If you don't like the decisions Jake Pavelka has made this season on "The Bachelor," tough.
The starchy 32-year-old commercial flight instructor, who has flown through the 25 women vying for his affection faster than any leading man on the seemingly never-ending ABC dating franchise, says he doesn't need to justify his romantic choices to the show's fans, who have been especially vocal that he kept fire-starter Vienna Girardi around.
"I don't have anything to apologize for," Pavelka declared during a recent interview.
Girardi, a 23-year-old marketing representative from Geneva, Fla., has been the source of much drama this season and is one of three remaining women, all of whom Pavelka has professed he loves. The other two competing are 26-year-old swimsuit model Gia Allemand from New York and 25-year-old college admissions representative Tenley Molzahn from Newberg, Ore.
"I know that America doesn't really understand," Pavelka said. "It sounds so jaded and so bad, but who is the authority that says the human heart can't be in love with more than one girl at the same time? That's what I was taught, that it can only happen with one girl at a time, but that's not the truth. I was crazy about Ali, Vienna, Tenley and Gia."
Viewers were distraught Pavelka did not try harder to persuade Ali Fedotowsky, one of the four contenders remaining on last Monday's installment, to stay after the Facebook advertising account manager revealed she would lose her job if she didn't go back to work. Pavelka did not think Fedotowsky would actually leave, and doing so "broke my heart that night."
"She rejected me, unfortunately, for her job," he said before releasing a sigh. "I get it. I really do. It's such a tough position. Man, it just kind of makes my heart hurt. I knew when she left that night that she was a really unhappy girl, and the most important thing to me was Ali's happiness. When she left, there was nothing I could do."
Despite a disarming smile and unflappable demeanor, Pavelka has been one of the most frustratingly unpredictable bachelors in the show's 14-season history. During the fourth episode, he dismissed four women, even though he was only slated to eliminate one. He likens his rapid-fire rose ceremony dismissals to "pulling a Band-Aid off really fast."
Pavelka, who was one of the suitors competing on "The Bachelorette" last season, isn't quite as awkward in person as he comes across on TV. When asked if the show is fake, he vowed he's never been instructed to say or do anything by producers, although if it is phony, he joked that he wants to be nominated "for an Oscar because I'm a great actor."
Whether the pilot's on-air dating exploits or genuine or not, millions are along for the ride. Ratings for "The Bachelor" haven't been this high since the fifth season in 2004 when football player Jesse Palmer was looking for love. The franchise's bad romantic track record — only four couples are still together — has not deterred its success.
On Monday's episode, viewers will see Pavelka travel to St. Lucia with the three remaining women. It's on that Caribbean island where he said a romantic exchange will begin to "fire off a good, fruitful relationship." Pavelka would not say if he's still in love with multiple ladies. He just promised that the March 1 finale would be amazing and crazy.
"I think I fall apart," he said, "because the emotion and the connection with the women is so strong."
Per an agreement with the network and producers, Pavelka maintained that he has not been in contact — no phone calls, no e-mails, not even text messages — with any women from the show. He also said he understands Jason Mesnick, last season's bachelor who infamously dumped the woman he proposed to on the finale for the one that he earlier ditched.
"I know not everybody agreed with what Jason did, but he followed his heart," Pavelka said. "He did what was right for him, and he made decisions that he could live with for the next 60 years of his life, and that's what I did — not necessarily what everybody expects you to do but decisions that you can definitely live with."