Vault: Jake of Dancing With The Stars calls in

Summary

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The Bert Show – "Vault: Jake of Dancing With The Stars calls in"

Original Air Date: July 28, 2026
Guests: Jake Pavelka ("Dancing With The Stars," "The Bachelor")
Host/Cast: Bert, Kristin, Abby, Cassie, Tommy & Bert Show team

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Episode Overview

This episode features a lighthearted yet candid conversation with reality TV personality Jake Pavelka, known for his appearances on "The Bachelor" and "Dancing With The Stars." Jake calls in to discuss his recent exit from "Dancing With The Stars," his emotional reaction on the show, the physical and mental toll of competition, and the supportive relationships he built during filming. The hosts delve into real talk about vulnerability, masculinity, and coping with the ups and downs of televised competition, all with the show's signature blend of humor and authenticity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jake’s State of Mind & Life After DWTS

• Physical and Mental Toll:

  • Jake jokes about needing therapy, both mental and physical, after 10 weeks of dancing:

    "Try dancing for 10 weeks. See what it does to your body. You definitely need some physical therapy." (01:20, Jake Pavelka)

  • Admits to being exhausted after a long night with little sleep following a wrap party and travel:

    "I went to the show, you know, and saw Pamela Anderson off. And then Tom Bergeron had a little after party that he does every single year. And then I rushed out to LAX and I flew all night. So I've had less than two hours of sleep." (02:14, Jake Pavelka)

• Humor Around Mental Health:

  • Bert and the co-hosts tease the distinction between physical and mental therapy as Jake opens up.

2. Behind the Scenes at "Dancing With The Stars"

• The Bergeron After-Party:

  • The hosts inquire about legendary DWTS host Tom Bergeron:

    "That rock star doesn't even get at it. I think he invented the party." (02:36, Jake Pavelka)

  • Jake describes how massive the cast and crew are, emphasizing the teamwork and family environment:

    "I think there were two or three hundred people there. Half of them I didn't even know. You know, like the story department, the editors...It's incredible." (02:39, Jake Pavelka)

• Tom Bergeron’s Personality:

  • The hosts rib on Bergeron’s “old school” vibe, and Jake pays respect to his wit:

    "It's like a college education just listening to him talk. The guy's so quick on his feet." (03:29, Jake Pavelka)

3. Jake’s Emotional Exit & Vulnerability

• The "Tears" Moment:

  • Jake offers context for his emotional goodbye after being eliminated, saying it was real passion and not just TV drama:

    "If it's just business to me, then I'm not going to do it. Life's way too short for all that crap. I want to feel everything that I'm doing because you only get a certain number of breaths in life..." (05:13, Jake Pavelka)

  • He relates to athletes who cry when their season ends, emphasizing the emotional investment involved.

• Views on Masculinity and Crying:

  • Jake flips the narrative about male vulnerability, saying:

    "If you have never seen that guy shed a tear, that is such a red flag. What do you think it means? Definitely appropriate to cry. Even as a guy..." (07:36, Jake Pavelka)

  • The hosts echo this, joking about "floodgates opening" and referencing emotional TV moments.

4. Relationships Post-Show – Vienna & Chelsea

• No Tension between Vienna and Chelsea:

  • Jake reassures the hosts that his girlfriend Vienna had no jealousy about the friendship with his dance partner, Chelsea:

    "Chelsea is just a really great spirit...I was very, very lucky to get to know her." (05:54 & 05:59, Jake Pavelka)

• Replay & Reenactment:

  • The hosts play and reenact Jake’s emotional farewell to Chelsea on the show, with everyone laughing at the sincerity—and lasting embarrassment—of reality TV soundbites.

