The Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens has opened up about his "unreal" experience on Season 2 of the ABC reality dating series.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
When recalling the start of filming, Mel told Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt during the Tuesday, September 23 episode of their "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that he felt so much anticipation.
"I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was going to be a first-rate, great-run production... and I knew there were going to be beautiful women and sophisticated women," Mel explained.
He added, "I didn't think anything [going in] other than, 'This is going to be a great experience.'"
On Night 1 of The Golden Bachelor, Mel said he felt "excitement" but also a lot of nerves.
"But it was a wonderful feeling. It really was. Because, there was a lot leading up to it," Mel said, pointing out how production was "flawless" and ran like a well-oiled machine.
"It was good nerves. I played football and I'm an attorney, and so before cases and before games, if you're not nervous, then you're not serious. You're not excited. And it can't be manufactured, so nerves are real. But they're good nerves."
Mel went on to share how he really enjoyed the limo entrances and meeting his cast of senior ladies for the first time.
"It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had in my entire life, those three or four hours," Mel gushed.
"It takes a while to get all [of the women] out for their introductions, and it's just something that, to experience, it was unreal! It really is."
Mel concluded that The Golden Bachelor "was a really good experience" overall and he feels "very good" about his life now that filming has wrapped.
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RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
ABC announced Mel's cast of 23 The Golden Bachelor bachelorettes in early September.
The 23 women range in age from 58 to 77 and include a former model, a full-time mom, a retired biomedical engineer, a librarian, a retired firefighter, a yoga instructor, and a cosmetic dentist.
Mel said on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that he was looking for an energetic and adventurous woman who is a lifetime learner.
Earlier this summer, fans speculated Mel -- who was announced as The Golden Bachelor's Season 2 star in April -- was going to be replaced as Season 2's lead after he had made controversial comments about wanting his cast of women to be between the ages of 45 and 60.
"I said [to an executive producer], 'You know, if they're 60 or over, I'm cutting them,'" Mel said during a June appearance on the "MGoBlue" podcast with Jon Jansen.
Many The Bachelor franchise viewers then expressed outrage about Mel's "ageist" and "superficial" remarks on social media.
However, ABC still decided to stick with Mel, who was previously married to a woman 20 years younger and has two children with her, and The Golden Bachelor season began filming in California in July.
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"Those [comments] were a mistake by me. It's unfair. It's insensitive," he told Glamour magazine.
"And I want to earn it back. I have to earn it back every single moment that I'm on the show... The spirit has no age. It's true. And also, you can change. That's the key. It is not too late to change."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
