Is DWTS a Popularity Contest? Jake Pavelka Sure Thinks So!

Former Bachelor tells us he's shocked how hard it is to get America to vote

What's the hardest part of being on Dancing With the Stars?

No, not the long rehearsal hours, the physical exhaustion or even losing your pants...It's having to work to make people like you. At least, that's the case for a certain rose giver who's used to having a house full of women fight over him.

Here's what former Bachelor Jake Pavelka told us...

"I think dancing-wise, I've been doing OK," Jake says of his time so far on DWTS. "The thing I wasn't really prepared for was this is a little bit of a popularity contest! Right now, it's not as much about your dance, it's about how many votes you're getting. I've been focusing 150 percent of my energy on learning to dance and kind of neglecting that there are 25 million people who don't know they have to vote to keep who they enjoy watching on."

You hear that, America? If you like Jake, you have to pick up the phone. He gives you his digits to call and everything. And yo, looking him up on Twitter wouldn't hurt either.

"I look at the competition," Jake says, "and [Chad] Ochocinco has 800,00 people on his twitter! I have 16,000. Which by the way, my twitter is @JakePavelka1. I try to retweet everybody that tweets me so I can take everybody along on this journey of me learning how to dance."

Jake, who was "shocked" when he landed in the bottom two, had stayed out of the bottom two the past two weeks. And he's aware he's up against some serious competition. "It seems like everyone else has been established in Hollywood, or they've walked on the moon, or they've run touchdowns for the Bengals. Everybody has a huge personality, and most everyone can dance."

Speaking of, Jake calls Nicole Scherzinger his "best friend" on the show...Maybe she could teach him a move or to?

—Reporting by Megan Masters