5. Jake’s Legacy on the Show & “On The Wings of Love”

• Embracing the Meme:
  • The show ends with playful teasing about Jake’s musical catchphrase "On the Wings of Love," and his status as a pop culture figure synonymous with earnest emotional moments.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tom Bergeron:

  "That rock star doesn't even get at it. I think he invented the party."
  —Jake Pavelka, 02:36

• On Emotional Investment:

  "If it's just business to me, then I'm not going to do it. Life's way too short for all that crap."
  —Jake Pavelka, 05:13

• On Crying, Masculinity & Red Flags:

  "If you have never seen that guy shed a tear, that is such a red flag."
  —Jake Pavelka, 07:36

• Playful Self-Reflection:

  "I worship Jeffrey Osborne."
  —Jake Pavelka, 09:05 (On hearing 'On the Wings of Love' repeatedly over the years)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Jake Joins the Call & Discusses Therapy: 01:00 – 01:25
• DWTS After Party & Behind the Scenes: 02:14 – 03:42
• Emotional Exit & “It’s Not Just Business”: 04:51 – 05:36
• Addressing Vienna & Chelsea Dynamic: 05:36 – 05:59
• Reenactment of Farewell Speech to Chelsea: 06:02 – 06:39
• Views on Crying and Masculinity: 07:36 – 08:07
• Closing Shout-outs and Reflections: 09:08 – 09:25

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Tone / Style

• Warm, self-deprecating, humorous. Jake and the hosts keep the mood light, often poking fun at themselves and each other.
• Sincerity in Vulnerability. Jake displays genuine emotion around his experience, balancing the show's comedic jabs with honest reflections on feeling and expression, especially around male stereotypes.
• Behind-the-Scenes Realness. Fans get a true insider’s glimpse into the DWTS cast, camaraderie, and production reality.

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Useful For

• DWTS and Bachelor Fans: Get closure on Jake’s emotional exit and insight into the off-camera experience.
• Men’s Mental Health & Vulnerability: Noteworthy conversation about the appropriateness and necessity of male emotional expression.
• Pop Culture Listeners: Enjoy playful nostalgia and reality TV behind-the-scenes stories peppered with memorable catchphrases.

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Transcript

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[Jake Pavelka]

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[McDonald's Announcer]

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[Jake Pavelka]

Refreshers contain caffeine.

[Burt (Host)]

You're on the Burt show. All right. Jake is back. Hey, Jake.

[Jake Pavelka]

Hey. How are you?

[Burt (Host)]

Good. How are you this morning?

[Jake Pavelka]

Good. I might need some of that therapy stuff you were talking about a second ago.

[Burt (Host)]

What'd you do?

[Jake Pavelka]

Well, just, you know, just trying to figure life out.

[Burt (Host)]

Oh, no, this is physical therapy. This isn't mental therapy.

[Co-host 1]

But he does that too.

[Jake Pavelka]

Well, try dancing for 10 weeks. See what it does to your body. You definitely need some physical therapy.

[Burt (Host)]

Well, no, I think that's way more interesting to talk about the mental stuff you're talking about. Like, why would you. Why would Jake, who seems to be like all Americana, need to go into a psychologist office?

[Co-host 1]

You are the perfect man.

[Burt (Host)]

Yeah, dude.

[Jake Pavelka]

Oh, I don't know if I would say perfect. I wish it were true, though.

[Co-host 1]

You're on the wings of love. That's where perfection lies.

[Burt (Host)]

Something's bothering you today, man. What's going on?

[Co-host 1]

Yeah,

[Jake Pavelka]

well, I'm actually looking at my yard in Dallas here, and I'm thinking this is going to be. I've never seen. I've never seen more crabgrass in my life.

[Burt (Host)]

So the reason why you would go to see a therapist is because your crabgrass, I think you started to get a little real with us and now you're pulling back. I think you're pulling back on us.

[Jake Pavelka]

This morning.

[Co-host 2]

Either that or you woke up this morning and smoked a pound of weed.

[Jake Pavelka]

No, actually, I didn't sleep at all last night. I went to the show, you know, and saw Pamela Anderson off. And then Tom Bergeron had a little after party that he does every single year. And then I rushed out to LAX and I flew all night. So I've had less than two hours of sleep.

[Burt (Host)]

I want to talk about this Bergeron party. Does he, like, party? Like. Like a rock star, man.

[Jake Pavelka]

That rock star doesn't even get at it. I think he invented the party.

[Burt (Host)]

Seriously.

