The Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens has revealed how he was cast as the Season 2 lead.

ADVERTISEMENT

ABC had announced in April that Mel will be handing out roses when The Golden Bachelor returns with a new season.

"I didn't sign up for it," Mel, 66, said during a recent appearance on the "MGoBlue" podcast with Jon Jansen.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Mel explained how a close friend -- who is also a big "fan" -- sent him a text message and also hounded him in-person multiple times about calling someone.

"He said, 'Did you call the person?' I said, 'No, I didn't call the person.' And he said, 'Call!' And I said, 'I didn't call,'" Mel recalled.

Mel said this friend followed up a couple of days later and asked once again, "Did you call the person?"

Mel admitted he had forgotten to pick up the phone, which prompted the friend to flat out beg, "Call right now. It's for my daughter."

Once Mel finally made the phone call, it was apparently The Golden Bachelor casting on the other end.

Mel said the conversation lasted for about an hour while he was walking with weights in his hands for exercise.

"They said, 'If we call you back in a couple days, you're going to be moving up.' So they called back, I moved up, called back, moved up, called back, moved up," Mel shared.

Mel said he then progressed to a "grittier" part of the casting process, when he dealt with The Golden Bachelor producers directly.

"One of the producers said, 'Tell me something that we don't know that we're not going to find out until later.' I said, 'Well, I don't know. It's been a lot of years.' But I go, 'I don't think there's anything in my past that would be a shock,'" Mel said.

"One of the producers, the executive producer, goes, 'I know something about you.' I'm like, 'Like what?' He goes, 'You went to Michigan.' I go, 'Yeah,' and he goes, 'Go blue.'"

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)  

The men apparently bonded over being "Michigan men," aka alums of the University of Michigan.

Mel said his two sons also had to make a video of why their dad would make a great lead of The Golden Bachelor.

"They made a video and we passed the test for the dad video," Mel said. "So we kept working up the chain, and then I had to meet with the head of ABC and Warner Bros... So I'm still not the guy."

The Michigan producer then asked Mel if he could visit to touch base with the boys and potentially start filming.

"He said, 'And then I'll go with you back up to L.A. for the meeting,'" Mel revealed.

"I said, 'Okay.' So he came down and met my boys. And then we heard a knock on the door... I open the door and it's Jesse Palmer, who is the host of the show and a former football player. He said, 'Hey Mel! I was in the neighborhood and I just thought I'd stop in and say hi.'"

Mel said he welcomed Jesse into his home.

"And that's when they announced to me that I'm the Golden Bachelor, and my boys were there. So it was fun!" Mel gushed. "It was a surprise, and it was a good deal."

Mel said all the people at ABC have been "wonderful" to him and his friends are super supportive of The Golden Bachelor opportunity.

"All of my friends, especially my former Michigan teammates, I called them up and I go, 'What do you think? Should I do it?' And everyone said, 'Yeah, man! Do it, do it, do it!'" Mel revealed with a laugh.

And Mel said he just had a reunion with about 20 Michigan guys, who are all excited about how journey to find love.

Jesse provided some insight into why ABC had selected Mel for the leading role in late April.

"Mel is obviously super handsome. He's very charming, he's very intelligent, he's very successful," Jesse boasted of the lawyer and former NFL football player in an interview with Us Weekly.

"He had this incredible pro football career and transitioned into becoming a successful warrior."

Jesse added, "I think while he's had a lot of success professionally, there have been some hills and valleys in his personal life."

Mel, who was born and raised in Detroit, MI, graduated from the University of Michigan and was drafted by the LA Rams in 1981. He went on to play nine seasons of professional football before retiring from the NFL and transitioning into a law career.

Mel, who now lives Orange County, CA, was married for 25 years to his "first love," with whom he shares the two kids, before they divorced.

ABC shared that when Mel got divorced and had to grieve the death of his father, he channeled his energy into being a "devoted" father and coaching their extracurricular sports teams.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)

Jesse said that when he visited Mel, he could see Mel's "unique and special bond" with his boys.

"I think he's in this unique time now where he can finally focus a little bit more on it himself. His kids are getting ready to go off to college, and I think he really wants to find a special person," Jesse shared.

Jesse said he believes that Mel is looking for genuine and lasting love, but not necessarily a fairy-tale story.

"I don't think he's necessarily looking for anything heavily extravagant," Jesse noted.

"When you talk with him, what he misses most about being married and being in a relationship, it's just having and enjoying those simple everyday moments."

The Bachelor host insisted Mel is "just looking for companionship" in its purest state and it's "really moving" to hear Mel talk about the future.

"So I think he's going to be a great lead. I think he's a great choice to be our next Golden Bachelor."

Mel will be following in the footsteps of Season 1 The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner.

Gerry had proposed marriage to his The Golden Bachelor winner, Theresa Nist, on the show's Season 1 finale in late 2023.

Gerry and Theresa, proudly showing off their love, rushed to the altar and got married in January 2024 for a televised wedding special on ABC.

Three months later, however, Gerry announced his split from Theresa and claimed distance was the problem.

Gerry filed for divorce from Theresa in April 2024, and then the pair's divorce was finalized in June 2024.

Since then, Theresa has said there's more to her breakup with Gerry than just the miles between them, and Gerry has claimed his early 2024 diagnosis with an incurable cancer had major influence over the pair's decision to part ways.

But Joan, the first star of The Golden Bachelorette, did, in fact, find her happily ever after.

Joan picked Chock Chapple as her The Golden Bachelorette winner on the show's finale in November 2024, and the pair is still happily engaged and making a long-distance relationship work.

RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)

Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS