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SPOIL ALERT: Don’t read ahead if you haven’t watched Katie Thurston’s season finale of “The Bachelorette,” which aired Monday, August 9 on ABC.
When “The Bachelorette” began this season, the drama was off-screen, surrounding now-deceased host Chris Harrison. But by the end of Season 17, the drama was back in prime time and revolved around reality stars desperate for love.
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Principal Lady Katie Thurston left with a ring on her finger and a fiancé in Bachelor Nation alumnus Blake Moynes.
But the finale didn’t end without a dramatic journey that included a major twist and huge shock with frontrunner Greg Grippo, who left the show on his own the week before the fantastic sequels, leaving Thurston and tears and completely stunned viewers at home.
In last night’s episode of “After the Final Rose,” Thurston sat down with Grippo for the first time since filming ended. She did not withhold anything, because she criticized the candidate for having “enlightened” her, after he walked away when she did not return his declaration of love. Thurston’s comment – and Grippo’s reaction – sparked a wave of opinions on social media.
Today, for the first time, speaking to Variety, Thurston’s fiancé reacts to Grippo’s conduct, standing behind his future wife.
Moynes says Grippo’s behavior brought back negative memories of his childhood, which “sparked” him. (Moynes’ parents separated when he was young, and he was raised by his mother, Emily, who is now a life coach, running her own business that specializes in coaching women to break toxic relationships; his mother said on Instagram that she endured two “painful divorces.”)
“I mean, listen,” Moynes said Variety. “The way I see it is if it’s the love of your life, you don’t talk to him like that. You don’t. You fight harder and he didn’t.
Moynes continues: “There was chatter and stuff. It’s hard because I’m trying to put myself in this situation… that’s how I try to judge. And I never would have approached it that way, so I just saw it as wrong.
“I grew up in a home where this type of behavior was a constant for 17 years and saw what it can do to my mom, in this case,” Moynes shares. “And so, that kinda triggered me. It reminded me of a brutal past, to some extent… I hope Katie knows she never has to hear that from me.
Here, Katie Thurston adds her thoughts to Greg’s drama, and what’s next for her and her fiance – plus, she weighs in on the backlash she’s faced on TikTok throughout her season.
In the end, you said your family didn’t know you were engaged. Guess that was one of your first phone calls last night?
Katie Thurston: They knew we were together because I was leaving so much to go and see him secretly, but they didn’t know on what level. They supported me a lot. We are not a traditional family where I have to make sure they have a warning or have a serious conversation which is why I was comfortable with them for them to find out the same way that most of our two families found out.
Explain to me the last few months, since you finished filming – you obviously had to hide your relationship, so what was that process like?
Blake Moynes: It ended at the end of April. I basically lived the summer in quarantine because I had to go visit her and then I would have to quarantine for 14 days when I got back to Canada, then I would have to go visit her again and I would come back in quarantine. So it was tough for sure, but we survived thanks to FaceTime.
What’s the next step for both of you? Blake, you are in Canada, so where are you going to settle now?
Thurston: Well I don’t think we were really settling down anywhere. We agreed to live together, but pieces at a time, whether in Canada [or] San Diego. He will sometimes be in Africa and so, if I can join him, I will. There will be times when we’re apart, but we just have this freedom to be able to jump together, and I think that’s probably what we’ll do for the first year, at least.
Do you both want to step out of the limelight and live more normal lives, or do you want to stay in the entertainment industry?
Thurston: I don’t think the entertainment industry is where we’re headed. We have a lot of similar alignments in terms of direction in life, and what he wants to do with his advocacy for animals and the planet are things that excites me as well and excites me as well. So it’s really exciting to see what projects we can work on and what kind of education we can bring to the people who follow us on social media and give a new perspective that people might not be fully exposed to in this moment.
Katie, before you got into this franchise, you had a lot of fans on TikTok. And you mentioned Bachelor Nation’s reaction on social media – good and bad. Are you eager to get back to TikTok without being in the middle of “The Bachelorette?”
Thurston: It’s unclear if I’ll be going back to TikTok because it was more of a COVID quarantine issue that accidentally exploded. Now we get out of the house and we can do things and travel. Because COVID will hopefully go away, I’m not sure how much content we’re going to create compared to real life.
You have changed your TikTok handle. It used to be “Vent With Katie”, and now it’s just your name. There were a lot of rumors that you were getting negative feedback because you were too open, so can you explain to us why you changed your username on social media?
Thurston: It was just better for the show and for people to find me. The show represents me and I represent them. Mixing a different brand with “Vent With Katie” would just cause a lot of confusion, and so, it was just easier to be me representing myself and the show supporting me. The title “Vent With Katie” was like a TikTok COVID name. [It’s] in the background at the moment.
Let’s talk about the major elephant in the room. Obviously, the proposal was the biggest news from last night, but what made the headlines the most was all the drama surrounding Greg’s story. Blake, when was the first time you watched this?
Moynes: I would have seen it just before going on stage, just before the recording of “After the Final Rose”.
Katie, have you watched “After the Final Rose?” What were your thoughts?
Thurston: Yeah, it’s hard because I first watched the episode right before seeing Greg, so those emotions are very fresh and Bachelor Nation hadn’t seen it yet. I had no idea how heavy this topic was going to be, regardless of your side or point of view, so now given that it [had] been a week of listening and understanding, I think all I can do is support Greg and his healing journey and everything he’s going through. I came down hard and got a lot of anger. If I get the chance to talk to someone who hurt me, I will.
Do you think Greg was taking action?
Thurston: It’s hard to say. I mean, I can speculate all day, but at this point, I don’t really care if I have an opinion if he was or if he wasn’t. He was in acting school, take that for what you want. In the end, it helped us both to make the right decision to start and me to stay. And I ended up with exactly who I’m meant to be with.
Have you spoken to Greg since recording “After the Final Rose”?
Thurston: No, I haven’t contacted him.
Katie, you went from Greg to Blake. And Blake, that’s something you can relate to because there was Clare and Tayshia and now obviously Katie. A lot of viewers say, “How is it possible that you fall in love so quickly, after thinking that you were in love with someone else?” “Can you both explain what it’s like to be in this void of the show and how it can impact your emotions?”
Thurston: You’ve removed all the distractions and all you can do each day is focus on the relationship. I was very open from the start and fell in love more than once. I think that it is possible. It wasn’t until the end that I really had to start comparing men… I kept each relationship individual. Each guy had something different to offer. People question Justin’s presence, and it’s really unfortunate because there’s a reason he was there. But when you have two hours a week you can’t show a lot… you might not understand how I can like Blake, but there is so much you couldn’t see, unfortunately.
Moynes: The first time I went there was to try the show and it was Clare. Then Tayshia came in and you’re trying to separate the two, which is very difficult to do in a short period of time, and so, that’s why you saw the very slow transition with Tayshia, which really wasn’t much- thing… I really was in Katie [but] there was no way I was going to do this “Bachelorette” thing again – it’s not that fun; it really is not. But I was like, “I believe in this, and let’s go meet her and see how it goes.” And I’m so glad I trusted my gut, to fight for someone I really had a good feeling for because now we’re sitting here.
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