Golden Bachelor ages. I didn’t. 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. 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. And that’s why I said that comment. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. And I didn’t know that [Gerry] got married and then divorced. I didn’t know any of it.
Did you want to? When ABC started approaching you, did you want to find out more about the show?
Oh, I found out thereafter. Because remember, when I was going through the interview process or whatever, I’m watching the last season with Grant [Ellis]. That’s when I picked up again watching a little bit. I only watched two or three episodes, but I didn’t know the age range because I hadn’t watched it.
I want to ask you about your comments about “staying away from artificial hips and wigs.” You’re an athlete, have you ever had any…
I’ve got two artificial hips.
You do?
I don’t. I’m kidding. I’m kidding. [Laughs]
Listen, look at Bo Jackson, who had hip replacement surgery during his playing career. Anyone can have it at any age…
Oh, yeah, my best friend has two hips and a knee, and his wife has a knee….but it was all part of the reference of age when I made the comment.
So you don’t care if someone has a knee replacement?
No, no, no.
Because, usually, having a knee or hip replacement helps improve the quality of life.
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…so I know that people have them.
What do you say to those who are upset about your comments? Because viewers who watch The Golden Bachelor or Bachelorette love that the show is so heartfelt and celebrates the fact that it’s a gift to get older, and that it shouldn’t stop you from doing anything.
I’m a perfect example.
So what would you say to viewers who were so hurt and taken aback by the comments that you would cut women over 60 and you didn’t want to deal with anybody that had artificial hips or wigs?
I apologized to the women on the show. When I first walked in, I addressed it. I apologized to them. 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.
Have a lot of the women talked to you individually about your comments?
Yeah, during our one-on-ones, 12 or 15 of them said, “We appreciate the apology, and it meant a lot to us.” And they also had a roast. One of the dates was a roast. It was brutal. They were killing me.
What did they say?
I can’t remember all of them, but one said, “Oh, when Mel was walking with me, he was using me as a cane.” And I’m from Detroit, right? 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.
How has it changed your perspective then on aging by meeting these women and dating them so far?
I’m absolutely shocked at the women.
How so?
Of how active they are. They’re brilliant. They’re brilliant. It’s shocking how brilliant they are.
Really? I wouldn’t be surprised. Women have always been brilliant.
But no, I’m talking about collectively…I have a sister. And I’m at the court, and there’s tons of lawyers there, of course, but the things they do, like one was a bomb squad person and there’s a couple dentists, a doctor, a motocross racer, a flight attendant for 40 years. You have all these varied professions. And they’re not 40. They’re 60, 65, maybe 70. And they go, “Oh, I’m still working. I’m still riding. I have my practice.” So there it is. It’s right in front of you.
You mentioned you had a sister. What did your sister say when she read some of the comments?
She lives on a farm. She didn’t know I was on because she has a farm to attend to. Matter of fact, she’s 40 miles away from where the first Golden Bachelor [Gerry Turner] lived. So, she has no clue. But I have to get pictures from when we were kids [to show in the opening of the show]. So I told her, “So I’m going to go on The Bachelor,” and she said, “That’s great, that’s great.” Now she knows about The Bachelor, but not the whole intricacies.
Let’s talk about the rumors that you were being replaced. Did you know about that?
My friend who I went to school with told me. She was my conduit to that world.
Did you think the rumors were true when your friend told you? Did you think it could happen?
No. When people said to me, “Hey, are you getting replaced?” I go, “Not that I know of.” And I wasn’t, again, actively searching frenetically, like, Oh, my gosh, what’s going on?
Would you have been upset if you had lost out on this opportunity because of the comments?
Yeah, looking back on it and looking forward, it’s a great experience. It’s such a great experience for me, so, yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted to be recast. But I’m going to earn it back.
How are you going to earn it back?
Just by being myself and being fair and apologetic and honest.
How have you changed as a person just in the last few weeks now that filming has started?
I think once I reemerge…because right now, I’m in it. I was telling one of the producers, “I just can’t wait to tell my friends what impact this had on me. I know it’s going to be huge.” In what ways? I don’t know yet. I just know from my experience because I’ve done some interesting things, and I know those impact me, and this is going to impact me in a huge way.
Has your idea of what you thought you wanted your future partner to look like changed?
Because the age…I’m 66, so when I see my name and I see my age next to it, I’m like, “That looks strange.” Because it belies who I actually am. The spirit has no age. It’s true. And also, you can change. That’s the key. It is not too late to change.
What would you say to viewers who’ve said they won’t watch your season? I’ve spent a lot of time reading comments, and the consensus is a lot of people don’t want to watch a show where the lead doesn’t appreciate women over a certain age or are afraid that you’re not being genuine throughout the process.
Well, if you don’t tune in, you’ll never know. So, you’ve got to tune in. And again, I’m trying to earn it back. Watch the show and see if I earn it back. Because I apologized [night one]. You have to be earnest in your work to get the trust back. Everybody there is smart, and they can see through you if you’re lying or you don’t mean what you say. That’s why I say tune in. Hopefully the show will show that the women that are in their golden years, that are doing these amazing things. It’s inspirational.
Very much so. Women are amazing. So are you hopeful that you found your life partner already from this? Do you think your person could be in this group?
Yeah, could be. 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. 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. I didn’t think it would hurt. It hurts.
But it’s been such a great experience. It’s life altering for me. I had dinner with Jesse Palmer before the filming began. I go, “Hey, would you do it over again?” And he goes, “20 out of 20.” If someone were to ask me, I’d go, “20 out of 20.” It’s that good. And I’ve learned a lot.
Good. Because in addition to finding love, it’s about hopefully becoming a better, more well-rounded, open-minded person.
Oh, for sure. For sure. I welcome it. I’m trying to earn back the trust, and the women got me good on the roast. Some were so harsh, they went, “Hey, are you okay?” And I said, “No, I’m good. I’m good. I deserved it.” It was funny too. And very creative.
I do think people love to give second chances and to be open-minded, but you have to own it first.
Those [views and comments] were a mistake by me. It’s unfair. It’s insensitive, like I said. And I want to earn it back. I have to earn it back every single moment that I’m on the show.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The post The Golden Bachelor’s Mel Owens Knows Bachelor Nation Is Angry: ‘I Deserved It’ appeared first on Glamour.
