The Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens has revealed if he'd be willing to move for his partner.
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Mel, a 66-year-old attorney and former NFL player from Orange County, CA, will star on Season 2 of The Golden Bachelor, which premieres Wednesday, September 24 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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Mel is still working in California and has a supportive group of friends, so many fans have been wondering if Mel would be willing to pack his bags and relocate for his The Golden Bachelor winner.
"Anything is possible," Mel said of potentially moving during the September 23 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast co-hosted by Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
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"It just depends on the circumstance and where I live and where she lives. But you never know."
Mel revealed that he had a nice chat with Chock Chapple, who is still engaged to The Golden Bachelorette star Joan Vassos.
Joan from Maryland and Chock from Kansas have been making a long-distance relationship work since The Golden Bachelorette finale aired in late 2024.
"They live apart and they travel. So if you want it to happen, it can happen," Mel explained.
However, Mel's 46-year-old ex-wife, Fabiana Owens, apparently doesn't think Mel will take his The Golden Bachelor opportunity seriously.
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Fabiana claimed in early July that Mel's The Golden Bachelor season is going to be a disappointment.
"Good luck," Fabiana told the Daily Mail, warning Mel's cast of bachelorettes.
"I mean, it's going to be bad," she insisted. "But anyway, I don't want to be involved in this."
When Joe and Serena asked Mel if he knew how Fabiana felt about his stint on The Golden Bachelor's second season, he simply replied, "Not really."
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According to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Mel and Fabiana tied the knot in 2002 and were married for 17 years before Fabiana filed for divorce in February 2020, citing irreconcilable differences.
The former couple welcomed two sons together: Lucas, 19, and Andre, 18.
Following a four-year court battle, Mel and Fabiana finalized their divorce in December 2024.
When Mel was announced as The Golden Bachelor's Season 2 star back in April, ABC said Fabiana was Mel's "first love" in life.
ABC shared that when Mel got divorced and grieved the death of his father, he channeled his energy into being the best father he could be and coaching his kids' extracurricular sports teams.
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The Golden Bachelor host Jesse Palmer told Us Weekly in April how Mel was looking for genuine and lasting companionship "in its purest state" and Mel was "going to be a great lead."
But Mel sparked backlash when he said in June that he wanted his cast of senior 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 an appearance on the "MGoBlue" podcast with Jon Jansen.
Bachelor Nation expressed outrage and disgust over Mel's "ageist" and "superficial" remarks on social media, and there was a brief period of time when fans thought ABC was going to replace him as the show's Season 2 lead.
But ABC chose to stick with Mel, and production commenced in July.
At the time, Mel did a media interview in which he attempted to do damage control for his earlier comments.
"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."
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ABC then 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.
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