Warning: finale spoilers ahead!
We did it, everybody! We made it through 10 weeks of watching a 66-year-old man struggle to have an emotionally vulnerable conversation with numerous women, and we’re finally down to our final two: Cindy and Peg. Last week’s episode left us right in the middle of Fantasy Suites, after both remaining contestants had expressed concerns about Mel’s emotional availability.
We pick up during Mel and Cindy’s Fantasy Suites date, right in time for an awkward conversation between them. Cindy is trying to get any sort of straight answer from Mel about where he sees their relationship going — if anywhere — but he deflects. Cindy says something to the effect of, “I want you to tell me what’s holding you back,” and Mel just says, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” We can recite quotes from inspirational posters all day, but that doesn’t answer the question…
The finale cuts back and forth between Mel’s final dates and a live studio audience in L.A., where we catch up with people from Bachelor Nation and basically juice time to make this thing last two hours. Don’t they know this is the Golden Bachelor? A 10 p.m. end time is a young man’s game.
Joan and Chock are in the audience, as are Gerry and his fiancée Lana. Joan has totally lost her voice, but other than that, everybody seems great. I’ll be recapping this part sparingly, unless something super dramatic happens, because I’m not trying to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.
Does Cindy self-eliminate during the Golden Bachelor finale?
Back to Mel’s non-answer of “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” Cindy asks, “So, is there a will?” He says, “yeah, of course,” in the exact same tone of voice that I use when I’m leaving the dentist’s office and they ask if I want to make my next appointment on the spot.
Mel senses that wasn’t enough, saying: “It’s hard to find a partner, but it would be great if it happened here.” What do you mean “it would be great if…“? That’s the whole point of this! Cindy asks Mel if he’s not going to be ready for a proposal at the end of this, and at first he says “no,” but then he says something like, “it might take two years” before he makes that commitment. OK, maybe he really didn’t understand the purpose of this experience…
Cindy might be ready to self-eliminate. She tells Mel that she wants her guy to feel like he’s been struck by lightning and be so excited about her. Knowing this is not that, she then asks, “Is it OK if I leave now?” and Mel walks her out. Wow! We love a woman who knows what she wants.
Cindy, my advice to you is: Hire someone to manage your DMs, because I can’t even imagine how many men will be banging down your door. Maybe she and Debbie can be dual Golden Bachelorettes!
Me, when Mel only has one person left, 15 minutes in, thinking of how we’re going to fill the next hour and 45 minutes:
Cindy is crying on the beach while Mel stares emotionless into space as poorly timed fireworks go off behind him.
Mel right now:
Jesse comes to comfort Mel and debrief. Jesse’s thinking what we’re thinking, and says, “all 23 women show up to this hoping they’ll be engaged at the end of this.” Mel’s answer is, “That’s not true, not all of them.” He’s right; some of them (Nicolle) come to get Instagram followers and grow a yoga business.
Mel is bewildered that Cindy didn’t go through the process all the way to the end because “the game’s not over ‘til it’s over.” He says Cindy “wasn’t in it for the long run.” …Says the man who does not want to get engaged on the engagement show. I’m trying not to be too hard on Mel, but wow, he is making that difficult right now.
Before we can cut back to the action on the beach, Cindy greets us in the studio, and she looks amazing. I honestly love her commitment to a smokey eye — she needs to find a man who can be that committed to her.
Anyway, she tells Jesse that Mel did not come to find her after she walked away on the dock, but she didn’t want him to because her decision was made.
Jesse asks Cindy why she walked away, knowing Mel could’ve changed his mind.
Cindy: I don’t think I need to convince a man to love me.
All of us:
Jesse asks Cindy if there’s any part of her that wishes she had stayed, and she hesitates just two seconds before saying, “No.” She is my queen. Sorry, Debbie, Cindy might have Golden Bachelorette on lock now.
Cindy says that she wanted to be on the same page as Mel, and that they could have had one of the greatest love stories in the show’s history, but “he wanted a comic book” — something short and low-stakes. What a burn. Whoever prepped her for this did an amazing job.
