September 26, 2025 • 26 mins
Today on “Happy Hour,” we’re sitting down with Mel’s first one-on-one this season: Cheryl! The motorcross icon is here to tell us all about herself, her journey to the show, and her “Golden Bachelor” experience so far. We kick things off getting into her Night 1 feelings and how she got to the show. Then, we find out how this Bachelor Nation fan prepared for her journey and who some of her favorites have been through the franchise. She also dives into the emotions behind her princess date and what that romantic evening meant to her. Plus, she gives us all her thoughts on Mel and the season to come, including a fun little tease for future episodes. Tune in now to hear all this and more and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, well, welcome back to Bachler Happy Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Joe and I'm Serena and we.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Are here today with Cheryl v You got the first
date on the brand new season of The Golden Bachelor.
Welcome to the podcast. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Thank you? I'm doing good, little you know, nervous here,
but this adventure has been amazing and I'm I'm here.
I'm happy to see everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's talk about let's talk about your nerves for a second.
Do you think you're more nervous right now or when
you stepped out of the limo. Oh you didn't step
out of a limo. You wrote down on a motorcycle.
What were you more nervous for?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I was not nervous on the motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Were you nervous, to be honest with you, Joe, were
you nervous when you approached the Mel?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, the handsome man, CHARMI handsome, masculine. Yes, I was
very nervous. I got off the motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Is he is? Would you consider Mel to be your
type if you have a.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Type, Oh, he's definitely my type.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. How would you describe your type?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
My type of man? I love a masculine man. I
do love a very exciting man, sweet charming, funny, like
a funny man. And so yeah, I mean he's he's beautiful.
He's a beautiful man. What can I say? So yeah,
I was very nervous.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Okay, So let's go back to the beginning. So you
you live in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I do. I grew up in Lakewood, Colorado. So I
love the mountains and I've been here all of my
most all of my life.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So how far is Lakewood from Denver?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So Lakewood's going to be about twenty four miles west
of Denver by the mountains, up by Red rockst of fact,
it's called Green Mountain. And they call the Green Mountains
a little mountain you'll see before you see those big mountains.
And that's where I grew up, right up on top
of Green Mountain.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, you get elevation sickness when people go there for
the first time, Like, is it that high up?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, if you're in the mountains, you will most people
do just a little bit. But where I grew up
isn't really that high. It might be fifty six and
I don't know what we're at fifty two eighty in
Denvers so yeah, and it was wonderful growing up on
Green Green growing up, you know, growing up on Green
Mountain was amazing. It was nature, you know, of course
(02:38):
we used to play outside. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I kind of would like that would be I would
love to experience that, Like I would say, something that
I lack in my life is nature.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
We live in New York, so a little less nature myness.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, New York is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Really, but no mountains, no mountain no. Okay, so let's talk.
Let's talk about how did you get on the show.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
That's a great question. Would I ever nominate myself for
the show? It's my favorite show? But no. So my
niece came out from Texas with my little sister, it's
her daughter, and she's sitting you know. We go out
for a little Greek dinner and had a martini. Came
back and she's smiling at me. I'm like, Angelina, what
are you looking at? Why are you smiling so big?
(03:30):
She goes, never mind, never mind, Aunty, just send me
four pictures. Okay, I'm going to send you four pictures.
I don't know what you're doing. Twenty minutes later, on
her phone, she says, Auntie, and I said yes, and
she goes, I just nominated you for the Golden Bachelor.
I said, oh my gosh, is that what you have
(03:51):
the pictures wore? She goes, yes, and you're gonna make it.
I go, oh my gosh. So it wasn't very long
after that.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, to say how long until you got the call
after that nomination.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I'm gonna tell you it was two to three days.
Oh really, yeah, it was. I'm like, oh my gosh,
I'm sitting with my mother, she's ninety three, and I'm like, mom,
somebody's calling on my call. So it was. It was
the most exciting time. Really. I didn't know what to expect.
(04:25):
This is my favorite show, The Golden Bachelor, The Bachelor,
you know what, Trista, she lives in Mail.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh my gosh, so exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Do you have a favorite Do you have a favorite season?
Have you seen all of them?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I have seen all of them, but I know, you know,
Trista's was amazing because of course that was the first one.
Of course, Joan and Chalk, Yeah, that was amazing, and
I Chok was my favorite too, I do want to
tell you. And Joan is an amazing woman. So I
think the two of them you're a beautiful couple. Actually, So.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Once you get the call that you're going to be
going on the Golden Bachelor, how are you feeling? What
are your friends and family saying to you?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
They they're going screaming, They're just screaming, and they're like,
we know it. I'm like, how did you know it?
Because I didn't know it. They're like, well, Cheryl, you
know you're pretty exquisite, and you know, yeah, you just
be you and you know I'm always I have a
lot of energy. So they're just they were so excited.
