Bachelor Nation is none too pleased with Mel Owens, the Golden Bachelor for season two, after his recent remarks about potential female contestants. The former NFL player turned lawyer, 66, said he would “cut” any woman over the age of 60. “Just being honest,” Owens said during a podcast appearance on June 4.
Some fans have called for him to be replaced, and on July 2, Reality Steve reported that ABC was in the process of replacing him. However, Glamour understands that’s not the case.
Here’s everything we know about the Mel Owens Golden Bachelor controversy.
What exactly did Mel Owens say?
During a June 4 appearance on In the Trenches, a sports podcast from his alma mater, the University of Michigan, Owens said that he’d prefer to date women between the ages of 45 and 60. He also said that he would “cut” women over the age of 60. Mel Owens is 66 years old.
“It’s blind up until they get out of the limo. But [the producers] asked me, ‘What’s your preferences?’ So, I just said 45 to 60, just being honest,” Owens told host Jon Jansen.
“We had lunch with the executive producer. I said, ‘You know, if they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them,’” Owens continued. “‘Oh Mel, you can’t, you know, this is not the Silver Bachelor. It’s the Golden Bachelor.’ He goes, ‘But they’re going to be hot, don’t worry about it.’”
As for preferences besides age, Owens said, “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, right.”
“I know there’s amazing women out there,” Owens said, adding he’s looking for someone “who’s a lifetime learner, enjoys to love life and work out and stay fit and eat and have fun and be energetic and live life.”
Is there an age minimum for the Golden Bachelor?
There is no age requirement listed on the casting page for the Golden Bachelor. For the inaugural season of the show, contestants ranged in age between 60 and 75; however, the Bachelor, Gerry Turner, was 72 at the time of filming.
As Owens is about six years younger than his predecessor, it would make sense for contestants on his season to be slightly younger. If we were to make a one-to-one comparison between the seasons, we could expect the youngest contestant to be about 54 years old.
What are fans saying?
The backlash to Owens’s comments was swift, as they played exactly into the stereotypes it seems like the Golden Bachelor was attempting to thwart.
“Doesn’t seem like much of a mystery as to why he’s still a bachelor,” wrote one fan on X. Added another, “Women over 60 wouldn’t bother. Most are way past wanting more children to take care of.”
Another directed their ire directly at the Bachelor franchise, tagging them and writing, “[They] should recast Mel Owens immediately. We want Charles L for Golden Bachelor! But if that’s not possible, please at least give us someone who is actually interested in dating the cast of golden women who are 60+.”
Some defended Owens’s right to his “preferences” but then asked why he’d bother going on the Golden Bachelor—which is billed as a dating show for people in their “sunset years”—in the first place.
As a fan of the first season, I can say that one of the primary draws of the show was that the contestants seemed mature enough to understand that superficial concerns aren’t the most important part of finding a partner. Chrishell Stause put it more succinctly on her Instagram Stories: “We love the Golden Bachelor because of how wholesome it is. This type of energy will ruin it.”
Is Mel Owens still the Golden Bachelor?
Despite rumors to the contrary from Reality Steve, Glamour understands that Owens is still slated to be the Golden Bachelor for the second season of the franchise. Filming is expected to begin later this summer.
This post will be updated.
