Mel Owens got the hard part out of the way on his premiere episode of season two of The Golden Bachelor.
Season two of The Golden Bachelor premiered on Sept. 24, and prior to filming, Owens made some controversial comments regarding women's ages and beauty, which went viral.
"I messed up," Owens said on Wednesday night's episode. "I was wrong. I replay it in my head a lot. I have regrets and I'm sorry for all the things I said in the podcast."
He continued, "I know what a lot of people are thinking about me, but that's not who I am."
Mel Owens makes controversial comments on podcast
In July, the former Los Angeles Rams linebacker appeared on In the Trenches, where the 66-year-old said he prefers dating women between the ages of 45 and 60 and that he would "cut" women who were "60 or over."
The Golden Bachelor has only run for one season prior to Owens' debut, which aims to find love for both men and women, particularly in the latter years of their lives. On Owens' season, the contestants' age ranges from 58 to 77.
In addition to the ageist comments, he also added that he wants to “try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs, you know, that kind of stuff.”
Mel Owens apologizes for comments
Owens mentioned that he wasn't aware of The Golden Bachelor ages and had only watched the original show back when it launched in 2002 and didn't watch the series anymore. He also shared that he had apologized prior to the aired sentiment on Wednesday night.
"I apologized to the women on the show. When I first walked in, I addressed it. I apologized to them," he said. "I said, 'It was unfair, insensitive. I want to earn it back. Just give me the chance.' And hopefully, these last two weeks I earned some of that back."
The Golden Bachelor airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS
Venus Williams wears customized sun hat ahead of wedding to Andrea Preti
Travis Kelce's mom Donna urges son to have baby with Taylor Swift
Brooks Nader slams 'creepy' ex Gleb Savchenko
Jannik Sinner reveals clues that he's dating Laila Hasanovic, not Brooks Nader
Nina Dobrev parties with Zac Efron, Chace Crawford on yacht following Shaun White split