Gorgeous Texan Jake Pavelka sent thousands of hearts soaring during last season's Bachelorette when the commercial pilot returned to the show after being dismissed by Jillian Harris to warn her about a smarmy suitor will ill intentions. Tonight, Pavelka returns to ABC to hopefully find love among 25 women that range from a Nebraskan nanny to a woman allegedly sleeping with a crew member.
Before the holidays, Movieline spoke to Jake as he relaxed in sunny Dallas, about discovering the therapeutic elements of the show, the preparation that goes into each exotic date and his short acting career playing a young Chuck Norris.
Hey Jake. How is your holiday season going so far?
Well, it's almost 50 degrees here in Dallas. I think it's been almost 15 years, no, I think it's been longer than that since we've had snow. 1984 was the last white Christmas.
Will you be able to spend time with your family? You aren't sequestered in some kind of hotel room prison to prevent you from revealing the outcome of the show?
[Laughs] No, no. They let us go outside every now and then. We wrapped filming about two weeks ago and everybody's back home with their families so to answer your question, yeah, I'll be with my family this Christmas.
Got it. But you won't be able to see your hypothetical fiancée...if you proposed to someone at the end of the show?
No, I can't -- other than talking to producers and the people that make this happen, I can't talk to any of the cast. You get really close to some of these people and then you can't talk to them.
That must be difficult. How soon after completing The Bachelorette did you hear from producers about becoming this season's Bachelor?
I don't remember a specific date. It was kind of a long process. They called shortly after the wrap just to see where I was in life and how I was feeling about how Jillian's season turned out. I was really happy she found Ed. It was within a couple of weeks. They completely vetted me and did their due diligence trying to find out who the next Bachelor would be.
How did the producers screen you to find out what kind of women you are interested in? Were there extensive questionnaires?
It took a lot of face-to-face meetings about what I was looking for. They're trying to break you down and figure you out your temperament, your love language, your complexities in life, what's worked in past relationships, what hasn't worked for you, your ideal girl. That was probably the most impressive thing -- how producers took so much time to get to know me, I don't want to say intimately, but at that level.
From the previews, it seems like you were dealing with a great group of girls who were always up for fun. In [tonight's] premiere, there is even an impromptu game of football with all of the women in their gowns. Who initiated that game?
[Laughs] That was a good time. It actually kind of pulled me out of a heavy moment. It was perfect timing. The girl that initiated that just had really good timing. I agree with you though, it seems like with each season, the producers get better and better at matching.
How important were first impressions for you? Did you click with a few women immediately?
I think that out of all 25 women that they invited to the show this year -- [Chuckles] -- I'm trying to look for little things I can poke holes in but they were all amazing women. Whoever ends up with these girls is just really blessed.
So there were no fireworks that first episode that told you, maybe, I would really like to know these five girls better?
That's what I thought it would be like, that after that first night, I would know what the final four would be. I can remember approaching episode five and still having no idea who the final four would be. That made the rose ceremonies really tough. I had to think about what I was doing and how I was feeling and the trick to that was not overanalyzing the girls, but overanalyzing myself. You know, "I feel this way about her, but why exactly am I feeling that way?"
Do you have anyone to talk about those feelings with since you can't be calling friends or family?
A lot of the producers and a lot of the people with me around the clock are in successful relationships or have been married a number of years and have really been able to offer good, sound advice. And that has absolutely been a blessing. I don't know if they do that on purpose. Especially the executive producer -- he's the kind of guy that makes having kids and a family seem like it is so much fun. He makes every guy in America want that picture perfect family like he does.
I'm relieved to hear that you really did not know who you were going to pick at the rose ceremonies. In seasons past, the bachelor will go up to that dimly lit room filled with photos of each girl, and painstakingly talk through his emotions. And I always questioned the genuiness of that moment. I didn't understand how you could not just know that Tammy was the girl for you.
I can't speak for the other bachelors and bachelorettes but that is something that I wished for. I wanted this to be hard. I was hoping that every girl on paper was a perfect match for me. And boy, I got my wish.
I can't imagine. How much input did you have in choosing the dates?'
I pushed pretty hard for an aviation-based season, near and dear to my heart. Each date though, [the producers and I] would sit down and do some planning. For the most part, they had a general direction for which dates they thought would be really good and what they would do is present me with a series of dates. And I would say, "Yeah, that is awesome and something that I would absolutely do with a girl." They would present some options and then we would tweak them together on one of them. I was able to make each of the dates my own.
Do you remember a date that producers suggested that you refused?
When we were planning, that was one of the things they were asking me, you know, "Describe the most romantic date you've ever been on. Describe the most romantic date you would like to ever go on." Different things like that when they were trying to figure out my temperament and how I thought, how I dated. What they do is study your dating patterns. The greatest thing about it is when you have an outside set of eyes looking in and you're talking about past relationships, you start learning a lot about yourself.
How many times did you get to fly during the season?
Oh boy. As you know, there is always a lot of aerial stuff on the show. We were off the ground several times this season.
What was the most surprising thing for you now that you were at the center of the Bachelor?
A lot of things are coming to mind but probably the most surprising is that at 31, I never thought that I could pull all of those overnighters anymore. When you're filming, you pull a lot of overnighters -- or allnighters -- I say overnighters. I mean stay up all night. I didn't think I had the energy to do that anymore. What's funny is that you know when you get 25 women living on top of each other in a small mansion -- whatever sized mansion it is -- is you know, you have 25 people there and it's small. How quickly you learn to deal with the drama and not let it affect how you're feeling. What I mean by that is you could take 25 carbon copies of me and put them together in a house and it doesn't matter, we're going to butt heads about something. You know, you hear about it, take it with a grain of salt, roll it off and just keep going.
Was there one bachelor whose season you really admired and you aimed to replicate this year?
If I had to compare myself to anybody, it would probably be Jason Mesnick. But in that, I don't know him very well at all. We're probably very different in decision making.
I was on the Bachelor message boards earlier today and some of your fans had uncovered a few clips from your role on Walker, Texas Ranger as a younger version of Chuck Norris' character (video below). How did that come about?
That came about when I was in high school in 1996. What happened was I was just trying my hand at a little bit of acting. I don't know if they had a script rewrite or what happened but I was called in for an audition but I got the part because I was the same height as Chuck Norris. It wasn't that I was talented, I was just the right height. So I got through casting and they asked me if I could shoot the next day and it was one of the neatest things I've ever done. I went back for a couple of episodes but I learned that in real life, acting was not for me. It was a really special time in my life though. [Chuck] is by far, one of the nicest guys I ever met.