(05:35):
My mother she's still trying to grasp it. She goes,
what's his name? Honey?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Mel mother? Who is he? So it's cute. But I
have a loving family. I have a very close family,
and they're all my you know, they're my best friends,
and we all take care of each other and so
I'm very blessed with that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
What what do you do for a living?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So I worked full time for the US Treasury and
I'm retired now. It wasn't easy, but I was happy
to help people. And I'm also a caretaker of my
mother this ninety three and it hasn't been easy, and
you know, hadn't had much time to date, and I
(06:28):
always imagine having a lot of friends, especially beautiful women,
and you know mel and so it's exciting to say
the least. So yeah, I still am trying to exhorbit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So you you roll up on a motorcycle and let's
talk a little bit about your racing background.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah you said, like you have okay, forty fifty something
trophies from motorcycle racing telepic.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Oh yeah, Oh my goodness. So I have another niece
that raced motocross as a pro, but she got in
it as a novice, and we used to ride in
the mountains, her and I on these bi centennial bikes
in the mountains. These are full metal bikes. We take
the headlight off, the tail light off, and we ride.
(07:18):
And one day these guys go, man, you guys are fast.
You know you're fast through those mountains. Were trying to
keep up with you, and we took our helmets off
there like your girls. Oh my god, So it went
to our heads. So she bought a race bike, of course,
the motocross race bike. And if you don't know motocross,
those are those real loud bikes that they race. You know,
you see them all the time on the videos. It's
(07:41):
a dangerous sport. I'm not gonna lie. It was healthy
for me. She's like, Antie, I'm racing, and you gotta race.
I'm coming in first in the races. I know you
can come in second.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Is something that you started, like not that long ago?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I was thirty two too. Yeah, okay, I started at.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Thirty You weren't a teenager. You didn't like grow up there?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
No, I wasn't a teenager. Most people say I started
that when I was six. I did that, but I
quit when I was fourteen. I started at thirty two, guys,
but it really helped me with just everything in life
that comes together at stress. Of course, it just helped
me focus on just me and it felt so good.
We're like a family when we raced. You know, all
(08:27):
the people that race our family. So I started racing.
And yeah, after nine and a half years, I didn't
have fifty one trophies. Of course I don't have them
all now, but I've given a lot away. My grandkids
have some. So it was really fun. I loved it,
and I still ride. I ride in the mountains and
I love writing thing.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
What kind of bikes you.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Have so right now, I have what's called the Kawasaki
one hundred Joe, And what that is is a smaller
bike that I used to race a one twenty five Yamaha. Okay,
very tall by but I was able to jump, So
I like jumping.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now what you say, would you say that is now
your hobby or what do you do? Like what is
your release or your hobby to just something for you?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know? Of course it is my hobby. Yeah, that's
what I love to do. You know, people say what
makes you do that? I mean, how do you even
think about doing that? But it's second nature. And I
love the mountains. I love to clamp, not camp. Too
many bears in those mountains right now. There's like three
thousand bears in Colorado that met people. Yeah, so you
(09:35):
definitely want a glamp.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And yeah, that's so impressive to me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Like I'm scared to get on a city bike with
Joe and by through like the streets of New York.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
The streets of New York on a city bike are
actually really hacktic.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, different, I don't know if I have the courage
I've done like ATVing through trails and that's the closest
I've ever gotten.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, well we actually we Okay, it was a couple
of years ago, but we we we did this deal
with Porsche and we did like this Porsche excursion through
British Columbia. But the guy leading leading the pack was
a race car was like an old French race car driver,
and we were driving so fast and we almost like, no.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, we almost got a try. It was like he
was like starving.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
In and out, like going into the other lane, trying
to cut around cars like weren't going fast enough for him.
And I was like, I'm with I'm I support you,
but like I'm not getting behind the wheel, like we're
gonna We're not gonna make it out.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Of British Columbus.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I still have moments where I wake up and I'm like,
like a couple of times a year ago, old man,
I forgot almost died.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
A sure, either of us are huge drunkies, but I
find your story to be very impressive. But back to
your time on the show. Tell us about Night one.
Your first impression of the mansion, the women mau.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Night one was amazing. I love Night One. It was great,
and when I went I came in on my motocross bike.
Of course that was not my motocross bike, but it
was a motocross bike and it worked and it was
a great, great size. Okay, So I walk in and
I opened the door. We're in the mansion. They take
the motocross boots off me and put the heels on,
(11:28):
and I'm going into a living room with the most
beautiful women I've ever seen in my life. They look
like porcelaind dolls, and they're all smiling in there, welcoming me,
and I felt the warmth of the mansion. Really felt
connected right away because we all have that similar personality,
(11:50):
you know, and they're hugging me, and it felt so
good because these are my sisters. They're going to travel
through that journey with me, and I really felt good
about it. I can't lie. It's it was.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Amazing anyone in particular in particular that you hit it
off with that You're like, Oh, this this person, We're
going to be friends for a long time.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I wish I could say one name, there were just
so many. There's so many.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
What was your first conversation with Bell like, and did
you feel an instant connection?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I felt nervous, but you know, looking at him was amazing.
