Kelly Ripa made sure to ask Mel Owens the important questions during his visit to Live with Kelly and Mark on Wednesday.

Owens, who is the new Golden Bachelor led this season, caught some heat online after he said on a podcast that he would be “cutting” women older than 60 on the ABC reality dating series. In an interview with Glamour, Owens addressed his “unfair” and “insensitive” comments, explaining that he “apologized” to the women competing on the show and

Ripa took the opportunity during their conversation to bring up what is likely still on [Golden] Bachelor Nation’s mind.

“I don’t want to call it controversial, but you made the controversial statement—and again, I don’t think it’s controversial—that you didn’t want to date anyone over the age of 60,” she reminded Owens.

Owens replied, “Well, I didn’t say I didn’t want to…”

Ripa quipped, “You just said you refused.”

Just like the studio audience, Owens got a kick out of the moment, laughing along with Ripa, who told him, “I’m sorry.”

“Touché,” he teased.

Owens did get the chance to explain himself, noting that his “reference” was that he was married for 25 years and thus, “hadn’t dated for 25 years.”

“So when I stopped dating…,” the 66-year-old continued, but Ripa was quick to chime in.

“So you want to go to that age,” she

Owens said, “I was used to that age group. But I apologized. We smoothed everything out.”

The moment was all in good fun, as Ripa assured Owens, “I’m teasing you.”

Mark Consuelos pointed out that “every woman on the show is 60 or older except for one,” though Owens said he wasn’t aware of that going in.

“I didn’t know that because I didn’t ask and nobody told me,” he shared.

Consuelos quipped, “Smart.”

Owens cheekily replied that he “went to Michigan,” where Ripa and Consuelos’ youngest son also attended

In terms of how he feels about the age of his dating pool on The Golden Bachelor this season, Owens said the experience was “great.”

“There’s a lot of common interest and a lot of life experiences,” he elaborated. “Plus all these women were great and sophisticated, and well-accomplished, and fun, and funny. It was great.”

Ripa added, “They’re gonna find the best women, right?”

Owens agreed, “They did a great job.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.