This is the only way i managed to do it, and its done when another select is changing. (maybe thats the cause other solutions don't work, please note the extra ""+ to force it to be a string. (otherwise not working)
In the controller:
$scope.formData.number_of_persons = "̲"̲+̲ $scope.numberOfPersons[0].val;
HTML:
<select name="number_of_persons"
id="number_of_persons"
ng-model="formData.number_of_persons"
required>
<option ng-repeat="option in numberOfPersons" value="{{option.val}}">
{{option.val}}
</option>
</select>