Jake Shane Reflects on His Highs and Lows of the Year, from Movie Roles to OCD Spell 'That Hasn't Gone Away Yet' (Exclusive)

Jake Shane is reflecting on his year of A-list interviews and viral moments. The influencer and host of Therapuss podcast talked to PEOPLE on his Oct. 27 birthday about his latest Poppi collaboration and other highlights of his year as he turned 26. Shane contemplated his “Rose, Thorn and Bud” of being 25, a.k.a. the best moment, worst time and blooming opportunity. “My rose was that I shot my first movie with Lewis Pullman and Maya Hawke,” said the comedian of the upcoming Graham Parke-directed movie, Wishful Thinking. “I felt so honored that they wanted me to do it, to begin with, and just the experience exceeded every expectation I had. I was so grateful to be there, it was just really, really, really special.” When it came to pointing to difficult times, Shane opened up about his mental health struggles. “My thorn was that I had a few mental breakdowns this year that weren't super awesome,” he explained. “I had a pretty bad OCD spell that hasn't gone away yet.” Despite his struggles, Shane felt optimistic with his upcoming projects, like starting Therapuss’s third season and ending the current season. “I'm looking forward to the finale guest,” he explained. “I'm really proud of that interview. I'm just excited to really hunker down and work for a minute.” Part of the work he is proud of are his “real” partnerships, like Poppi’s Major Flavor Tour. “So when I was really posting 17, 20, whatever times a day, I would always post about Poppi. So the partnership started the most organic it could be,” he said of how his relationship with the drink brand first came to be years ago — he even starred in their 2025 Super Bowl commercial. “We just keep on doing newer and newer and newer things.” The latest iteration of their partnership? The Major Flavor Tour, where viral stars like Love Island’s Amaya Espinal and JaNa Craig, Connor Wood and Shane pop up on different college campuses for Poppi-focused events. For example, Shane took over a Fayetteville, Arkansas bar on Oct. 24 to hand out sodas and soda-based cocktails to University of Arkansas students. “We kept it up in Fayetteville,” Shane, who drinks Poppi “every day,” explained of the pop-up. “It was pure joy.” Being around fans and students made the University of Southern California alum nostalgic of his own college time: “I forgot this type of joy existed. That's how it felt to be back in the college world,” he joked. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, literally, the only thing that matters to everyone is what are we doing tonight?’”