"Golden Bachelor" star Mel Owens had some explaining to do during the premiere episode of the show's sophomore season.

Before meeting the 23 women cast on his season, Owens directly addressed the controversial remarks he made on the “In the Trenches " podcast in June.

"I’m excited to meet the women but I’m nervous they're going to have misconceptions about me," he said at the start of the episode.

"I messed up. I was wrong. I replay it in my head a lot. I have regrets. I’m sorry for everything I said in the podcast. I know what a lot of people are thinking about me but that’s not who I am," the former football pro continued.

On the podcast, Owens, 66, said he's not interested in dating anyone who is older than 60, unfit and wears wigs or has artificial hips.

The contestants gr

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