‘Golden Bachelor’s’ Mel Owens & Peg Munson on What’s Next & ‘DWTS’ Dreams (Exclusive)

“The Golden Bachelor’s” Mel Owens and Peg Munson have now gone public with their relationship!

“Extra” spoke with Mel and Peg, who opened up on their future plans.

Mel said, “I feel great. Wonderful. Finally, we’re free to move about together. Before we, you know, different cars, different locations. Cars are different, come and go, different, can’t say anything. You gotta be quiet, can’t share information. And my friends were like tormenting me because we’re friends. ‘You can tell me.’ I didn’t… So it feels better now.”

Peg is “elated” about everything, saying, “The journey’s done. The process is done. We’re here and I’m so excited to get to the next chapter.”

Where does the couple go from here? Peg dished, “We have a lot planned. We’re going to Vegas right after this. And then after that, we’re going back to Detroit, Michigan, for Thanksgiving. And we’re going to a University of Michigan-Ohio State game. We’re going to Hob Nobble Gobble. It’s a gala… And then we’re going to spend Christmas in Rio and then we’re going to the Super Bowl in February and then back to Vegas in December for his birthday. We have a lot planned.”

Mel called it “natural,” commenting, “It wasn’t like we’re going to plan all this out. I go, ‘Oh, since we’re going to be together, this is what I would like to do.’ And she goes, ‘This is what I would like to do.’ So she goes, ‘All right, let’s do it all.’”

Peg and Mel have been spending a lot of time together. She shared, “We have a lot of things that we have in common. So that definitely adds to that connection and that bond with each other.”

On the season finale, Mel offered Peg a promise ring. He recalled, “I wanted to have at least some inclination that she was going to be on board with it because I didn’t want to surprise her, right? She doesn’t deserve a surprise and be caught off guard. So, we discussed it, you know, like if it would happen, would you be okay with it? And she was. So, I didn’t want to surprise her.

“I got to know her, you know, on the show and like I told the other person, I had a crush on her from the beginning and I wanted to make sure that she was the one. So, I paid… a lot of attention to her, on and off camera.”

He added, “The ring is this symbolic basically of our friendship and our love… to move forward and it means a lot and it’s a promise and… I don’t take it lightly.”

Mel gushed about Peg, saying, “She’s just wonderful to be around and to enjoy. She’s funny, witty, and, you know, a lot of energy and I feed off of that and it’s really wonderful to be around.”

Peg also had great things to say about Mel. She said, “One thing I know about Mel that I’ve learned in this whole journey is… he is not going to get married just for the sake of getting married. He’s not going to get engaged just for the sake of getting engaged. And I respect that. I do. There’s too many people out there that just jump way too soon and then a couple of months or even a couple years later, it doesn’t work out. And I don’t have time to waste and neither does he.

“So we wanted to really build this firm foundation of a friendship. You’ve got to know somebody before you can fall in love with somebody. You’ve got to like somebody before you love somebody. So for us, if both of us, and I can speak for both of us, it takes time. It really does. And we’re both looking for that firm, sustainable foundation that’s going to last for a lifetime.”

And if they got a phone call from “Dancing with the Stars,” Peg is in! She stressed, “1000%.”

Mel chimed in, “I’m gonna nominate her right now. She can dance.” 

Peg emphasized, “But I would love to do that. It was one of my dreams, to be honest with you, to be able to… I would love to be the first Golden to get out there and really just, you know, work my butt off.”

She smiled, saying, “So ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ call me, please.”

The two weighed in on who should be the next Golden Bachelorette, showing major love for Debbie! Mel said, “We love her.”