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The Golden Bachelor's New Star Says He'll Cut Any Women Over Age 60 (He's 66, By the Way)
The Golden Bachelor celebrates finding love in your golden years — but the new star isn't interested in dating anyone his own age.
Mel Owens, the leading man of the upcoming season of ABC's senior dating show, warned an executive producer about the women on his season, 'If they're 60 or over, I'm cutting them,' he tells the sports podcast In the Trenches. He adds that during the casting process, he told producers he preferred women aged '45 to 60… just being honest.' (Owens, for the record, is 66 years old.)
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'This is not The Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor,' Owens declares, while noting that when he's looking for a woman to date, 'they've got to be fit, because I stay in shape and work out and stuff. And I told [the producers] to try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs.' (TVLine has reached out to ABC for comment.)
The Golden Bachelor, which debuted in the fall of 2023, is a spinoff of ABC's Bachelor franchise that typically features singles age 60 and over. (The women competing on Owens' season have not been announced yet.) Season 1 saw star Gerry Turner propose to Theresa Nist, but the two split up after just three months of marriage.
Owens was a star linebacker at the University of Michigan and was drafted ninth overall in the first round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams. He played nine seasons for the Rams and then switched gears after retirement, passing the bar and becoming a lawyer based in Orange County, California. Owens got married and had two sons, but he and his wife later divorced.
Season 2 of The Golden Bachelor, starring Owens, airs Wednesdays at 9/8c this fall on ABC; a premiere date has not yet been set.
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