He's just a big, big guy. NFL, right, so you know,
my my first husband was part of the NFL, but
with the free agent so he never really was on
a team. He reminded me a lot of that, and
(12:51):
you know, I was in love. And he's a big
guy and big hands, so maybe a little nervous. But
after talking to him, he's so sweet and he's such
a great listener and he just kind of put me
at ease and we kind of hit it off really well.
It's like, you know, he said one thing, I said
the other, and yeah, I think it went great.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I was thinking, yes, we actually thought that you might
get the first impression Rose.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Were you surprised when you didn't?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, no, I didn't know. I wasn't surprised because Jerry. Yeah,
Jerry got the first impression. Rose. I call her Joy
because she's such a joy to talk to. I was
very grateful that she got it because we were talking
about a sensitive subject and she was so happy, and so,
you know, we're all there for mel So I realized
(13:45):
he's going to be, you know, looking at other girls
and wanting to get to know everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, how are you? How are you taking that in
or are you at this point, you know, night one,
are you even are you even thinking about the fact that,
like you are about to make friends with women who
are going for the same man that you're you're going for.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's on it is different, you know. It's like I
wish you could just have you know, twenty three wives.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, so do you that's a show?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Show could that's another show? Okay? So basically I knew
that these girls are all powerhouses, right they are, and
they're beautiful, beautiful, and so they were teaching me a lot,
you know, and I knew that they all had a
fair chance as well as me, and so I kind
(14:43):
of like, you know, if I see that, of course
we're seeing a lot of different one on ones and
you know, little chit chats here and there. Yeah, it
was a little nerving because I thought, you know, I
want him to be my guy.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
So, well, you didn't get the first impression, Rose, but
you do make it through night one and we see
that you get the very first one on one date
of the season. How did you feel getting that date?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That was amazing. I had to look at that card
twice and read the letters because I'm like, that is me,
that's me. So I was really excited that he felt
maybe the chemistry I was feeling, and I was like, yes,
this is wonderful. I was just like the girls were
kind of disappeared now, and so I was so excited.
(15:38):
I didn't know exactly what it was going to be
all about. I just knew that I got this first
date and I was going to see mel.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I never would imagine.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
How and how did in from your point of view,
how did the date go?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
The date went amazing. I saw him, you know, walking out,
I had somebody help me with the girls, help me
with a few things.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, we see you do all the shopping with the
dresses and the jury and you have all your try on.
It was giving very like nineties makeover movie moment.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Oh my gosh. It was incredible. And I didn't realize
these were all gifts for me, and even the girls
that I chose were gifts to me. Those are the
girls that came to mind, and they are amazing girls.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well yeah they were your hype squad for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah they were. I was so grateful. You know, when
when I was young, I had an older sister of course, right,
so she always wanted to dress me, and she's like,
come to my house, share because you look good in
that South But she dressed me when we went out,
you know, and just goes and she go, yeah, you
look good in this, and she knew how to dress
me up. I just kind of liked that. So here
(16:51):
I am with these beautiful gowns, right coming from Italy
and New York. I was overwhelmed. I did get emotional.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, we saw you get emotional.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, and I needed my sister Rachel.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So was that happy emotion? Was that sad emotion?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
No? As happy as can be. So when I'm really happy,
sometimes I'll just get really emotional, right, and I get
that way. Some people do, like I'm one of those girls.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Was it just overwhelming?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And you know you're thinking of your sister and all
these beautiful dresses. What was the emotion that you were feeling.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I just felt like I was a princess. I was
in a storybook and this couldn't be happening to me.
So grateful.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So we see on your one on one date, we
see you open up to me about your past and
a pretty traumatic story you told about you know, the
birth of your child and your husband leaving. We don't
have to talk about it if you're not comfortable or
do you want to elaborate a little bit that or
(18:01):
you know, feel free.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It was such an emotional thing, I'd rather not.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Elaborate on it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah. So, but you know, all in all, it ended
up to be a beautiful story with my son, so
son and his dad and thank God, right and forgiveness
is the story, you know, just the highlight of that story.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
How did it feel opening up to mal about something
so personal and how do you feel like he responded
and received your story?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
You know, he's such a good listener. I felt he
really felt my emotions and he listened very well, and
I felt comforted. I was you know, I felt comfortable
and I felt like he was, you know, a good
listener again, and I felt pretty secure telling him the story,
(18:52):
you know, even though I was emotional. So all in all,
I'm glad I did. And again, that night was amazing.
