Blake Moynes: 10 things to know about 'The Bachelorette' star Katie Thurston's bachelor Blake Moynes

Blake Moynes quickly went from new bachelor to frontrunner on Katie Thurston's season of The Bachelorette.


Blake is a 30-year-old wildlife manager from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, who joined Katie's season late in the game.

"If it came down to the end and we connected in a way that I think that we might, we would be engaged at the end of this. I didn't come here to disappoint, and I wouldn't do that to you. That's just not me," Blake promised Katie.

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Blake brought a little baggage with him to the show given he had previously dated both Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams on The Bachelorette's sixteenth season last year, but Katie didn't seem to care.


In fact, Katie invited Blake on a one-on-one date shortly after he became an official member of her cast.

Katie believed she could be herself around Blake and that they're very similar, and after a couple steamy makeout sessions, the couple also had a deep conversation about being sex-positive and how Katie had been sexually assaulted 10 years ago.

Blake promised Katie that she'd never have a reason to be afraid of him, and he received a rose.

"I definitely took a gamble with Blake; I didn't know what was going to happen. But after tonight, I know I made the right decision," Katie said in a confessional.

Katie later added, "I could see myself walking away with Blake at the end of this. There -- I said it! And it's the truth."


And Blake gushed about how Katie had given him trust and honesty.

"Today could be the first date with my future wife," he said while beaming ear to ear.

Until The Bachelorette fans can watch Katie and Blake's romance progress on the show, let's learn more about this returning bachelor right now.

Below is a list of 10 facts Reality TV World has compiled about Blake Moynes.

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Tayshia sent Blake Moynes packing a few bachelors shy of a hometown date

Once Clare quit The Bachelorette's sixteenth season, Blake chose to stick around and give Tayshia a chance. But Tayshia eliminated Blake during a one-on-one date in the process of determining her Final 4 suitors.

Blake was sent packing around the same time Tayshia had chosen to eliminate Bennett Jordan, Noah Erb and Riley Christian as well.

"I care for Blake, but when I looked in his eyes, I was looking for more validation and confidence in the situation. I don't see it. Maybe that's why we haven't progressed like some of the other relationships," Tayshia shared in a confessional.

Tayshia said both of their hearts were fully open, but then she suddenly realized, "I don't think he's my guy -- and I have to tell him that."

Blake told Tayshia that he needed more time to show her all that he has to offer, but Tayshia believed they had run out of time with family dates right around the corner.


"I wish we had more time. I just don't know if we can get there. It's not that you're not an incredible guy, I just don't know if the timing was just off for us. I think it's time to go our separate ways," Tayshia told Blake.

Tayshia said Blake has all the qualities she wanted in her person and he's "such a great guy," but she knew her heart was "more invested" in some of her other relationships, including her romance with the eventual winner Zac Clark.

Tayshia broke down into tears upon saying goodbye to Blake and nearly dropped down on the ground hysterical with emotion after he left.

"I didn't see that coming -- at all," Blake said following his ouster. "How did that change so quickly? She still has no idea -- no clue -- I'm, like, so crazy about her."

Tayshia said the goodbye "really hurt" but she felt confident in her decision.


Following his elimination, Blake told Us Weekly that he thought Tayshia "had her guard up" with him because he had feelings for Clare at the start of the season.

Blake said he actually saw a lot of "potential" with Tayshia, adding, "If it was Tayshia from the beginning, I think my story would have been a little bit different."

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Blake DMed Katie while Matt James' The Bachelor season was airing

Blake revealed he had actually reached out to Katie after the "very first episode" of Matt's The Bachelor season to compliment her on her bold entrance and how confidently she had carried herself.

"It was just literally a simple reach out. It wasn't like, 'Hey, I'm into you.' No, it was like, 'I f-ck-ng love that you did that. That was f-ck-ng awesome. Good for you,' and this and that," Blake shared.

"It wasn't like, 'Hey, I'm super into you! I want you.' No. And that was out of respect, you know?"


Blake said, however, Katie's responses back to him were "very cold" and so there was no follow-up conversation.

"She was nice, but there was just no -- like, she didn't open up her dialogue in any way," Blake recalled. "So it was shutdown right then and there, and it was kind of like, left alone."

Katie had confessed she "wasn't interested" in Blake when he first reached out

Katie told former The Bachelor star Nick Viall during a late June episode of his The Viall Files podcast that Blake had sent her a video on Instagram with no actual written text.

Katie said she "wasn't surprised" Blake had sent her a video -- which "disappears so then there's no evidence" -- because he "wasn't the first guy" to send her one and test the waters.

Katie flat out confessed on the podcast, "No offense, I was not interested" in Blake at the time.