[Jake Pavelka]

He does a good job every year. And it's. You know, you can't. It's not. It wasn't Jake Pavelka plus Vienna. I mean, it was just. It was just the cast and the entire crew. So. You know what's incredible? How many people it takes to put Dancing with the Stars on. I think there were two or three hundred people there. Half of them I didn't even know. You know, like the story department, the editors, and, you know, the light operators that are up there in the grid while the show's going on, moving all those, what, 60,000 lights around. It's incredible.

[Burt (Host)]

Bertrand, to me, seems like that old school radio guy that still drinks scotch, you know, cigars.

[Co-host 2]

Got a pipe.

[Burt (Host)]

Yeah, got a pipe. And maybe not entirely appropriate with women all the time, but it's only because he's older and he doesn't know any better.

[Co-host 1]

Yeah, Tom brushed my butt. But that's okay. Cause it's Tom.

[Jake Pavelka]

You know. You know what? It's fun hanging around the guy. Because it's like a college education just listening to him talk. The guy's so quick on his feet. You say something, you gotta be ready. Cause he'll throw it back in your face.

[Burt (Host)]

Right.

[Co-host 2]

Just so you know, Jake, when you're referring to. When you're using the words quick on their feet in a sentence, you can't just stop talking after you say that. That makes it very apparent that you're not.

[Burt (Host)]

Or we're not. Right? All right, Jeff. Really, we want to talk to you today because Jeff has beef more than anybody else.

[Co-host 2]

It's not beef. It is kindness, Jake. Because last time you were on with us, which was a week or two ago, you ended the conversation by saying hi to friends you had in Vinings. Cause you used to live out here.

[Jake Pavelka]

And you said, yeah, absolutely. Used to live right off Cumberland.

[Co-host 2]

Right. So we talked real briefly. But then you had time. You had to go. So knowing that you still have people in Atlanta that know you personally, I thought it would be cool to give you the opportunity to personally explain. And an apology isn't necessary, but a justification is probably needed for the significant display of emotion that occurred once it was announced you would no longer be

[Burt (Host)]

dancing before, because now there's some space between when it actually happened.

[Jake Pavelka]

Runs in the family. Let Me tell you what. No, it's. Have you ever noticed the football players on the sideline? Tony Romo, whatever. I think Tim Tebow had one. When you're doing something that you're so passionate about when. When, you know, when it's over, you get a little emotional about it because it meant so much. You know, I. The way I've lived my life and my principle, the way I was raised is, you know that old motto, don't take it personally. It's just business. Let me tell you what. If it's just business to me, then I'm not going to do it. Life's way too short for all that crap. I. You know, I want to feel everything that I'm doing because you only get a certain number of breasts in life, and so if it's not very personal to me, then I'm just going to skip over it. It's not worth time.

[Co-host 1]

Now, did Vienna have any problems about you saying to your dancing partner that she was your best friend?

[Jake Pavelka]

Oh, no. Absolutely not.

[Co-host 2]

No.

[Co-host 1]

Okay. To Chelsea, when you were like, you're one of my best friends, I thought, oh, I wonder if his girlfriend's gonna be upset about that.

[Jake Pavelka]

You know, I think Vienna would probably feel the same way. Chelsea is just a really great spirit.

[Co-host 1]

That's cool.

[Jake Pavelka]

A wonderful person. I was very, very lucky to get to know her.

[Co-host 2]

The. In case somebody didn't hear it, we can play the audio of you at the end.

[Jake Pavelka]

Wait, wait, wait. I can just do it for you right now? Is that what they call it?

[Burt (Host)]

Let's hear you reenact it.

[Jake Pavelka]

Yeah, go ahead and play it. I'm ready. I'm sitting down.

[Co-host 1]

Is there anything that you want to say to Chelsea?

[Co-host 2]

Thank you so much, Chelsea.

[Jake Pavelka]

You're one of my best friends.

[Co-host 2]

I have loved every second of this. I love you. Thank you for being so great to my beautiful fiance, Vienna.

[Jake Pavelka]

And they're. Thank you, everybody, for watching and keeping me in.

[Burt (Host)]

If you're in my circle of friends, that is endless crap for the rest of our relationship.