It was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
So you you're you're a fan of the show, you
know the way the show at least works to an extent,
You're not brand new to it. After your date with Mel, like,
where do you think you're sitting in the in the
leaderboard for a lack of lack of better term.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, good question. I feel like after that date
I might have had a shoe in. You know, I
felt good. I felt, Yes, this is amazing, I got
the first one on one Whoo, that's a big gold star.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And then where do you where do you hope that
it goes from here?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So after that date that night, I felt like if
I wasn't sitting next to Mel, that he still felt
that chemistry with me, and because I know I felt
it with him, and I wanted to get to know
more about him, so I was hoping to get you know, more.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Time him going into later in this week's episodes, we
see that melcomes by for a pool party with all
of the girls. How do you feel like the pool
party went? I would imagine after having this undivided one
on one date that was amazing, There was fireworks. Was
it hard to see him interact with the other girls
and kind of go back to sharing that his time?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It was all the girls came out beautiful swimsuits, you know, bikinis,
one piece. But yeah, it was hard because we all
jumped in and you know, it was whether you jumped
in the pool or not. You got to hold on
to him and I was able to approach him a
little bit, but the girls were moving in like sharks,
and I'll be honest with you, you know, kind of
(20:45):
turned him around and they had a nice big one
on him. It wasn't me.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, no, we saw in Nicoll.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, how do you feel about that? You have an
issue with that? Like, I know some some women on
the episode voiced their opinion and did have a problem
with it. But does that something that bothers you.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
No, that's not bothering me at this point. Yeah, No,
it's not bothering me. I think all of us girls
like to kiss, so it's good for Nicole. I wish
I would have snapped more kisses.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, I actually I agree with you. I do. I
think it's kind of like, you know, it's it's it's
fair game. You know, you're all kind of competing in
you know, why hold back totally?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
But I can also understand why I was a little
uncomfortable for people too. Yeah, how did your conversation with
melgo at the pool party?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Did you get a chance to talk to him?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
You know, I don't believe I did. I'm trying to
think if I had. I mean, there's a lot of
girls right twenty three and uh, I don't recall that
I talked to him. I saw him getting in the
pool get out or the bull he jumped in the pool,
you know. Yeah, just like wow, I was amazed. He's
(22:03):
a beautiful, beautiful body. Takes good care of himself. I
know that.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
And yeah, we see at the row ceremony four ladies
get sent home. How did it feel seeing some of
your friends sent home? And were you surprised by any
of it?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I was very surprised. Those girls were beautiful, and I
would have imagined quite all of them would have made
it further. That was sad, you know, because you're bonding
with the girls that first night, and of course the
next day I think I did get my one on
one and so I was kind of, you know, on
(22:43):
my own. So yeah, it was sad. I don't like
to see anybody going. He really did. I don't know
what he was thinking.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
To tell you the truth, but yeah, I mean he's
but at the end of the days, you know, he's
got to send people home.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So yeah, he made some decisions, right, He made decisions
for himself, and you know, that that took a lot
for him. I'm sure it was hard for him.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, I'm gonna pivot away from the show from a
sex just a little more background. Before you went on
the show, what was dating life like for you? What
were you dating at all?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Not too much. Yeah, you know, when you date, it's
they you know, the guys want to get to know you.
And I'm working full time. I'm a caretaker for my mother.
She basically you know, it's hard, and when you say
you're a caretaker, I think these people are going to
go so but it's a good thing because I really
(23:46):
didn't have time for a relationship. I did meet a
couple of really amazing guys, but like I say, it
just wasn't my time.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah. What does your son think about all of this?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
He is loving it. He is so supported support to it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
And he's right there with me and gives me a
lot of just confidence and just a lot of help
with it. Because you know, what's a lot for me.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
When you when you went on or even during the show,
did you at all consider that you m l live
in different cities and what that would look like.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah? I did. I got to thinking about that, and
I said, wow, if you know, I would be willing
to move to La of course I have other family members,
of course, for my mother, and you know, I was
open to whatever situation transpired.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Got it and going into the season airing, and you know,
we've only seen the first two episodes.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
What are you most excited about?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
So I'm nervous, you know, because it was emotional for
me a lot of it. But I am so excited
to see see how that just played out. Is that
fairytale that opening the book the first page? Yeah, and
seeing myself I'm very excited, you know. I can't wait
to see it on the big screen and watch what
(25:18):
he says. And there's so many things I'm curious about,
you know, and watching the other girls on their dates
and what he says to them, and yeah, I'm excited
about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
If you if you could tease the rest of the
season for us without spoiling it, how would you describe it?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Wait and see it's a wild ride.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Ooh, I love it? All right?
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Well, thank you so much Cheryl for coming on the podcast.
Say is there anything else you want to say before
we let you go?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I want to say thank you. Joe and Serena. Everybody here,
Bachelor Nation. I love you all. Thank you for watching.
