SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains mild spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of ABC\u2019s \u201cThe Golden Bachelor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d star Mel Owens came face-to-face with the women vying for his heart during Wednesday night\u2019s Season 2 premiere. While many of the contestants used their brief one-on-one time to share personal stories, several also took the opportunity to confront the former NFL player-turned-lawyer about controversial age comments he made during a podcast appearance.<\/p>\n
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Back in June<\/a>, Owens said on the \u201cIn the Trenches\u201d podcast that he would \u201ccut\u201d any contestant over the age of 60 in the latest season of \u201cThe Golden Bachelor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s blind up until they get out of the limo. But they asked me, \u2018What\u2019s your preferences?\u2019 So, I just said 45 to 60, just being honest,\u201d Owens said. \u201cAnd then the process went, and I was selected, right? And then we had lunch with the executive producer. I said, \u2018You know, if they\u2019re 60 or over, I\u2019m cutting them.\u2019 \u2018Oh Mel, you can\u2019t, you know, this is not the \u2018Silver Bachelor.\u2019 It\u2019s the \u2018Golden Bachelor.\u2019 He goes, \u2018but they\u2019re going to be hot, don\u2019t worry about it. Don\u2019t worry about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Owens also expressed that he expects all the contestants to be in good shape, saying on the podcast: \u201cI had no resume, but they asked me, what is my, like, my profile? Well, they got to be fit because I stay in shape, should work out and stuff. And I told them, you know, try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs, you know, that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d Season 2 premiere opened with Owens addressing the controversy surrounding the remarks he made on the \u201cIn the Trenches\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to meet the women, but I\u2019m nervous the women are gonna have misconceptions about me,\u201d Owens said before talking about the podcast itself. \u201cThey ask me, like, \u2018What\u2019s your preferences?\u2019 So I just said, \u201945 to 60.\u2019 I told \u2019em, you know, try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI messed up. I was wrong. I replay it in my head a lot. I have regrets, and I\u2019m sorry for all the things I\u2019ve said on the podcast. I know what a lot of people are thinking about me, but that\u2019s not who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, during the one-on-one introductions, Diane, a 71-year-old librarian who plays women\u2019s hockey, said to Owens, \u201cAnd you know what, Mel? I gotta ask you. What the puck was that interview about on that podcast?\u201d<\/p>\n Owens apologized to Diane, saying, \u201cIt was unfair, unkind. Will you give me a second chance and let me earn it back?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStick with me,\u201d Diane replied with a smile, \u201cI\u2019ll keep you out of the penalty box.\u201d<\/p>\n Another contestant, 71-year-old cosmetic dentist Terri, introduced Owens to her \u201cfavorite dental assistant\u201d: a hand puppet named Carly.<\/p>\n \u201cHi, Mel. I bet you weren\u2019t expecting all these women over 60 to look so hot, right?\u201d said Carly, the puppet. Terri then playfully slapped Owens with the puppet\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been hit by a puppet before,\u201d Owens shared in a confessional. \u201cSo that was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Two other contestants \u2014 62-year-old former model Carla and 67-year-old luxury yacht salesperson Alexandra \u2014 also directly challenged Owens\u2019 previous comments about women over the age of 60.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here to break all of your stereotypes about women over 60,\u201d Carla told the Golden Bachelor.<\/p>\n After meeting all the contestants, Owens spoke in front of the group of women and reiterated his regrets about the age comments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s truly a privilege for me to be the Golden Bachelor,\u201d Owens said. \u201cAnd I hope you can forgive me and let me earn it back.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cAge is just really a number. And spirit has no age.\u201d<\/p>\n New episodes of \u201cThe Golden Bachelor\u201d Season 2 will air on Mondays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET, and stream on Hulu the following day.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This article contains mild spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of ABC\u2019s \u201cThe Golden Bachelor.\u201d \u201cGolden Bachelor\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,29226,27726,2190,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-180305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-golden-bachelor","10":"tag-mel-owens","11":"tag-podcast","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}