Mel Owens isn’t winning the hearts of viewers as The Golden Bachelor. The ratings are in a steep decline, especially compared to Gerry Turner’s season. Is ABC ready to cancel the senior spinoff after this season?
The Golden Bachelor Not Bringing In Ratings
Bachelor Nation fans were so excited for the show to finally shine a spotlight on finding love later in life. Gerry Turner’s season of The Golden Bachelor was a ratings hit. The first episode drew in over 4 million viewers. The ratings consistently stayed high throughout the season. His TV wedding to Theresa Nist brought in an audience of over six million.
Theresa and Gerry’s wedding bliss only lasted a few months before they split. The backlash to the divorce sparked concerns that ABC would pass on a second season of The Golden Bachelor. A season of The Golden Bachelorette aired last fall instead.
But The Golden Bachelor wasn’t over just yet. They chose former NFL player Mel Owens to headline the second season. But that seemed to be a huge mistake, and it shows in the ratings.
The season premiere of the second season brought in half of the viewers that Gerry Turner did. A lot of Bachelor Nation fans weren’t happy with Mel’s comments earlier this summer about wanting to date women between the ages of 45 and 60 despite being 66 years old himself.
ABC Regrets Choosing Mel Owens
There were reports this summer that Mel Owens was fired after his distasteful comments. But that turned out to be false. ABC went full-speed ahead with him as The Golden Bachelor. And now it’s biting them in the behind.
A source close to the show told The U.S. Sun that ABC regrets keeping Mel. “He wasn’t the right pick and they see that now but didn’t see it until it was too late,” the insider said.
The Golden Bachelor season is almost over already. Mel Owens and his final women are heading into Hometown dates, followed by the Fantasy Suite dates. ABC is reportedly considering canceling the show after the season is over.
Fans Say ‘I Told You So’
ABC may not have known that choosing the Detroit, Michigan, native was a bad choice, but fans did. They took to social media to relish in the network finally admitting their mistake.
- “Maybe they should’ve cast someone with an ounce of charisma, or recast him when he said he didn’t want to date women in that age range”
- “Mel is SO BORING!!!!!!”
- “It should’ve been Charles. ABC did us a real disservice by not giving us Charles”
- “Trash lead gets trash ratings.”
- “I’m one of the people who 100% would’ve watched if they’d picked a good guy from the golden bachelorette, but had no interest in watching this dude.”
- “They had all the time to replace him before they started filming. They knew we wouldn’t like him based on things he said.”
- “We told them plenty before it was too late, and they chose not to listen when we said we wouldn’t watch that misogynistic, ageist, PIG.”
- “Maybe it is time to call it quits.”
Mel’s season of The Golden Bachelor will continue to the bitter end. One of his rejected contestants, Nicolle Kate Briscoe, is already lobbying to be the next Golden Bachelorette. But will ABC even continue with the spinoff? Let us know your thoughts on Mel’s season in the comments.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
