Former NFL star Mel Owens announced as the next Golden Bachelor ahead of season two
Mel Owens has officially been named the next Golden Bachelor ahead of the second season of the hit ABC reality series.
Disney made the big announcement during Hulu's inaugural Get Real House event on Tuesday.
The 66-year-old previously played for the NFL as a linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams from 1981 through 1989.
Beforehand, the former sports star attended the University of Michigan where he played college football - and then was drafted into the NFL as the ninth pick for the Rams.
Owens was previously married and shares two sons with his ex-wife, but is now on the search for love once again, per an official press release shared by ABC.
Gerry Turner appeared in the first season of The Golden Bachelor which aired back in 2023 where he married winning contestant Theresa Nist. However, the pair finalized their divorce last year in June.
After his time playing for the NFL, Mel went on to fulfill a career in law while residing in Orange County - with a specific interest in sports-related injuries.
He also took time to raise his two children after his marriage to came to end. Around that time, Owens also lost his father.
'While life took an unexpected turn with the passing of his father and the end of his marriage, Owens channeled his energy into being the best father he could be, focusing on raising his sons and coaching their extracurricular sports teams,' the release read.
Mel is now looking for the 'simple joys of companionship - sharing life's everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple.'
The unscripted reality dating show - which is a spin-off of The Bachelor - first began airing in September 2023 with Gerry Turner named the as the Golden Bachelor.
He ended up choosing Theresa Nist and their nuptials was aired live on ABC during a special broadcast in January 2024.
However, it was announced that the pair were headed for divorce just three months later.
During an appearance on Good Morning America at the time, Gerry stated: 'Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we've looked closely at our situation, our living situation, so forth.
Mel is now looking for the 'simple joys of companionship - sharing life's everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple'
'And we've kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it's probably time for us to - dissolve our marriage.'
Turner later added, 'The thing that strikes me the most in our conversations, it's been how dedicated both of us are to our families.
'So we look at these situations and I think we just feel like it's best for the happiness of each of us to live apart.'
Theresa also said while joining the GMA interview, 'We looked at homes in South Carolina, we considered New Jersey, and we just looked at home after home, but we never got to the point where we made that decision.
'We have received so much love and support from so many people who watched The Golden Bachelor, and I don't think we can tell you how many people told us that it gave them so much hope. We want none of that to change for anybody...'
Late last year in December, it was revealed that Gerry had been diagnosed with an incurable and slow-growing bone marrow cancer before his split from Nist.
He explained to People, 'I think it's time, also because it probably will clear up a lot of mystery around what happened back in February, March and April.
'As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer.'
He added, 'Unfortunately, there's no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make. It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn't want to admit to it.'
Turner recalled that Theresa had been 'understandably awestruck' when he told her the devastating news.
The Golden Bachelor broke records after it began airing on ABC as well as the streaming site Hulu, per Deadline.
The show notably reached the strongest viewership average for an ABC unscripted series in five years.
The premiere episode also broke the record on streaming as ABC's most-watched episode of an unscripted series ever on Hulu after 35 days of viewership.
The Golden Bachelorette aired its first season last year in September 2024 and starred Joan Vassos.
She had made an appearance on The Golden Bachelor but exited the series early due to a family emergency.
Vassos later chose contestant Charles 'Chock' Chapple and the pair became engaged in Bora Bora last year when he popped the big question with an $80k ring.
It was revealed a few months earlier in February that the two are still not living together, with Joan residing in the state of Maryland and Charles in Kansas.
Along with the casting of The Golden Bachelor being revealed on Tuesday, ABC also shared that Hannah Brown will join Jesse Palmer and Wells Adam in the new season of Bachelor In Paradise - which will take place in Costa Rica.
It is still not known when The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor In Paradise will begin airing the upcoming seasons.
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