As Katie Thurston and John Hersey’s relationship continues to go strong, Blake Moynes is reflecting on his time with the Bachelorette and their sudden split.
“I say, ‘I’m good,’ only because it’s been time,” the 31-year-old wildlife manager told Ben Higgins on the Thursday, February 10, episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast. “Time heals a lot of things and time just allows you to kind of reflect and just move past the mayhem that’s happened.”
Bachelor Nation watched Katie, 31, accept a proposal from Blake during the August 2021 finale of season 17 of The Bachelorette. At the time, viewers were questioning whether the lead was over Greg Grippo, who quit after a tense hometown date. By October 2021, the pair called off their engagement and less than one month later, Katie announced she started dating fellow season 17 contestant John, whom she had remained close to since sending him home on week 2.
“We talked very cordially after we announced the breakup, and we were really good with that. And then, obviously, all the other stuff happened. Since then, we have not spoke,” Blake told the season 20 Bachelor on Thursday. “But she has reached out to me. I just have not been [in] the place yet to respond to it. Especially the time that it all kind of was unraveling, I didn’t want to respond in a place of emotion and right in the heat of things when I haven’t had time to reflect.”
Blake added that “there will be a time where I can respond” to Katie’s outreach.
“But there’s no point in doing it where I’m going to speak out of emotion,” he continued. “She’s happy. She made the decision — although, you know, I didn’t like it — she made the best decision for her, just like I would make the best decision for me. It didn’t play out the way I wanted it to, and it could have probably been handled different, but I have no time for a grudge.”
Katie made waves in November 2021 when she announced her romance with John through a Taylor Swift challenge, assigning songs to her exes. While Blake got “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the bartender was assigned “Begin Again.”
“I do think she’s a good person and things played out not in a great way,” the Canada native said. “I will respond to her, and we will make up, 100 percent, one day. It’s, just, not yet when it still feels kind of fresh. … There will always be a little piece that won’t heal until I have that wrap up conversation with her. … It will come. I know it will — because we’re both mature. It’ll get there, it’s just not yet. I think I should be the one to determine that just because I was on the wrong end of it.”
Blake concluded that a conversation with Katie is not a “priority” for him at the moment. “That conversation is sitting at the bottom of my to-do list right now,” he said. “I know it’d be better for both of us if we do [talk]. It definitely would be for me.”
Scroll through for more post-split confessions from Blake:
Blake first appeared on Clare Crawley’s season 16 of The Bachelorette, telling Ben that he put the lead on a pedestal going into the 2020 season. “I built Clare up for sure. [Tayshia Adams and Katie], not necessarily, but when I got there, yeah, I mean, you know, everything was perfect there,” he explained. “I think [Katie and I] really did vibe and mesh really well. … We didn't have one thing hold us back. Aside from, you know, some of the Greg stuff that happened. Our dates, every conversation we had it was it was up and up, we didn't have a little setback. It was easy to fall in love. It was easy to get there. It's easy to feel like this was the most incredible thing ever. And then real-life came.” ABC/Craig Sjodin
After Blake told Ben that he doesn’t regret his time on the show, he admitted that he hopes Katie feels the same way. “I have those doubts, like, ‘Was I default?’ [after] all those things with Greg. So I want to feel like this wasn't some dumb fake thing,” he explained. “I want her to be like, ‘This was as real as, you know, I have those feelings … the same ones you had.’ [To know] I was on the same wavelength. … I want it to feel as real on her end as it did for me. … [And] I really do believe that [she does], I think.” ABC; Robert Smith/INSTARimages.com
“We have Instagram, we all these things where we can get so attract somebody because people spill their life through social media, so you get attached to that and thinking you know somebody based on an app or social media or photos or video, and they can come to real-life. And it's not organic, the vibe isn't there, the energy isn't there,” he said of returning to the dating scene down the line. “You set yourself up for failure because it's not organic. … I want to try it like the old days, I want to meet you in person, I don't want to put an emphasis on what I think you are before I meet you. And so [I’m] taking a step back from doing that going forward.” ABC/Craig Sjodin
“I will get over the fact that she made her decisions and moved on — I will eventually get over that,” Blake said. “She is happy she made the decision to do that because it made her happy. All we want in life is to be happy. We can't think about everybody else as much as we want to, but you really got to think about yourself first. And yes, sometimes that's gonna throw people to the wayside that you ultimately loved, cared about, all those things.” Blake noted that you can’t “put a solid number” on when it’s appropriate to move on, but acknowledged, “She, maybe, could have been announced a little later [or changed] the ways that she did it” to soften the blow. ABC(2); Shutterstock
When asked whether he’s watching Clayton Echard’s season 26, Blake revealed The Bachelor gives him “weird feelings” at the moment. “I’ve watched the first two episodes I haven't since,” he said. “Someone told me that Clayton went on, you know, a horse state to a country singer date and that was my 1-on-1 with Katie. I just — I don't need to go back there.” ABC/John Fleenor
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