See how this works out.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
We welcome you guys.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you Cheryl, and to all our listeners, make sure
you download and subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
We have recaps and interviews from you every single week.
Thanks for listening. Bye,
Hey, well, welcome back to Bachler Happy Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Joe and I'm Serena and we.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Are here today with Cheryl v You got the first
date on the brand new season of The Golden Bachelor.
Welcome to the podcast. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Thank you? I'm doing good, little you know, nervous here,
but this adventure has been amazing and I'm I'm here.
I'm happy to see everybody.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Let's talk about let's talk about your nerves for a second.
Do you think you're more nervous right now or when
you stepped out of the limo. Oh you didn't step
out of a limo. You wrote down on a motorcycle.
What were you more nervous for?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I was not nervous on the motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Were you nervous, to be honest with you, Joe, were
you nervous when you approached the Mel?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, the handsome man, CHARMI handsome, masculine. Yes, I was
very nervous. I got off the motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Is he is? Would you consider Mel to be your
type if you have a.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Type, Oh, he's definitely my type.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. How would you describe your type?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
My type of man? I love a masculine man. I
do love a very exciting man, sweet charming, funny, like
a funny man. And so yeah, I mean he's he's beautiful.
He's a beautiful man. What can I say? So yeah,
I was very nervous.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Okay, So let's go back to the beginning. So you
you live in Colorado.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I do. I grew up in Lakewood, Colorado. So I
love the mountains and I've been here all of my
most all of my life.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So how far is Lakewood from Denver?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So Lakewood's going to be about twenty four miles west
of Denver by the mountains, up by Red rockst of fact,
it's called Green Mountain. And they call the Green Mountains
a little mountain you'll see before you see those big mountains.
And that's where I grew up, right up on top
of Green Mountain.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, you get elevation sickness when people go there for
the first time, Like, is it that high up?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, if you're in the mountains, you will most people
do just a little bit. But where I grew up
isn't really that high. It might be fifty six and
I don't know what we're at fifty two eighty in
Denvers so yeah, and it was wonderful growing up on
Green Green growing up, you know, growing up on Green
Mountain was amazing. It was nature, you know, of course
(02:38):
we used to play outside. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I kind of would like that would be I would
love to experience that, Like I would say, something that
I lack in my life is nature.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
We live in New York, so a little less nature myness.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah, New York is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Really, but no mountains, no mountain no. Okay, so let's talk.
Let's talk about how did you get on the show.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
That's a great question. Would I ever nominate myself for
the show? It's my favorite show? But no. So my
niece came out from Texas with my little sister, it's
her daughter, and she's sitting you know. We go out
for a little Greek dinner and had a martini. Came
back and she's smiling at me. I'm like, Angelina, what
are you looking at? Why are you smiling so big?
(03:30):
She goes, never mind, never mind, Aunty, just send me
four pictures. Okay, I'm going to send you four pictures.
I don't know what you're doing. Twenty minutes later, on
her phone, she says, Auntie, and I said yes, and
she goes, I just nominated you for the Golden Bachelor.
I said, oh my gosh, is that what you have
(03:51):
the pictures wore? She goes, yes, and you're gonna make it.
I go, oh my gosh. So it wasn't very long
after that.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, to say how long until you got the call
after that nomination.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I'm gonna tell you it was two to three days.
Oh really, yeah, it was. I'm like, oh my gosh,
I'm sitting with my mother, she's ninety three, and I'm like, mom,
somebody's calling on my call. So it was. It was
the most exciting time. Really. I didn't know what to expect.
(04:25):
This is my favorite show, The Golden Bachelor, The Bachelor,
you know what, Trista, she lives in Mail.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh my gosh, so exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Do you have a favorite Do you have a favorite season?
Have you seen all of them?
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I have seen all of them, but I know, you know,
Trista's was amazing because of course that was the first one.
Of course, Joan and Chalk, Yeah, that was amazing, and
I Chok was my favorite too, I do want to
tell you. And Joan is an amazing woman. So I
think the two of them you're a beautiful couple. Actually, So.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Once you get the call that you're going to be
going on the Golden Bachelor, how are you feeling? What
are your friends and family saying to you?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
They they're going screaming, They're just screaming, and they're like,
we know it. I'm like, how did you know it?
Because I didn't know it. They're like, well, Cheryl, you
know you're pretty exquisite, and you know, yeah, you just
be you and you know I'm always I have a
lot of energy. So they're just they were so excited.
