NEED TO KNOW
- Golden Bachelor stars Mel Owens and Peg Munson spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about their journey on the ABC reality series
- Mel reflected on his last conversation with runner-up Cindy Cullers and how their breakup unfolded
- “She had the right to do what she did,” Mel told PEOPLE of Cindy’s decision to self-eliminate
Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens is getting candid about his and Cindy Cullers’ breakup.
The former NFL player, 66, and Peg Munson, the woman he ended the show with, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about their experience and relationship.
During the finale, Cindy, the season’s runner-up, chose to self-eliminate before the fantasy suites episode. She made her decision after Mel said he was still unsure whether he would consider engagement at the end of the season.
She said during the episode that she wanted something different from her husband: “I kind of want my guy to feel like he got struck by lightning and can’t live without me,” she explained. “I think you’re great, but I’m not sure I want to free fall for that long.”
However, Mel tells PEOPLE that their breakup was “a little confrontational.”
“[Cindy] was telling me what I was thinking, and what I did. But she had the right to do what she did,” he says. “She thought that I wasn’t opening up, or wasn’t committed.”
“I’m committed, just not to her,” Mel says, before adding, “My feelings were stronger for Peg, much stronger.”
He adds that “she wanted to be married off the island, and professing her love, death do us part, and off the island with a ring, and then it wasn’t.”
“She, basically, quit on the relationship, because one thing,” he says.
The NFL star notes that as a former pro athlete, he will “never quit,” and that the experience offered an opportunity to learn and grow with each other. “That’s how you learn, going through the process. I don’t care if you’re six years old or 60 years old. You learn that way,” he says.
“She didn’t want to do it, and she ejected,” he says, before concluding, “She’s back to square one, and I got my girl.”
As for next steps in Mel and Peg’s relationship, he tells PEOPLE, “We’re going to just do what we do and have fun, and then it’s going to grow from there. Nothing planning about the future of our love story. It’s going to happen naturally.”
Peg adds, “[It’s] just like when you date somebody. Right? That’s what happens. You just date somebody and then it progresses onto either a proposal or a marriage, or whatever it grows into.”
After the finale aired, the couple appeared on the “After the Final Rose” special and shared that they’re looking forward to getting the chance to share their relationship with the public.
“I saw our love grow all the way through, and it’s special when it’s the right person,” Mel said. “We’ve spent some time together and we had moments together. We had some time and one thing that I love about her is the energy and the get up and go [attitude].”
