New ‘Golden Bachelor' Mel Owens, 66, faces backlash after saying he'll cut women over 60: ‘Just being honest'

New York Post

17 hours ago

Golden drama.
The new star of 'The Golden Bachelor' Season 2, Mel Owens, 66, is facing backlash for saying he refuses to date women over age 60.
The former Los Angeles Rams NFL star, who is now a lawyer, recently said on the 'MGoBlue Podcasts with Jon Jansen' that he told producers his preferred age range is '45 to 60, just being honest.'
He added that he relayed the message to producers, 'If they're 60 or over, I'm cutting them. This is not 'The Silver Bachelor,' this is 'The Golden Bachelor.''
5 Mel Owens.
Disney
According to Owens, the producer told him, ''You can't use the word cut.' I go, 'Well, that's an NFL term.''
Owens, who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1981 to '89, also said that he requested that the women had 'to be fit, because I'm staying in shape and work out and stuff. And I told them [to] try and stay away from artificial hips and the wigs.'
Owens was married to Fabiana Owens from 2002 until she filed for divorce in 2020. Together with his ex-wife, Owens has two sons, Lucas, 20, and Andre, 18.
'The Golden Bachelor' is a spinoff of 'The Bachelor' franchise following older people in their 'golden years' looking for love.
His comments faced swift backlash.
'He doesn't seem like the type for 'in sickness and in health'' one fan said on X, formerly Twitter, while another slammed him, 'Awful. I won't watch with a jerk in the lead.'
Another person remarked, 'Sounds like a real winner. Shocking ABC doesn't care that they're going to make women fight over a shallow sexist jerk.'
5 Women in their 'golden years' on 'The Golden Bachelor' Season 1.
ABC
Another comment read, 'doesn't sound like much of a mystery as to why he's still a bachelor. Anyone who chooses to go on that show deserves whatever disaster they get,' while someone else sarcastically said, 'He's single? Shocking. Very shocking.'
The Post reached out to reps from ABC and 'The Golden Bachelor' for comment.
This is just the latest scandal for the spinoff of 'The Bachelor' franchise.
Season 1 of 'The Golden Bachelor' followed Gerry Turner, 72, as he looked for love. After he chose Theresa Nist, 71, and married her in January of 2024, the short-lived couple divorced just three months later.
5 Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner on 'The Golden Bachelor' Season 1.
ABC via Getty Images
While Turner claimed they divorced because he was diagnosed with a blood cell cancer, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, Nist denied that claim in an interview earlier this month.
'It was a zero factor, zero. Absolutely. I was just so surprised that he even said that,' Nist said on 'The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast.'
She added, 'I knew about the cancer a long time ago. And the way Gary presented it to me was that, 'The doctor said that I'm going to die of old age before this cancer gets to me.''
Turner also caused controversy during the show when a story emerged alleging that he lied about not dating after his wife's death.
5 Gerry Turner, the 'Golden Bachelor' on Season 1.
Brian Bowen Smith/ABC
That wasn't Turner's only scandal.
Shortly before the 'Golden Bachelor' finale in November, a woman, who went by the name of Carolyn, told the Hollywood Reporter that Turner flirted with her for three months after his wife passed, and he asked her to move in with him in 2018.
Their relationship, however, fizzled out in 2019 when Turner allegedly dumped her after she gained 10 pounds mere months before his high school reunion.
'I'm not taking you to the reunion looking like that,' Carolyn claims Turner told her.
Turner denied the accusations, saying that he doesn't 'have time to think about some of the other stuff.'
'I guess I haven't really looked at it as how accurate it is,' Turner told the New York Times, adding he's only given the article a 'cursory look.'
5 Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist on 'The Golden Bachelor' Season 1.
The Walt Disney Company
'I've more looked at it in terms of timing, and how it really doesn't fit with all of the positive things that are going on in my life right now.'
An official premiere date for 'The Golden Bachelor' Season 2 hasn't been announced yet, but it's expected to air in the fall.