(05:35):
My mother she's still trying to grasp it. She goes,
what's his name? Honey?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Mel mother? Who is he? So it's cute. But I
have a loving family. I have a very close family,
and they're all my you know, they're my best friends,
and we all take care of each other and so
I'm very blessed with that.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
What what do you do for a living?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So I worked full time for the US Treasury and
I'm retired now. It wasn't easy, but I was happy
to help people. And I'm also a caretaker of my
mother this ninety three and it hasn't been easy, and
you know, hadn't had much time to date, and I
(06:28):
always imagine having a lot of friends, especially beautiful women,
and you know mel and so it's exciting to say
the least. So yeah, I still am trying to exhorbit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
So you you roll up on a motorcycle and let's
talk a little bit about your racing background.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Yeah you said, like you have okay, forty fifty something
trophies from motorcycle racing telepic.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Oh yeah, Oh my goodness. So I have another niece
that raced motocross as a pro, but she got in
it as a novice, and we used to ride in
the mountains, her and I on these bi centennial bikes
in the mountains. These are full metal bikes. We take
the headlight off, the tail light off, and we ride.
(07:18):
And one day these guys go, man, you guys are fast.
You know you're fast through those mountains. Were trying to
keep up with you, and we took our helmets off
there like your girls. Oh my god, So it went
to our heads. So she bought a race bike, of course,
the motocross race bike. And if you don't know motocross,
those are those real loud bikes that they race. You know,
you see them all the time on the videos. It's
(07:41):
a dangerous sport. I'm not gonna lie. It was healthy
for me. She's like, Antie, I'm racing, and you gotta race.
I'm coming in first in the races. I know you
can come in second.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Is something that you started, like not that long ago?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I was thirty two too. Yeah, okay, I started at.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Thirty You weren't a teenager. You didn't like grow up there?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
No, I wasn't a teenager. Most people say I started
that when I was six. I did that, but I
quit when I was fourteen. I started at thirty two, guys,
but it really helped me with just everything in life
that comes together at stress. Of course, it just helped
me focus on just me and it felt so good.
We're like a family when we raced. You know, all
(08:27):
the people that race our family. So I started racing.
And yeah, after nine and a half years, I didn't
have fifty one trophies. Of course I don't have them
all now, but I've given a lot away. My grandkids
have some. So it was really fun. I loved it,
and I still ride. I ride in the mountains and
I love writing thing.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
What kind of bikes you.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Have so right now, I have what's called the Kawasaki
one hundred Joe, And what that is is a smaller
bike that I used to race a one twenty five Yamaha. Okay,
very tall by but I was able to jump, So
I like jumping.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now what you say, would you say that is now
your hobby or what do you do? Like what is
your release or your hobby to just something for you?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know? Of course it is my hobby. Yeah, that's
what I love to do. You know, people say what
makes you do that? I mean, how do you even
think about doing that? But it's second nature. And I
love the mountains. I love to clamp, not camp. Too
many bears in those mountains right now. There's like three
thousand bears in Colorado that met people. Yeah, so you
(09:35):
definitely want a glamp.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And yeah, that's so impressive to me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Like I'm scared to get on a city bike with
Joe and by through like the streets of New York.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
The streets of New York on a city bike are
actually really hacktic.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, different, I don't know if I have the courage
I've done like ATVing through trails and that's the closest
I've ever gotten.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, well we actually we Okay, it was a couple
of years ago, but we we we did this deal
with Porsche and we did like this Porsche excursion through
British Columbia. But the guy leading leading the pack was
a race car was like an old French race car driver,
and we were driving so fast and we almost like, no.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Yeah, we almost got a try. It was like he
was like starving.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
In and out, like going into the other lane, trying
to cut around cars like weren't going fast enough for him.
And I was like, I'm with I'm I support you,
but like I'm not getting behind the wheel, like we're
gonna We're not gonna make it out.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Of British Columbus.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I still have moments where I wake up and I'm like,
like a couple of times a year ago, old man,
I forgot almost died.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
A sure, either of us are huge drunkies, but I
find your story to be very impressive. But back to
your time on the show. Tell us about Night one.
Your first impression of the mansion, the women mau.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Night one was amazing. I love Night One. It was great,
and when I went I came in on my motocross bike.
Of course that was not my motocross bike, but it
was a motocross bike and it worked and it was
a great, great size. Okay, So I walk in and
I opened the door. We're in the mansion. They take
the motocross boots off me and put the heels on,
(11:28):
and I'm going into a living room with the most
beautiful women I've ever seen in my life. They look
like porcelaind dolls, and they're all smiling in there, welcoming me,
and I felt the warmth of the mansion. Really felt
connected right away because we all have that similar personality,
(11:50):
you know, and they're hugging me, and it felt so
good because these are my sisters. They're going to travel
through that journey with me, and I really felt good
about it. I can't lie. It's it was.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Amazing anyone in particular in particular that you hit it
off with that You're like, Oh, this this person, We're
going to be friends for a long time.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I wish I could say one name, there were just
so many. There's so many.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
What was your first conversation with Bell like, and did
you feel an instant connection?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
I felt nervous, but you know, looking at him was amazing.
