The original Golden Bachelor doesn’t think Mel Owens should have any age maximums for the pool of women in his cast. 

During a recent podcast appearance, Owens, 66, revealed that producers asked him what his “preferences” were during casting, to which he responded, “I just said, ’45 to 60,’ just being honest.” He shared an additional story where he remembered telling producers, ‘“If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them.’ … This is not The Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor.”

In response to Owens’ claims, the first Golden Bachelor star, Gerry Turner, told Fox News that “it would be unfortunate” if he abides by the age limit. 

“I really think he will have a change of heart in this,” he added. “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.”

The group of women that Turner dated during his time on The Bachelor franchise ranged from 60 to 75, with him noting that each of the people on his season were “all a gift.” 

“Each and every one of them [brought] some unique characteristics to the show, unique characteristics to life,” Turner said. “The age thing… ignore the number, deal with the person.”

Following the inaugural Golden Bachelor season, ABC expanded the franchise by naming Joan Vassos the first Golden Bachelorette. Now, with Owens being named the second man to lead the new Golden franchise, singles who were featured on both shows were invited to take part in Bachelor in Paradise for the first time ever this year. 

The new Bachelor and BIP showrunner/executive producer Scott Teti told The Hollywood Reporter there were “a lot of discussions between the network and myself” when the decision was made to bring the Goldens down to Costa Rica to find love. 

“It’s definitely different. It’s loud, it’s a very big idea,” Teti said. “So there was a lot of thought put into how this was going to be done and how they were going to be integrated into the show, and I think the result was pretty amazing because you have these two generations with two POVs that come together.”