The Golden Bachelor‘s Season 2 lead Mel Owens is sorry for the extremely un-Golden Bachelor-like comments he made to host Jon Jansen on MGoBlue’s In the Trenches podcast back in June.

In case you missed the outrage, Owens, a 66-year-old former pro football player, revealed that when producers asked for his preferences, he said he preferred women between ages 45 and 60. Then, after being selected as leading man, Owens reportedly had lunch with an EP of the show, where he explained, “If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them.” Yikes!

Among several other disappointing, off-putting comments, Owens added, “I told them, ‘Try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs.’” As you might imagine, Bachelor Nation found Owens’ words incredibly offensive and swiftly called on ABC to replace him. (Even the original Golden Guy Gerry Turner was upset!)

When Steve Carbone (aka Reality Steve) reported Owens was out as lead following his podcast comments in early July, it seemed as though fans’ wishes had been granted. But the famous franchise spoiler got it wrong. ABC planned to move forward with Owens leading Season 2 (currently filming and set to premiere this fall), and now that he’s met his Golden contestants and apologized in private, he’s addressing the public.

In an exclusive interview with Glamour, Owens said that while he didn’t realize people would be upset by his podcast comments in the moment, his 65-year-old friend quickly reached out to set him straight and explain why his words were so insensitive.

“My reference of dating was 39, 40 years old. I hadn’t dated in 26, 27 years. That’s what I told her. She goes, ‘It doesn’t matter. You’ve said some things that are just incredibly wrong.’ And I go, ‘I’ve got to apologize,’” Owens told Glamour.

The new lead also said he steered clear of online news, but heard about the blowback and replacement rumors from those close to him. When asked why he ever went on a show called The Golden Bachelor if he had no desire to date older women, Owens said he was so unfamiliar with the franchise that he was fully unaware of any specific age range.

“I didn’t know anything about The Golden Bachelor ages. I didn’t. I had watched the first show when I was younger, when it first launched or something in 2002, until my son was born. But then when he was born, I didn’t watch it anymore,” Owens recalled. “I’m thinking, to me, the age range was 45 to 60. That’s my age range. I’m thinking that’s the gold years for me. My reference, again, was when I was dating at 39, 40. I hadn’t dated in 26 years, so I had no clue. And that’s why I said that comment.”

When pressed about his “no artificial hips and wigs” request, Owens walked his words back again, stressing that he knows many people with artificial hip and knees, and is well aware that surgeries like that can happen at any age. The Season 2 lead also revealed that he “apologized to the women on the show” and addressed his comments Night 1. “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,” he said.

According to Owens, the women on his season are “not 40. They’re 60, 65, maybe 70,” and he thinks they’re “brilliant.”

To those who were so upset by his comments that they no longer plan to watch his season of The Golden Bachelor, Owens says he intends to be “fair and apologetic and honest” to earn back trust. “Those [views and comments] were a mistake by me. It’s unfair. It’s insensitive, like I said. And I want to earn it back,” Owens said. “I have to earn it back every single moment that I’m on the show.”

According to Owens, the women on his season were very appreciative of his apology. But will Bachelor Nation be as forgiving? Stay tuned.

The Golden Bachelor Season 2 premieres Wednesday, October 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC.