{"id":134331,"date":"2025-11-15T07:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T07:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/134331\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T07:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T07:25:08","slug":"how-will-golden-bachelor-couple-defy-the-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/134331\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will ‘Golden Bachelor’ Couple Defy the Odds?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFinding love on reality TV isn\u2019t easy \u2014 and neither is sustaining a long-term relationship once the cameras stop rolling. After wrapping the second season of ABC\u2019s The Golden Bachelor<\/a>, star Mel Owens and his winner, Peg Munson, say they aren\u2019t looking to the couples before them for a roadmap.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know about the others who came before us. I\u2019m not worried about them. I\u2019m worried about us,\u201d Owens told The Hollywood Reporter one day after revealing the ending to his season during the live After the Final Rose finale special \u2014 that he picked Peg and that they remain together, though not engaged.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first Golden Bachelor in the reality dating franchise, Gerry Turner, was in Owens\u2019 live finale audience \u2014 but he was there with the fianc\u00e9e he met after the show; his estranged ex, Theresa Nist, was also in attendance, though she noticeably kept her distance following back-and-forth allegations exchanged in the press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a tough way to progress after the show, because I\u2019ve only known her [Peg] for a few weeks before the show stopped filming. Now I\u2019m getting to know her, and this is the first time we\u2019re really together for a sustained time and out,\u201d Owens explains. He and Munson finished filming their season three months prior and have been carrying out their relationship in hiding ever since. \u201cWhen you\u2019re sequestered in your home and you can\u2019t leave, it\u2019s tough to be real. You get to know each other better, but it\u2019s tough,\u201d he admits. \u201cOur understanding 1763191507 is going to be to be together and grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore Owens even made his debut on ABC<\/a>\u2018s senior-aged spinoff series of\u00a0The Bachelor<\/a>, the 66-year-old former NFL-player-turned-lawyer\u00a0had to atone for some\u00a0off-putting comments<\/a>\u00a0he made on a podcast shortly before filming began. The first night of his season featured his group of 60-and-over female contestants taking him to task for saying on that podcast that if the women are \u201c60 or over, I\u2019m cutting them.\u201d He had said, \u201cThis is not\u00a0The Silver Bachelor, this is\u00a0The Golden Bachelor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut he apologized. The women forgave him, and then several of them fell for Owens, including runner-up Cindy Cullers, who self-eliminated before her Fantasy Suite overnight date because Owens said he wasn\u2019t ready to propose by the end of the show.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy whole thing [on the show] was that it has to happen naturally. It\u2019s gonna take some time. I\u2019m not gonna force anything, because I don\u2019t have to force anything,\u201d he says, standing by his stance that his goal at the end of the Golden Bachelor wasn\u2019t a proposal. \u201cPeg was on the same page all along. When we were in the Fantasy Suite, we spoke about it, and I went, \u2018Wow, she\u2019s on the same page.\u2019 We\u2019re going to write our own story when we want and whenever we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMunson jumps in, adding to THR, \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for a quick fix. We\u2019re not looking for a quick marriage. We\u2019re not looking for the quick proposal. As I said throughout the entire show, I\u2019m not looking for the fireworks \u2014 they fizzle out. I\u2019m looking for the fireplace. You refuel that fireplace and you get a beautiful, slow burn for the rest of our lives, and that\u2019s what we want. We want that mature, sustainable relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMel Owens with his winner, Peg, during the Golden Bachelor live finale as host Jesse Palmer looks on.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney\/John Fleenor<\/p>\n

\n\tInstead of promising forever, Owens gave Munson a promise ring. What that gesture means now to Munson, a 62-year-old retired firefighter and bomb tech from Las Vegas, is that they get to \u201ccontinue to write our own love story.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBeing in our 60s, it\u2019s nice that we get the prerogative to do that,\u201d she says. \u201cAs you grow older, you realize that\u2019s something we\u2019ve earned the right to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTurning back to Cullers, Owens says \u201cshe had her own idea about what she wanted out of the show, and she wanted to be married off the island. She said it numerous times: \u2018Til death do us part. I\u2019m gonna be hand in hand, ring on my finger.\u2019 She wanted to be married. That was her endgame. That wasn\u2019t my endgame. My endgame is to find somebody and to understand them and have a life with them and grow slowly, like Peg said. Cindy wanted to be married. And I wasn\u2019t going to tell her something that I didn\u2019t hold true in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMunson insists that the Owens she knows is \u201cnot afraid of commitment. He loves marriage. He loves commitment,\u201d she says. \u201cHe just wasn\u2019t ready to commit to her at that moment. We both want something sustainable. We want something long term, therefore, let\u2019s take it slow. I know I felt love for him. He felt love for me. We get to write our own love story at this age, and that\u2019s the cool part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNext up<\/a> in the Bachelor franchise will be The Bachelorette<\/a>\u00a0(not the network\u2019s usual winter staple,\u00a0The Bachelor) for season 22 with\u00a0Secret Lives of Mormon Wives<\/a>\u00a0star\u00a0Taylor Frankie Paul<\/a>\u00a0in the title role, premiering March 22. The Golden Bachelor franchise has yet to be officially renewed, but both Owens and Munson put forth Debbie Siebers as their pick to be the next Golden Bachelorette<\/a> (\u201cIf I was casting, that\u2019s my No. 1 choice,\u201d says Owens of his ex-contestant), while Munson has advice for the producers for a third season of The Golden Bachelor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLet things happen more naturally instead of pushing it,\u201d she says of the reality dating process, which filmed for six weeks. \u201cIf there\u2019s a connection, there\u2019s going to be a connection. You can\u2019t force things. I think there would be a lot more success stories if there was just a little more room to breathe. I know the more I was pushed, the more defenses I had up. I was having feelings for him, and my heart was opening up to him, but sometimes I felt pushed, and I\u2019m like, \u2018You guys, just give me a minute here. Let me breathe. Let me process this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe continues, \u201cBecause you\u2019re dealing with something very fragile, and that\u2019s people\u2019s hearts. Nobody wants to get their heart broken. At this age, a lot of us have had our hearts broken not once but twice or maybe three times. Let\u2019s back up and give us time. I think they would get a lot more authenticity and connection if they did that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finding love on reality TV isn\u2019t easy \u2014 and neither is sustaining a long-term relationship once the cameras…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[10046,146,29817,83760,85,46,39033,10044,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-134331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-abc","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-golden-bachelor","11":"tag-golden-bachelorette","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-the-bachelor","15":"tag-the-bachelorette","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}