There sure seemed to be a lot of unresolved passion between Bachelorette Katie Thurston and Greg Grippo when they came face to face on After the Final Rose for the first time since the hunky finalist removed himself from the competition. But the 30-year-old is telling fans not to mistake the heat from their argument for lingering feelings she may have for Greg.
Katie ultimately gave her final rose to Blake Moynes, and the engaged pair watched the episode where Greg poured his heart out to Katie. He professed his love for her, only to have her respond, “I just love looking at you.”
“I was very honest with Blake leading into every single episode and we watched some of them together. [Greg’s exit episode] we actually got to watch a few weeks ago and we watched it right before going into filming After the Final Rose, so there was a lot of emotions that I felt that I didn’t feel in the moment with Greg,” Katie told Us Weekly.
“And that’s what people need to remember is After the Final Rose is about kind of speaking your own truth and getting it out there for that final closure. And really that’s what Greg and I both were able to do. And we’re ready to just close that door forever and move forward. You can be happy and in love in your relationship, but still be upset with how someone treated you in the past and you want to speak on it.”
When asked about internet buzz that she still isn’t over Greg, Katie responded, “It doesn’t make sense to forget how someone mistreated me and how it made me feel just because I’m very happy and in love. You have the opportunity to speak to someone who hurt you, you’re going to do it and you don’t really get that opportunity sometimes in real life when an ex does mistreat you.”
In the August 2 penultimate episode of The Bachelorette, Greg shared the heartbreak of losing his father and told Katie, “I am in love with you. You just make me the happiest I’ve ever been. I see it with you. This is real to me. I haven’t been this vulnerable with anybody in my life.”
After her response about how she loved to look at him, Greg lost it and told Katie, “I don’t give a f—k about the rose. I was just telling you that you filled a hole in my heart.” His final words to her before self-eliminating from the competition were: “I deserve more than what I’ve been given on your side. I’m not happy here anymore. I’m done here.”
When they finally came face-to-face since that moment during After the Final Rose, Katie raged to Greg, “I fill a hole in your heart, yet you treated me the way you did. You spoke down to me. You didn’t even bother to say goodbye,” adding, “You say you love me, but I don’t even think you know what love is.”