BACHELORETTE star Katie Thurston has shocked fans with a confession about her engagement to ex Blake Moynes.
The couple, who got engaged in season 17 of the ABC dating competition series, called it quits in October 2021, claiming at the time that “distance” drove them apart.
ABCBachelorette star Katie Thurston made a wild reveal about her engagement to Blake Moynes[/caption]
TikTok/thekatiethurstonThe reality star turned comic claimed it was all ‘fake’[/caption]
More than a year after the split, Katie, 32, has shared some new information about the demise of the relationship.
The former ABC star posted a TikTok video of a stand-up comedy set she did which featured a crack about her engagement to Blake, 31.
Katie kicked off the set asking: “Anyone going through their h** phase already?”
The term refers to a period in one’s life during which they are sexually free and open to multiple partners with little to no attachment.
Her comment elicited wild cheers from the audience and several responses.
Speaking directly to an audience member, she asked: “Are you in your h** phase now or?”
The show attendee replied: “No, I’m actually engaged.”
Katie then started asking questions about the engagement, which the audience member revealed had been going on for roughly a year.
She asked, “Okay, so, what’s taking so long?” to which the woman replied: “Money.”
The ex-Bachelorette quipped back: “Money. That’s fair. That’s fair. See, my engagement it was…uh, fake, so…that was what took me so long.”
FANS REACT
Fans had a lot to say about Katie’s comments, sharing the video on a Bachelorette-themed Reddit page.
One critic commented: “So she’s saying she will fake engagements if she has to and gets paid to.”
Another speculated: “I think she’s still in love with Greg [Grippo] and is mad at herself for falling so hard for him.”
A third commenter joked: “As someone whose only ever 50+ downvoted comment was me saying I think her and Blake are faking their engagement, I’ve never felt so vindicated.”
Someone else cracked: “I mean, on the Bachelor, ‘getting engaged’ is pretty much saying you are ‘going steady’…”
NOT SO BLISSFUL
Katie and Blake got engaged at the end of 17 after he arrived on the show well after her other suitors and appeared to charm her.
Some months later, in 2021, it was revealed that the pair had called it quits.
At the time, a source to the U.S. Sun exclusively that “distance” was a factor.
Katie was living in San Diego at the time while Blake resides in Canada and spends a significant amount of time in Africa.
Additionally, Katie’s “outbursts became too much for [Blake] to handle.”
The insider added: “Katie flew up to Canada early Saturday just a few hours after the comedy show and saw Blake for the first time in a while.
“I don’t think she flew there necessarily knowing it would be a breakup trip, but she knew they’d be forced to address a lot of things that they had been putting off for a while.”
The same source claimed at the time: “Blake wasn’t ready to leave Canada and Katie wasn’t ready to move there.
“She just set down new roots in San Diego and loves it there.”
They continued: “Another big thing they had issues with was their communication styles.
“Katie is much quicker to call little things out whereas Blake just lets things slide.
“Her outbursts eventually became too much for him to handle.”
The source concluded: “At the same time, Katie felt she was putting more into the relationship than he was.
“So it’s a number of issues and not one person’s fault.
“They were just clearly not compatible and rushed into things.”
FAKING IT?
Katie isn’t the first Bachelor Nation alum to slam the show as phony.
In fact, someone else from her season shared similar concerns.
Greg Grippo, one of the frontrunners for her heart, revealed in 2021 that he left the show because it was “too scripted.”
The New Jersey native appeared on the We Met at Acme podcast to chat about his decision to walk away from the show despite being a fan favorite.
He claimed it all just “felt too scripted.”
Greg added that he understood he had to “play by” the rules of the show and had no issue with “there being two other guys there” in the fantasy suite, but said that he wanted a little more maturity from everyone involved.
“I wasn’t looking for the show to end, I wasn’t at all,” Greg said. “I wanted us to communicate on a mutual level in those moments.”
As one of Katie’s front-runners, he claimed it was “a really tough decision to leave [and] one of the hardest things” he’s had to do.
Greg said on the podcast: “If this is going to be the person I marry, I want it to be completely real.
“And, like, yeah, I want to show my family after and be like, ‘Look that we accomplished, look at what we went through.’
“That’s one of the hardest things, I feel like, to make it out of the mud with someone, you know, [on] that damn dating show.”
Greg maintained that his feelings for Katie “were real,” but said he didn’t believe that she had that “mutual love” for him.
He added that he believed she always had “stronger feelings for Blake.”
ABCShe and Blake got engaged during season 17 of The Bachelorette[/caption]
GettyThe pair called it quits in October 2021[/caption]
Katie has been largely quite about the split and has moved on