Katie therefore just sent a polite "thanks" video back to Blake, which was a little "awkward," according to the Bachelorette, since the pair happened to be complete strangers at that point.


"I will say he wasn't very obvious with his intentions, and we brought that up when we talked. I was like, 'I didn't even know you were interested in me,'" Katie shared.

"He just very casually tested the waters but didn't try too hard. And I wasn't interested."

Katie also confirmed she and Blake "never FaceTimed" after their initial DM exchange on Instagram, nor did they develop any time of friendship or connection outside of the show.

"I didn't take him seriously," Katie told Nick.

"[I was] like, 'Yeah, he's doing the same thing everyone else is doing, whatever.' And that was it... It takes, for me, meeting someone in person and knowing there's an actual connection when you feel it."

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The Bachelorette bachelor studied outdoor education at college

Blake attended Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario from 2009-2011.

He then transferred to Thompson Rivers University in 2012 and continued his education there until his 2014 graduation. In addition to Outdoor Education, he also studied Adventure Tourism Management.

Blake says he's a really hard worker

At university, Blake claims to have studied every kind of wildlife management program he could get his hands on.

Blake now spends his days working outdoors and he says his job makes him really happy. Professionally, Blake feels he has it all, but he's looking for someone to share life with.

Most of Blake's friends are married and he's tired of being the last single man standing.

Blake reveals what he's looking for in his dream girl

Blake's dream woman is outdoorsy, beautiful and fun. Blake looks for a woman with a goofy side, who won't be offended or turned off by his self-described "potty mouth."


Blake insists he has no problems talking about his emotions, and so he wants his significant other to appreciate the fact he wears his heart on his sleeve.

Blake, however, was confident Clare was the woman for him when he initially signed up for The Bachelorette, so will he be wrong again with Katie?

The Bachelorette bachelor sells his own line of merchandise

Blake sells official merchandise, mainly T-shirts, on his website blakemoynesshop.com.

Some of the proceeds raised from Blake's shop are apparently donated to wildlife conservation, and every item purchased plants a tree.

All of the products are made from organic or recycled materials. One T-shirt, for instance, was made from 7-12 recycled plastic water bottles.

Blake's interest in wild and marine animals extends to animated ones as well

Blake is a huge fan of the Ninja Turtles. He says he loves the Ninja Turtles as much as the Ninja Turtles love pizza.


Blake also enjoys a good picnic, and he apparently volunteers with a different endangered species every year.

Blake says he thought he had a 50/50 chance of Katie keeping him on her season

When Blake met Katie for the first time in-person and on-camera, he said he didn't know whether she'd accept his request to join her cast of bachelors.

"Walking in, it was like a 50/50 tossup [Katie would keep me around] for me," Blake revealed on the Click Bait with Bachelor Nation podcast.

"At the same time, there's a side to this that online, because of the way that she was on Matt's The Bachelor season and then the way that I was on [Clare and Tayshia's] season, people would tag us nonstop every day saying comments and posts like, 'You guys would be great [together]! You guys would be great!' And there's no way she didn't see that, because I saw it all the time."

Blake continued, "But we never approached each other about it at all. So I knew in the back of her mind, she may have thought... she might've had an inkling that out of anyone [on Tayshia's season] it could potentially be [me] because everyone was trying to ship that."

Blake said he ultimately "felt good about" his first face-to-face interaction with Katie but he "wasn't sure."


The bachelor said he was shocked when Katie surprised him at his hotel room later on to officially invite him onto the show.

"[I was] not expecting her at all" and "had no idea it was going to happen," Blake recalled, adding that he was "so nervous" to hear what she had to say.

Nick Viall predicted Blake will probably go very far on The Bachelorette

Although Blake's late The Bachelorette entrance stirred up some drama, Nick believes it was "a great idea."

"I think it's great TV. Blake is going to get crap obviously for someone who fell in love with Clare without validation and fell in love with Tayshia without validation. So when he's like, 'I'm in love with Katie,' it's fair to question," Nick said.

"I don't question that he believes what he says; you just kind of question, like, 'Do you just kind of love hard, bro?'"

But Nick guessed Katie would keep Blake around -- and probably for a while at that.


"They focus a decent amount on Blake in the season preview, right? And Blake is -- interesting as he was on [last] season -- he wasn't necessarily a star. He wasn't like this huge character... So that tells me that he's going to be around," Nick shared.

"And yeah, I think it's great. I'm rooting for Blake. I hope and I think he'll do well. I think he'll shake it up. I will be interested to see how the guys respond to him... [Aaron Clancy] is going to, oh my God, [flip out]. That's already pretty predictable."

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski