The upcoming Golden Bachelor, Mel Owens, is in hot water after revealing his mandatory age range for the female contestants.
The 66-year-old appeared on the In the Trenches podcast earlier this month and said that he would be eliminating any women who are over the age of 60.
“If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them,” he said, while adding that he specifically told the producers of the ABC reality dating show he only wanted women who were between the ages of 45 to 60. “Just being honest,” he added.
“This is not The Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor,” Owens continued. “They’ve got to be fit, because I stay in shape and work out and stuff. And I told [producers] to try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs.”
Fans were quick to turn to X following the podcast, highlighting the “shallowness” of Owens’s comments, with some even asking for a new lead to be cast.
“I hate it when people say, ‘I’m just being honest’ to explain away they’re really just being an asshole, as if saying ‘I’m just being honest’ erases that fact,” one person wrote on X. “Why would ANY woman date such a shallow heel?”
“@BachelorABC should recast Mel Owens immediately,” another X post read. “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+.”
A third noted that the former NFL player’s comments didn’t exactly align with the intention of the show. “That kinda negates the ‘golden’ part,” they wrote. “Sounds more like middle-aged bachelor.”
The Golden Bachelor, a spinoff of ABC’s hit Bachelor series, first premiered in 2023 to great success. Season one averaged 10.4 million viewers after the first 35 days across platforms, making it the strongest average for any ABC unscripted series since The Bachelor’s 2019 and 2020 seasons, according to the network.
Owens was announced as the lead of The Golden Bachelor back in April, taking over from the show’s inaugural lead, Gerry Turner.
After retiring from a professional football career, Owens met his first love, and together they welcomed two sons. After years of marriage, they got divorced in 2020, and he has since focused on raising his sons and coaching their extracurricular sports teams.
“Now, after several years as a devoted dad, Owens is ready to rediscover a love rooted in the simple joys of companionship — sharing life’s everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple,” reads his official bio.
“As the Golden Bachelor, he’s eager to meet someone who shares this vision and finally find that perfect teammate he’s been waiting for in his golden years.”
Season two of The Golden Bachelor will premiere this fall, though an exact date has not yet been announced.