He's just a big, big guy. NFL, right, so you know,
my my first husband was part of the NFL, but
with the free agent so he never really was on
a team. He reminded me a lot of that, and
(12:51):
you know, I was in love. And he's a big
guy and big hands, so maybe a little nervous. But
after talking to him, he's so sweet and he's such
a great listener and he just kind of put me
at ease and we kind of hit it off really well.
It's like, you know, he said one thing, I said
the other, and yeah, I think it went great.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I was thinking, yes, we actually thought that you might
get the first impression Rose.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Were you surprised when you didn't?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, no, I didn't know. I wasn't surprised because Jerry. Yeah,
Jerry got the first impression. Rose. I call her Joy
because she's such a joy to talk to. I was
very grateful that she got it because we were talking
about a sensitive subject and she was so happy, and so,
you know, we're all there for mel So I realized
(13:45):
he's going to be, you know, looking at other girls
and wanting to get to know everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, how are you? How are you taking that in
or are you at this point, you know, night one,
are you even are you even thinking about the fact that,
like you are about to make friends with women who
are going for the same man that you're you're going for.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's on it is different, you know. It's like I
wish you could just have you know, twenty three wives.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, so do you that's a show?
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Show could that's another show? Okay? So basically I knew
that these girls are all powerhouses, right they are, and
they're beautiful, beautiful, and so they were teaching me a lot,
you know, and I knew that they all had a
fair chance as well as me, and so I kind
(14:43):
of like, you know, if I see that, of course
we're seeing a lot of different one on ones and
you know, little chit chats here and there. Yeah, it
was a little nerving because I thought, you know, I
want him to be my guy.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
So, well, you didn't get the first impression, Rose, but
you do make it through night one and we see
that you get the very first one on one date
of the season. How did you feel getting that date?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
That was amazing. I had to look at that card
twice and read the letters because I'm like, that is me,
that's me. So I was really excited that he felt
maybe the chemistry I was feeling, and I was like, yes,
this is wonderful. I was just like the girls were
kind of disappeared now, and so I was so excited.
(15:38):
I didn't know exactly what it was going to be
all about. I just knew that I got this first
date and I was going to see mel.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I never would imagine.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
How and how did in from your point of view,
how did the date go?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
The date went amazing. I saw him, you know, walking out,
I had somebody help me with the girls, help me
with a few things.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, we see you do all the shopping with the
dresses and the jury and you have all your try on.
It was giving very like nineties makeover movie moment.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Oh my gosh. It was incredible. And I didn't realize
these were all gifts for me, and even the girls
that I chose were gifts to me. Those are the
girls that came to mind, and they are amazing girls.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well yeah they were your hype squad for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah they were. I was so grateful. You know, when
when I was young, I had an older sister of course, right,
so she always wanted to dress me, and she's like,
come to my house, share because you look good in
that South But she dressed me when we went out,
you know, and just goes and she go, yeah, you
look good in this, and she knew how to dress
me up. I just kind of liked that. So here
(16:51):
I am with these beautiful gowns, right coming from Italy
and New York. I was overwhelmed. I did get emotional.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, we saw you get emotional.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, and I needed my sister Rachel.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
So was that happy emotion? Was that sad emotion?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
No? As happy as can be. So when I'm really happy,
sometimes I'll just get really emotional, right, and I get
that way. Some people do, like I'm one of those girls.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Was it just overwhelming?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And you know you're thinking of your sister and all
these beautiful dresses. What was the emotion that you were feeling.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
I just felt like I was a princess. I was
in a storybook and this couldn't be happening to me.
So grateful.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So we see on your one on one date, we
see you open up to me about your past and
a pretty traumatic story you told about you know, the
birth of your child and your husband leaving. We don't
have to talk about it if you're not comfortable or
do you want to elaborate a little bit that or
(18:01):
you know, feel free.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
It was such an emotional thing, I'd rather not.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Elaborate on it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah. So, but you know, all in all, it ended
up to be a beautiful story with my son, so
son and his dad and thank God, right and forgiveness
is the story, you know, just the highlight of that story.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
How did it feel opening up to mal about something
so personal and how do you feel like he responded
and received your story?
Speaker 3 (18:32):
You know, he's such a good listener. I felt he
really felt my emotions and he listened very well, and
I felt comforted. I was you know, I felt comfortable
and I felt like he was, you know, a good
listener again, and I felt pretty secure telling him the story,
(18:52):
you know, even though I was emotional. So all in all,
I'm glad I did. And again, that night was amazing.
It was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
So you you're you're a fan of the show, you
know the way the show at least works to an extent,
You're not brand new to it. After your date with Mel, like,
where do you think you're sitting in the in the
leaderboard for a lack of lack of better term.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, yeah, good question. I feel like after that date
I might have had a shoe in. You know, I
felt good. I felt, Yes, this is amazing, I got
the first one on one Whoo, that's a big gold star.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And then where do you where do you hope that
it goes from here?
