Blake Moynes is one of Katie Thurston's remaining two bachelors following Greg Grippo's departure on The Bachelorette's seventeenth season.
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Blake is a 30-year-old wildlife manager from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The Bachelorette finale for Season 17 is only hours away on Monday night, and Blake is hoping to receive Katie's final rose.
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However, Katie must pick up the pieces after her emotional breakup with the season's obvious frontrunner, Greg, who broke Katie's heart when he decided to quit on her due to the lack of validation and reassurance he had received after expressing his love.
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While Katie was smitten with Greg since Day 1, Blake quickly gained ground and won his way into Katie's heart.
Katie assured Blake's mother Emily during his hometown date, "I know that if it's Blake and I in the end, it truly is forever," and Blake told his sister Taylor that Katie is definitely "The One."
Blake confirmed there was "zero question" in his mind about whether he was ready to propose marriage.
"Love comes with time. I truly believe we're right there. I feel it. I feel love... more than I ever have. Tonight I want to tell Katie that I love her. But the word 'love' is something I take really seriously.... because this is it," Blake said in a confessional.
At the end of Blake's hometown date, he essentially choked and was afraid to use the word "love."
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The pair may have failed to exchange verbal declarations of love, but Blake said he felt confident in what he was feeling for Katie -- and he was also convinced that the Bachelorette loved him through the way she had kissed him goodbye.
"I see myself getting engaged to Katie," Blake concluded.
Until The Bachelorette fans can watch what happens in The Bachelorette finale and whether Katie chooses Blake or Justin Glaze, let's learn some information about Blake right now.
Below is a list of 13 facts Reality TV World has compiled about Blake Moynes.
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Blake Moynes is a two-time The Bachelorette contestant who has dated three Bachelorettes
Once Clare Crawley quit The Bachelorette's sixteenth season, Blake chose to stick around and give Tayshia Adams, Clare's replacement, a chance.But Tayshia eliminated Blake during a one-on-one date in the process of determining her Final 4 suitors. She sent Blake packing a few bachelors shy of a hometown date along with Bennett Jordan, Noah Erb and Riley Christian.
"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.
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"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?"
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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."ADVERTISEMENT
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?
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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.
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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."
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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.
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"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."
Blake is a member of Soldiers For Wildlife, a nonprofit organization
The group of conservationists from around the globe work together as the Soldiers For Wildlife to make the world a better place for wildlife and the indigenous people of Africa.Blake therefore travels to Africa quite often and absolutely loves visiting the country.
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Blake was good friends with Brendan Scanzano before The Bachelorette
Photos of Blake and Brendan together from before The Bachelorette exist on Instagram.And Bachelor in Paradise bartender Wells Adams confirmed to E! News that the two guys were friends before they began competing for Katie.
"Blake and Brendan, the guy with, like, the bouffant, knew each other before the show," Wells revealed.
"And Blake suggested to Brendan to go on the show. And so when he shows up... he's like, 'What're you doing here? You told me to come here!'"
Both Brendan and Blake are from Ontario, Canada. While Brendan lives in Toronto, Blake lives in Hamilton.
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The pair play recreational hockey together and have done so since at least 2019, according to Us Weekly, and Brendan also hangs out with Blake's brother, Cody Moynes.
After Brendan was eliminated during the July 19 episode of The Bachelorette, viewers can probably recall how he stopped by Blake's room to say goodbye, although their friendship wasn't featured on the show.
"Life long friendship on and off the ice with this guy. He is awesome and like a brother to me," Brendan wrote July 21 on Instagram. "Guess we had to address the elephant in the room @blakemoynes #TheBachelorette #BachelorNation #Canadians #Canada."
ABC's finale preview suggests Blake may also quit on Katie
ABC released a preview ahead of The Bachelorette's August 9 finale that shows Blake lamenting, "If Katie's still hung up on Greg, there's no point."The preview then shows Blake approaching Katie at the Final Rose Ceremony, with Justin's fate on the show unclear.
"I can't give you what you came here for," Blake tells The Bachelorette star as she cries.
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The promo ends with footage of Blake walking away and another shot of Katie standing on the proposal platform by herself.
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