[Co-host 2]

Have you heard that?

[Jake Pavelka]

You know what? It's. You know, being on that show really meant something to me. You know, I mean, it was. It's. You know, dancing with the Stars is like. It's like a family, and you have to immerse yourself so deeply into it, and then all of a sudden, the rug is just ripped out from underneath you when it. Because it starts, you know, like, just immediately. It's like going from zero to light speed in one second, and then it's. It just you hit a wall, and it's over. And I actually didn't feel that coming. It just all of a sudden, it just. I just all of a sudden got choked up about it. But, you know, I'm just an emotional type guy. You know, I'm not afraid to show it. And, you know, I think you saw it a lot during the Bachelor, but it's, you know, it's moments in life that, you know that I really mean it. It's something that I was very passionate about, you know, coming to an end. And I gotta. You know, I've said it a couple of times during interviews, but, you know, if there's any girls listening, you know, if you're. You've been dating a guy for a long time, if you're engaged, if you have never seen that guy shed a tear, that is such a red flag. What do you think it means? Definitely appropriate to cry. Even as a guy, I could tell

[Burt (Host)]

you right now that if I just. My tears, to me, are like water behind a dam, that if I start crying over something little, everything from my childhood will come out and it will be ugly for, like, 25 or 30 straight minutes.

[Co-host 2]

He watches Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and we lose him for four days.

[Burt (Host)]

The floodgate would be open hotel, growing a beard.

[Co-host 2]

Jake, some words they say, you know,

[Jake Pavelka]

cry at your wedding, cry when your kid's born. Stuff like cry when you're off Dancing with the stars, they're sending 25 women home.

[Co-host 2]

The only, you know, advice I could give you going forward is some words that mean a lot to me, and that's on the wings of love, up and above the clouds. Thank you, Bert. Oh, you lost me.

[Spinquest Announcer]

Gone.

[Jake Pavelka]

I love it.

[Co-host 2]

Happy singing about, brother.

[Jake Pavelka]

Sorry about the crab song. In my head, you know, just this past year, how many times I've heard that song.

[Burt (Host)]

I know.

[Co-host 1]

I would imagine.

[Jake Pavelka]

I worship Jeffrey Osborne.

[Burt (Host)]

All right, Jake, thanks a lot for the time, man.

[Jake Pavelka]

Hey, thank you so much for having me on. And tell Atlanta thank you so much for the support and all the votes. I. I saw all the Twitters that they sent.

[Burt (Host)]

All right, ma', am, we will.

[Jake Pavelka]

All right, take care.

[Spinquest Announcer]

Bye. Bye.

[Jake Pavelka]

Are you gonna cry?

[Co-host 2]

He's just getting off the phone with us. No tears.

[Burt (Host)]

It's an intense dude.

[Co-host 1]

He's very, very serious.

[Jake Pavelka]

That's crap emotional.

[Co-host 2]

It was cool that he called us after getting baked.

[Co-host 1]

He's just a little off timing. He's one of those guys that tells you everything and you only want to know.

[Burt (Host)]

He's the guy. Wendy is right. He's the guy on your first date, tells you everything, shows you all of his cars and everything.

[Co-host 1]

Just hide him from me.

[Jake Pavelka]

Forget just a little bit.

[Co-host 1]

See, it's the balance of the line. See that he's so good looking that they're, you know, he's, you know, you'd

[Burt (Host)]

be bored to cheers with him in two weeks. You'd be so bored with him.

[Co-host 1]

To me, he's. He's almost like a soap opera actor on the soap. On the soap.

[Co-host 2]

You mean like the character? Not. Not the actor, but the character they play.

[Burt (Host)]

Listen, it's the vert show.

[Jake Pavelka]

Hey, everybody.

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[Jake Pavelka]

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[McDonald's Announcer]

All new drinks are now at McDonald's with refreshers like the strawberry watermelon refresher and the mango pineapple refresher with popping boba to crafted sodas like the sprite berry blast with berry flavors and cold foam. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire six? All new drinks are here now at McDonald's.

[Jake Pavelka]

Refreshers contain caffeine.