'The Golden Bachelor' Season 2 Debut: Mel Owens Faces Backlash

“Good answer! Physical touch or emotional connection? Physical touch?”

“For sure!”

“Kiss now or kiss later?”

“Oh, kiss now!”

Later, Cheryl enthused, “He has very soft lips.”  

Cheryl got a second kiss on her first date in 15 years

First, she got to pick out a sizzling red dress for dinner with Mel. “Jewel sequins, silk! I was a tomboy when I was little. I ride motorcycles, so this is like stepping into a fairy tale. I feel like Cinderella!”

Cheryl spent five years taking care of her mother, who’s 93, and her dating calendar was blank for longer than that. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a real date — 15 years,” she said. She bonded with Mel talking about their respective children and told him the gripping story of her son’s dad, who abandoned them, then returned to kidnap the infant. After they divorced, she forgave him so that her son could have his dad in his life.

Mel was impressed: “Cheryl’s ability to forgive is a virtue. You can see in her eyes how much she cares for her son. She’s been through hell and back to protect him, and as a father, that really hits home for me.”

Not everyone is as kindly as Cheryl

Before Cheryl’s date, Miami yoga instructor Nicolle, 64, got forward with Mel. “That’s my husband!” she shouted. “I had to give him a kiss. It’s not often that I kiss a man right before he’s taking another woman on a date, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do,” she said.

At a pool party, when the women were marveling at Mel’s buff body, retired Austin biomedical engineer Cindy, 60, growled, “Mel hops in the water and Nicolle jumps in right after him, starts to climb him like a tree!” In a teaser for an upcoming episode, another contestant says, “Sisterhood, sisterhood! You don’t do that.” But Nicolle snaps, “He’s mine. He’s going to be mine. So, you know, get out of the way.”

The women loved their roommates at the fancy mansion

As in the first Golden Bachelor season, most of the women made at least as much of a love connection with each other as the bachelor did with them. The first Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, 74, swiftly divorced his bride on the show, Theresa Nist, 72, but many of the women who vied for his affection have been pals ever after.

They had fun bonding in the mansion the show provided, but nobody thought the bathroom was adequate. “I’m used to sharing rooms with 25 guys at the firehouse,” said Peg, “but now I’m sharing a room with 20-something women, and so it’s different. You know, they’re very chatty. Chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty, chatty!”

It’s exhausting being a bachelorette

Just before the rose ceremony, where everybody gets a rose except the women who are asked to leave the show, Miami luxury yacht saleswoman Alexandra, 67, whose bubbliness and accent remind one of Charo, said, “I don’t know if I want a rose or a pillow. I was pretty more zombie. I sleeped with my eyes open — but oh, my God, I see Mel, and this is happening! I’m awake now!” Many of the bachelorettes could relate. “Finding love at this age is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!” said Alabama dentist Monica P., 60.

Paula Abdul got the women to kick up their heels

The women divided into two teams for a cheerleading competition led by Abdul, 63. Though a few of them had experience, like Cindy, who danced for the Dallas Mavericks three decades ago, the point was not to be great cheerleaders but to have a great time, and bond even more. “Honestly, it’s just such a fabulous throwback,” said Cindy. They danced to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and boy, did they ever.

Nobody really loses on ‘The Golden Bachelor,’ if they’ve got the right attitude

After getting the boot in the first rose ceremony, triple triathlon winner, hockey player and Wasila, Alaska, librarian Diane, 71 (who’s on the board of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library), was reflective. “I wasn’t ready to go home. I was having a great time. But you know, in hockey, when we lose a game, we’re sad for a little bit, but then we remind ourselves there’s always a game next weekend. This journey of meeting Mel gave me hope!”