Charlie Toft,
Oct 13, 2009
ABC took their good sweet time to make the announcement, but now it's official: Jake Pavelka will be the next Bachelor. The rumors had been building for several weeks, but the official word was handed down on Tuesday night's edition of Dancing With the Stars.
Pavelka, a pilot from the Dallas area, was the sixth-place finisher on this past summer's edition of The Bachelorette. In recognition of his profession, the upcoming 14th season of The Bachelor will carry the subtitle On the Wings of Love, though given the franchise's track record for failed romances, expect plenty of "crash and burn" jokes in the coming months.
See previous Bachelors and Bachelorettes
Unlike the most recent Bachelor Jason Mesnick, who was eliminated at the very end of the Bachelorette process, Pavelka was given the boot by Jillian Harris at a relatively early stage, in the sixth episode. But he made a return trip to the show that cemented his name in the memories of Bachelorette fans, when he warned Harris that another contestant, Wes, actually had a girlfriend he was keeping secret, and had only come on the show to gain publicity for his music career. Some fans found Pavelka's actions to be the sign of a self-righteous sore loser, but others found him heroic. At the very least, his dramatic return made him more memorable than either Kiptyn or Reid, the second and third place finishers on The Bachelorette and the men believed to have been the other prime contenders for the role Pavelka now fills.
