The Golden Bachelor alum Cindy Angelcyk Cullers has gotten candid about whether her children liked Mel Owens after meeting him on the show.
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When asked what her daughters thought of Mel during a recent appearance on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, Cindy seemed a bit reluctant to respond and asked, "I'm curious why you want to know the answer to that question right now."
The podcast's co-host Joe Amabile clarified, "Because you speak so highly of Mel and I'm just curious if your daughters felt the same way about him."
Cindy jumped in and replied, "They did not. They did not. Interestingly enough..."
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Joe interjected.
"Now we're getting somewhere," Cindy agreed with a laugh. "Wow, I'm going to have to defend [Mel] after this."
Cindy went on to explain to Joe and co-host Serena Pitt how her daughters and their partners are all "protective of" her.
"We've been through several relationships, so they are no longer shocked to see me with a man. They are no longer SO overprotective, you know, just because they don't want to see me hurt. They really do want to see me fall in love and be in love," explained the 60-year-old retired biomedical engineer.
"[They] understand that being hurt is sometimes going to happen in relationships, and it was a very short time period, so they got to all meet Mel and chat with him. On the show, you saw Sarah and I having a conversation and she felt like, maybe, Mel wasn't quite there yet."
Cindy said Sarah was the only person she got to talk to after everyone had a chance to speak with Mel.
"The others, when they hugged me on the way out, the girls were hugging me and [saying], 'Mom, we believe in you! But use your discernment.' Discernment. All three of them said the same thing to me!" Cindy revealed.
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"And I thought, 'Wow, this is crazy. Where is that word coming from?' In our family, judgement is right and wrong. Discernment, there is no value statement to it. It's what is right for you."
Cindy added, "I couldn't understand maybe what they heard or what they saw with Mel."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Cindy actually recalled asking Mel about the hometown visit later on.
"I asked him several times, 'How did it go with my kids?' And I'm thinking, 'What really happened?!' Because I could get disturbance in the Force, so to speak, that there was something up," Cindy explained.
During Cindy's hometown date, Mel was shown telling Sarah, "I like your mom a lot, but I don't know what's going to unfold in the next few weeks or months or whatever. I just want to let it come naturally."
Sarah could tell that Mel was either unsure about Cindy or being intentionally tight-lipped about his feelings.
"I don't think he really gave a lot of straight answers," Sarah complained in a confessional on the show.
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Sarah subsequently talked to Cindy, who said she felt "grounded and at peace" with Mel.
"Does he love you so much that he's going to choose you and you only forever?" Sarah asked her mom, who couldn't answer the question with confidence.
Cindy ultimately quit Mel's season of The Golden Bachelor before the overnight portion of their Fantasy Suite date in Antigua because they weren't on the same page about the future.
At the time, Mel couldn't wrap his head around the idea of proposing marriage to his The Golden Bachelor winner. He also told Cindy that he'd probably wait two years before getting engaged to his final pick.
"When I came out of the show and I had a chance to get my phone back and obviously call my kids, they were like, 'Phew!' They were relieved! Because they were worried for me," Cindy revealed.
"They didn't think that he was the right fit for me. It was unanimous."
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Had Cindy won Mel's heart and vice versa in the end, however, Cindy's kids were apparently willing to give Mel another chance.
"They were like, 'We would've given him more time. We could tell that he wasn't as forthcoming as they would've liked to have seen at that stage."
Cindy pointed out how Mel may have been less guarded had he competed on a season of The Golden Bachelorette before becoming the franchise's leading man.
"Maybe if he had been on the show and known how important that time was, he would've experienced hometowns differently and my kids would've experienced a different Mel," Cindy said.
"I know that they would love him if you gave them more time. The Mel that I've known, my kids would be thrilled with, but they just didn't see it in that period of time."
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Cindy explained to The Golden Bachelor star how she had joined the show as a leap of faith and was expecting a commitment at the Final Rose Ceremony.
"You know the saying, 'First comes love, then comes marriage'... That's how it works," Mel told Cindy prior to her exit.
Because Mel couldn't make Cindy any promises -- which she thought she deserved, at a minimum -- she concluded that Mel wasn't her match.
After Cindy left the show, Mel continued his journey with his other finalist, Peg Munson.
Mel insisted to the cameras that he was choosing to progress with Peg and she was not there "by default."
Mel clarified in a confessional that he "never felt this way" about a woman before and Peg was very "special" to him.
At the Final Rose Ceremony of Mel's The Golden Bachelor season, Mel gave Peg a promise ring and said he wanted her in his future, but he didn't say he was "in love" with her until they went public with their relationship on After the Final Rose.
Mel faced criticism for having walls up all season long, and according to a production insider, Peg and Mel are already clashing and having problems in the real world.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