Speaker 3 (19:41):
So after that date that night, I felt like if
I wasn't sitting next to Mel, that he still felt
that chemistry with me, and because I know I felt
it with him, and I wanted to get to know
more about him, so I was hoping to get you know, more.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Time him going into later in this week's episodes, we
see that melcomes by for a pool party with all
of the girls. How do you feel like the pool
party went? I would imagine after having this undivided one
on one date that was amazing, There was fireworks. Was
it hard to see him interact with the other girls
and kind of go back to sharing that his time?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
It was all the girls came out beautiful swimsuits, you know, bikinis,
one piece. But yeah, it was hard because we all
jumped in and you know, it was whether you jumped
in the pool or not. You got to hold on
to him and I was able to approach him a
little bit, but the girls were moving in like sharks,
and I'll be honest with you, you know, kind of
(20:45):
turned him around and they had a nice big one
on him. It wasn't me.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, no, we saw in Nicoll.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, how do you feel about that? You have an
issue with that? Like, I know some some women on
the episode voiced their opinion and did have a problem
with it. But does that something that bothers you.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
No, that's not bothering me at this point. Yeah, No,
it's not bothering me. I think all of us girls
like to kiss, so it's good for Nicole. I wish
I would have snapped more kisses.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yeah, I actually I agree with you. I do. I
think it's kind of like, you know, it's it's it's
fair game. You know, you're all kind of competing in
you know, why hold back totally?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
But I can also understand why I was a little
uncomfortable for people too. Yeah, how did your conversation with
melgo at the pool party?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Did you get a chance to talk to him?
Speaker 3 (21:42):
You know, I don't believe I did. I'm trying to
think if I had. I mean, there's a lot of
girls right twenty three and uh, I don't recall that
I talked to him. I saw him getting in the
pool get out or the bull he jumped in the pool,
you know. Yeah, just like wow, I was amazed. He's
(22:03):
a beautiful, beautiful body. Takes good care of himself. I
know that.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
And yeah, we see at the row ceremony four ladies
get sent home. How did it feel seeing some of
your friends sent home? And were you surprised by any
of it?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
I was very surprised. Those girls were beautiful, and I
would have imagined quite all of them would have made
it further. That was sad, you know, because you're bonding
with the girls that first night, and of course the
next day I think I did get my one on
one and so I was kind of, you know, on
(22:43):
my own. So yeah, it was sad. I don't like
to see anybody going. He really did. I don't know
what he was thinking.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
To tell you the truth, but yeah, I mean he's
but at the end of the days, you know, he's
got to send people home.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
So yeah, he made some decisions, right, He made decisions
for himself, and you know, that that took a lot
for him. I'm sure it was hard for him.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, I'm gonna pivot away from the show from a
sex just a little more background. Before you went on
the show, what was dating life like for you? What
were you dating at all?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Not too much. Yeah, you know, when you date, it's
they you know, the guys want to get to know you.
And I'm working full time. I'm a caretaker for my mother.
She basically you know, it's hard, and when you say
you're a caretaker, I think these people are going to
go so but it's a good thing because I really
(23:46):
didn't have time for a relationship. I did meet a
couple of really amazing guys, but like I say, it
just wasn't my time.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah. What does your son think about all of this?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
He is loving it. He is so supported support to it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
And he's right there with me and gives me a
lot of just confidence and just a lot of help
with it. Because you know, what's a lot for me.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
When you when you went on or even during the show,
did you at all consider that you m l live
in different cities and what that would look like.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Yeah? I did. I got to thinking about that, and
I said, wow, if you know, I would be willing
to move to La of course I have other family members,
of course, for my mother, and you know, I was
open to whatever situation transpired.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Got it and going into the season airing, and you know,
we've only seen the first two episodes.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
What are you most excited about?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
So I'm nervous, you know, because it was emotional for
me a lot of it. But I am so excited
to see see how that just played out. Is that
fairytale that opening the book the first page? Yeah, and
seeing myself I'm very excited, you know. I can't wait
to see it on the big screen and watch what
(25:18):
he says. And there's so many things I'm curious about,
you know, and watching the other girls on their dates
and what he says to them, and yeah, I'm excited
about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
If you if you could tease the rest of the
season for us without spoiling it, how would you describe it?
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Wait and see it's a wild ride.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Ooh, I love it? All right?
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Well, thank you so much Cheryl for coming on the podcast.
Say is there anything else you want to say before
we let you go?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I want to say thank you. Joe and Serena. Everybody here,
Bachelor Nation. I love you all. Thank you for watching.
See how this works out.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
We welcome you guys.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you Cheryl, and to all our listeners, make sure
you download and subscribe to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
We have recaps and interviews from you every single week.
Thanks for listening. Bye,
Hosts And Creators
Joe Amabile
Susan Noles
Serena Pitt
Kathy Swarts
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