New Golden Bachelor Mel Owens is addressing his remarks about only looking to date women between the ages of 45 and 60 on the dating show for the first time. After Mel, 66, said on a June episode of the “MGoBlue” podcast that he planned to cut any potential contestants who are either older than 60 or had an artificial hip,

The next installment of The Golden Bachelor hasn’t even premiered, and its star, Mel Owens, is already apologizing. The former NFL linebacker found himself in a reality-sized controversy on the June 4 episode of the In the Trenches podcast when he revealed that his age “preference” for contestants was between “45 to 60.

Golden Bachelor' star Mel Owens apologized for past age-related comments, says he addressed it with contestants while filming.