The Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens had some specific parameters for the women cast in season 2.
“They ask me, ‘What’s your preference?’ So I just said [ages] 45 to 60, just being honest,” Mel, 66, said during his appearance on the June 4 episode of the “MGoBlue” podcast with Jon Jansen. “And then we had lunch with the executive producer. I said, ‘You know, if they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them.’”
Mel said the executive producer told him, “‘Mel, you can’t. This is not The Silver Bachelor. This is The Golden Bachelor.’ He goes, ‘But they’re going to be hot. Don’t worry about it.’”
The former football pro continued, “He goes, ‘You can’t use the word cut.’ I go, ‘Well, that’s an NFL term.’”
Jesse Palmer Shares Insight Into Why Mel Owens Was Named the Next Golden Bachelor
Us Weekly reached out to ABC for comment.
Mel added that he knows the women in his season, who have not yet been announced publicly, are “going to be beautiful,” but he “had no say” in picking them.
“They asked me, ‘What is my profile?’ Well, [the women] got to be fit, because I’m staying in shape and work out and stuff. And I told them, ‘Try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs, you know, that kind of stuff, right?’”
Additionally, Mel said he’s looking for someone who is a “lifetime learner” and loves to “work out, stay fit, eat, have fun, be energetic and live life.”
Elsewhere in the podcast episode, Mel shared the story of how he was cast on The Golden Bachelor. He explained that a friend was persistent about him calling a phone number that turned out to be the casting department for the show.
After talking to someone in the casting department for “an hour,” Mel received another phone call a few days later and found out that he had been moved up in the casting process. Eventually, he was able to meet an executive producer, who turned out to be a fellow alum of the University of Michigan.
Mel revealed that, after a few more weeks of meetings, Golden Bachelor host Jesse Palmer arrived at his door to meet his family and deliver the news that he would be the next star of the show.
Mel also revealed that, during the interview process, one person asked him why he wanted to join The Golden Bachelor.
“He goes, ‘You look like Robert Redford, first round draft pick. You’re an attorney.’ He goes, ‘You don’t need any of the fame,’” Mel explained. “I go, ‘I like to try new things. I like to be in the unknown.’ And I go, ‘You guys have been so wonderful to me. This is something I really want to do.’ And it’s tough, it’s tedious, and it’s remarkable. And it’s something that is the unknown. And I’ve always been a guy who’s been sort of out there, not on the edge, but trying new things.”
