“I don’t want you to ever forget this. Vienna, I love you … Vienna, will you marry me?”
Talk about betting on The Underdog: Jake Pavelka chose bad girl marketing rep Vienna Girardi to be his bride on Monday night’s season finale of The Bachelor: On The Wings Of Love.
After kicking off the season with 25 women, Pavelka narrowed the playing field down to two: controversial firecracker Vienna and bubbly sweetheart Tenley Molzahn. Although he claimed to be in love with both woman, the 32-year-old airline pilot from Dallas, TX chose Girardi over fan fave Tenley on the explosive season’s four-hour finale event.
Before tonight’s season ender, Jake told PEOPLE that he was pleased with his decision and hoped the public supported his choice: “I just hope that everybody understands the decision I made because I’m the one who has to live with it. The show will keep going, another season will get under way and the public will move on to being obsessed with another person’s budding romance, but my life will keep going so I tried to make the best decision I could, the one that I could live with. I still feel like I made the right decision now a few months later. I’m happy because of that.”
On the car ride home, a jilted Tenley tearfully insisted that Jake had chosen the wrong woman.
“My heart feels broken right now. Hurts pretty bad,” she weeped, wiping away tears. “I want a man who can love me for every piece of me and who just lights up my life and I light up his. And I see Jake. Jake will see the mistake he made and I feel bad for him. I think he’s gonna see it, I think. I don’t think he knows what he wants….”
According to The Associated Press, the success rate of The Bachelor has been relatively poor. Only four of the 13 other couples are still together.
Pavelka will compete on the forthcoming 10th season of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, premiering March 22.