After The Golden Bachelor‘s Mel Owens revealed he plans to cut women over 60, his predecessor is urging him to reconsider.
Gerry Turner recently shared his advice for the star of Season 2, following Owens’ admission that he’s only looking for women aged “45 to 60” on his upcoming season of the ABC dating show spin-off, which returns Sept. 24.
“I think it would be unfortunate, and I really think he will have a change of heart in this,” he told Fox News. “I think he will see the grace and charm of women who are over 60 and the confidence they carry, and I think he’ll have a change of heart.”
Turner added, “The people that I met in my season, I go through them, and it’s like, they’re all a gift. To have gotten to know them… Each and every one of them [brought] some unique characteristics to the show, unique characteristics to life. The age thing… ignore the number, deal with the person.”
During the spin-off’s first season in 2023, the women competing for Turner ranged from ages 60 to 75.
Owens, 66, previously said on the MGoBlue podcast that he told producers of the show, “If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them.”
“This is not The Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor,” added Owens, a lawyer who previously played for the Los Angeles Rams, noting that the producer told him: “But they’re going to be hot. Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it.”
Owens follows 72-year-old Turner, who was the first leading man in the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor. Turner found love with Theresa Nast, whom he married in January 2024. The couple announced their divorce three months later, following his cancer diagnosis.
