The Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens has criticized Cindy Angelcyk Cullers for wanting to get engaged at the end of Season 2, suggesting that she needs to grow up.

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Mel opened up about The Golden Bachelor process and choosing Peg Munson as his winner during the Wednesday, January 21 episode of the "She's All Bach" podcast.

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

When asked if there was ever a point he thought he'd end up engaged on The Golden Bachelor, Mel replied, "I was skeptical, like, 'I'm not going to find anybody.' I didn't think it was going to happen, but I came in with an open mind and an open heart."

Mel said when he actually found "The One" in Peg, he thought to himself, "This girl really fits my profile... and Peg and I are on the same wavelength."

"She didn't want to get engaged and get married," he noted, "because, quite frankly, I'm not going to get married to someone who I don't know."

Mel explained how he simply doesn't "operate" that way in the real world.

"I told Cindy that. I said, 'I'm not getting married, I don't even know you!'" Mel recalled.

"I don't know what kind of car Cindy drove, I didn't know if her parents were still alive, I didn't meet any of her friends -- and I'm going to propose to you?! Come on."

The Bachelor franchise, however, has a long history of pumping out emotional and romantic marriage proposals. It's more of a shock when a season doesn't end that way.

Mel -- who said production never put pressure on him to pop the question -- shared, "Once I found my girl, I go, 'I'm going to be myself. That's the girl I want.' In my world, you can't get married after you've been with a person less than 20 hours."

He continued, "And Cindy said like, 'Oh, take a leap of faith!' It's like, 'You know a lot about me. You know about my background. I don't know anything about yours!'"

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The California-based attorney and former NFL player went on to vent, "So her leap of faith wasn't there; she wanted me to take a leap of faith on her. She said, 'For God sake, there is a ring in the logo!' What kind of nonsense is that?!"

"I mean, really?! There's a ring in the logo and so you've got to get married?" he added.

"Come on. Come on. Come on, let's just be adults. That's not going to happen -- not with me anyway."

Mel joked about how Season 1 The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner "wrote a book on how not to do" The Golden Bachelor.

"That's for real. He wrote the book and then he got married [to his winner Theresa Nist] and then three months later, they divorced. So if you need a blueprint of how NOT to do it, there it is!" Mel boasted.

"It's like, 'Guys, I'm not getting married. Come on.'"

Mel also revealed that he and Peg talked about a potential engagement off-camera during their time in the overnight Fantasy Suite in Antigua.

"Doors closed, mics off -- [we] went right into the conversation. It was a real conversation," Mel recalled.

"And we had a meeting of the minds... Plus, I was enamored with her and infatuated with her. I'm like, 'Man, I really like her, and then we're also on the same wavelength?! Perfect.'"

Before Cindy could even have her night in the Fantasy Suite with Mel, she chose to quit the competition in second place.

Cindy decided to leave the show because Mel had trouble verbalizing his feelings for her and picturing their future together.

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

Mel also told Cindy -- who seemed to be in love with Mel -- that he couldn't see himself getting engaged for two more years, and that's not what she expected or wanted to hear.

Mel therefore continued on his The Golden Bachelor journey with only Peg. Peg got to meet his two sons, and then at the Final Rose Ceremony, he gave Peg a promise ring.

Cindy joked on "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast" in December that she thought the promise ring was "a joke."

"I mean, I think [bachelorette Carol Freeman-Branstine] said it best -- that she got a promise ring when she was 14," Cindy quipped at the time.

She added during her chat with Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti, "If I'm looking for a relationship, you are not going to give this woman a promise ring!... I don't think Mel has any intention of ever getting married."

Mel, however, defended his decision to give Peg a promise ring during his January 21 appearance on the "She's All Bach" podcast.

"We were talking about, 'What's going to be the commitment to bond each other?' And it's a ring! It's some type of commitment and something symbolic," Mel explained.

"And the ring is symbolic!... A promise is a promise, but you can call it whatever you want. So that was the thing that was going to bind us together for the moment, for the show and going forward."

Mel said that if he and Peg encountered problems after filming, he didn't want either of them to give up too quickly.

"The ring is symbolic of our commitment to each other. So you can make fun of it, you can clown it, or whatever. But that's between us. That's ours. And it meant something to us," he concluded.

Mel also didn't tell Peg "I love you" until after the show wrapped filming, but he said expressing love after a couple of dates was "unrealistic" for him at the time.

Peg recently confirmed that she and Mel have since talked about marriage and what their dream wedding would look like. 

Peg also claimed The Golden Bachelor fans didn't get to know the real Mel while watching the show.

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

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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