And Mel isn’t getting off easy, because Jesse brings him out to talk to Cindy.
Cindy confronts Mel in the studio
Cindy asks Mel when he knew he wasn’t ready. He says, “I was ready.” Was he on another show that we didn’t watch? They’re kind of talking past each other, with Mel saying they didn’t have the time to get on the same page because she didn’t get through Fantasy Suites, and Cindy saying that she wouldn’t have continued without any reassurance from him.
Mel’s actual response: You know the saying, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage.
What does this playground rhyme have to do with anything?! 😭
So the issue is that Mel thinks Cindy wanted a proposal before the Fantasy Suites — which he wouldn’t do with Peg still there — but Cindy says she didn’t need an all-or-nothing commitment at that point. She just wanted confirmation that he could see himself committing to either of them in the end. Mel still seems salty about this, and I’m wondering if he’s happy with his choice.
Mel says, “I don’t just go from knowing a person to getting married.” I’m gonna tear my hair out. In any other setting than this series, that would be understandable. I feel like readiness to commit quickly should be addressed very early on in the casting process.
Mel tells Peg about Cindy’s self-elimination
Back in Antigua, Peg is unknowingly all alone in this competition. Mel visits her in her hotel room to tell her that Cindy left. This is, understandably, a red flag for Peg. I understand that Mel doesn’t know who he’d propose to, but to be like, 24 hours from the end of the show and not even know if he wants to be engaged at the end of it is concerning.
Peg meets Mel’s family
Mel gets to see his sons and his college friend, Diane. Peg plays a word association game with Mel’s sons, asking them to choose the word out of a pair that better describes Mel: accountable or avoidant, emotional or analytical, serious or funny. It’s a creative way to dig for information, I’ll give her that. We bet you guessed that his sons chose emotional over analytical, but they did promise Peg that he could be emotional if she dug deep enough. They also tell Mel that Peg is perfect for him, which is an encouraging sign.
Diane tells Mel she hopes he’ll make this choice with his heart, not his head. I will say, to give Mel some credit, being reminded that he’s a lawyer gives me some insight into why he’s so averse to making any sort of definitive statements.
Does Mel actually propose to anyone in the Golden Bachelor season 2 finale?
And now, for the moment of truth! Peg and Mel meet on the beach. She kicks things off by reminiscing on their time on The Golden Bachelor, from slow dancing to KC and the Sunshine Band during their one-on-one date to taking Mel to Vegas to meet her kids.
Mel’s response to this whole speech is, “Thank you, that’s sweet.”
Mel says throughout the journey he’s learned “a lot of things: listening and loving.”
A man of few words…
He reaches into his pocket and says, “I have something.” He presents a ring! He says, “This ring represents a commitment of time to figuring out for ourselves what this future holds.” Notably, he does not say, “Will you marry me?” or get on one knee.
After they kiss, he says, “Oh, one more thing.” I’m thinking he’s actually going to ask her to marry him…and he instead reaches for the golden rose and says, “Will you accept this rose?” Peg says yes, and they cut to the happy couple talking to camera:
Peg: I’m not for everyone, Mel’s not for everyone, but we’re for each other.
Well, that was…something.
After the Final Rose
We reconnect with Mel and Peg in the studio, and they’re making a show of their physical chemistry.
Peg says of Mel, “He doesn’t have integrity, he is integrity.”
The studio audience: *crickets*
Peg: Let that one sink in.
I think we might need a few more minutes to mull that one over.
Notably, Jesse brings up the “commitment” they made in Antigua but asks, “Is there a proposal, or a marriage?” and Peg’s answer is essentially, no. Well, I guess Mel made the right choice because I don’t think any of the other women (maybe Nicolle) would’ve been chill with this outcome.
That’s it for The Golden Bachelor season 2. Thank you for joining me on this journey — but it’s not over yet! I’ll be interviewing Mel later this week (provided he doesn’t read these recaps, LOL), so if you have any questions for him, DM me at @saralememe on Instagram.
