Greg Grippo and Katie Thurston had a confrontational and heated reunion on The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose, with Katie seeming scorned about Greg's alleged "acting" on the show and how she believed he never really loved her or had any intention of getting engaged.
ADVERTISEMENT
|
RELATED LINK: GREG GRIPPO IS ALLEGEDLY A "SCHEMER" AND FAME-SEEKER WHO TRIED TO GET ON 'THE BACHELORETTE' FOR "YEARS"
Katie definitely considered ending her The Bachelorette journey early after Greg crushed her heart, and Kaitlyn asked Katie if any part of her believed her split from Greg was her fault.
"In that moment, absolutely. I regretted not responding differently, and I kept replaying in my head, 'What did I do that was so massive -- for someone who is in love with me to then turn around and want to leave?' In that moment, I completely blamed myself," Katie revealed.
"I tried everything I can to make him stay. I am literally on my f-cking knees, begging this man to stay, and he's telling me it's not good enough. I never saw that side of him and I was very caught off-guard. I was like, 'Who are you? Do I even know Greg?'"
Kaitlyn announced Katie was "done" with the process when viewers saw the Bachelorette crying in a bathroom and wanted production to book her a flight home to Seattle, WA.
Katie said she wondered if she should chase Greg in that moment and didn't know how to handle the situation and what her next step should be.
Katie confirmed she and Greg hadn't spoken since their emotional goodbye, and she claimed she didn't know what she wanted to say to him that evening. A part of Katie was still angry and sad about Greg's departure.
"It's disappointing to see the way I was spoken to when I was trying to understand and communicate and save our relationship, and to watch him talk down to me and twice walk away from me, that's not a man," Katie declared.
Greg later sat in the hot seat next to Kaitlyn and Tayshia and revealed how he was doing okay and "laying low" following his The Bachelorette exit.
RELATED LINK: GREG GRIPPO ALLEGEDLY A "PHONY," SOURCE CLAIMS 'THE BACHELORETTE' FRONTRUNNER'S "NICE-BOY ACT IS NAUSEATING AND SAD FOR WOMEN"
Greg shared how he was convinced Katie was The One for him because they really understood each other in regards to the death of their fathers and she showed him how happy he could be.
![](https://cdn.realitytvworld.com/images/heads/gen/bachelorette4_deannapappas-stephenstagliano_178w.jpg)
Greg also said he's never opened up to someone like that before and he had given Katie everything he had when he professed his love to her.
"I just wanted a little something back in that moment," Greg noted, adding that there was a clear disconnect considering Katie had been hoping to save her "I love you" for one man in the very end.
Greg said Katie had struggled to open up her heart for him, and when asked if he has any regrets and would have done anything differently in hindsight, Greg replied, "No, not at all."
"Everything makes you stronger and she found her person, and I'm grateful for her honestly no matter what. She showed me another side to myself and brought happiness," Greg shared.
Kaitlyn and Tayshia then welcomed Katie on the stage and her entrance was extremely cold.
Katie refused to hug Greg and look him in the eye, and she walked right past him when he was apparently expecting at least a courtesy hug.
Katie had the floor and told Greg that she never felt he actually intended to ever get engaged during their journey together. Katie also said Greg had received a ton of validation from her "every single week" during the season in that she had given him the First Impression Rose, two one-on-one dates and private time on group dates.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' BACHELOR GREG GRIPPO'S SISTER SLAMS KATIE THURSTON AFTER KATIE "LIKES" MEME QUESTIONING GREG'S INTENTIONS
ADVERTISEMENT
Greg, seemingly speechless, said he was so confused as to why Katie thought that.
"Wow," Greg noted.
"I filled a hole in your heart yet you treated me the way you did!" Katie said, raising her voice.
"You spoke down to me, you didn't even bother to say goodbye. You say you loved me but I don't think you know what love is! Because that was a time that I needed you the most, and you ran away!"
Greg insisted he had ever intention of getting engaged to Katie and never would have introduced her to his family if he didn't.
Katie said while she's very happy with Blake, it doesn't fix or take away the anger she felt while watching The Bachelorette back. She then accused Greg of "using" her to get "experience and exposure" on TV.
"Dare I say acting practice," Katie said, "at my expense."
Greg awkwardly laughed about the "acting," and Katie responded, "It was pretty good -- until the end when you kind of f-cked it up and ran away."
"Listen, I hate to break it to you -- as much as I was wish I was [acting], I'm not Meryl Streep," Greg countered.
Katie explained how she had heard after filming the show that Greg attended acting school -- without ever mentioning it -- and she believed he was acting with her.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
"What I hear is Greg is not this shy-guy act that he was doing on the show, that he's actually this very confident and cocky boy from Jersey, who knows that he's hot sh-t and this is an act," Katie announced.
ADVERTISEMENT
Greg shook his head in disagreeance, and then Katie said it was more about the way Greg had treated her than it was about his acting past or aspirations.
"The small second that things got awkward for you and uncomfortable, you ran. You're a liar! You did not love me! If you think that's love, you don't know what love is," Katie said.
"That's not the truth at all, honestly," Greg replied. "The way you were speaking to me in that moment still, it didn't feel like you were on the same level as me in terms of where we were at."
Katie recalled having a total of three relationships going on at the time that she was trying to juggle and remain open to Blake Moynes and Justin Glaze. Katie said she was falling for multiple men and that's how the process works.
Greg apologized for Katie feeling like he was talking down to her, and Katie snipped, "Gaslighting, I think, is probably a better word." (She later defined "gaslighting" as a situation in which one person makes another feel like something is his or her fault).
Greg clarified that he was "passionate" during their breakup, which prompted Katie to correct him and blurt out "rude."
Katie argued that the way Greg had spoken to her wasn't okay, adding, "That's the way you speak to potentially your future wife?! That's how you resolve a disagreement?"
Katie said Greg had made her feel like she had done something horribly wrong when he just explained to the cameras how Katie didn't seem to reciprocate his feelings and they were on different pages.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
"You could've been a man and had a real conversation instead of being so rude and dramatic and leaving me without even saying goodbye," Katie griped.
Greg apologized for the way things had ended between them, saying it was a tough environment to be in. Greg said he wishes he could go back and change how he communicated his feelings in that moment, when his mind was in a million places at once.
ADVERTISEMENT
Katie recalled doing everything she could to keep Greg to stay, including being on her knees.
"He had the nerve to look down on me and say, 'I deserve more.' I don't want that. I don't regret anything," Katie announced.
"The hometowns were perfect, and had I just kissed you goodnight and left, that wouldn't have happened. And so for you to hold onto that one moment and use it as your escape, it just feels shady. It feels like you were never really there for me."
Greg attempted to explain that it wasn't just one moment that upset him or turned him off. Greg explained how Katie had called him a "frontrunner" when speaking to his mother, whom Greg had told that Katie was The One.
Greg also said that after he told Katie that she filled a hole in his heart, she said he'd have a rose.
And finally, Greg told Katie that she never asked him to leave or said, "I'm not going to do this without you or I'm coming with you."
Katie said it didn't make sense for her to fight for Greg after he had spoken down to her and she had used Bachelorette terms such as "roses" and "frontrunner" when describing their relationship because she still didn't know whom she was going to end up with in that moment.
"That's the way it works!" Katie shouted. "There were three relationships going on... Please take him [away]."
Greg insisted he had given Katie his full self and he never anticipated he would fall in love the way he did. Greg said he only plans to propose marriage once in his life and Katie's terminology scared him.
"I felt like you were playing The Bachelorette role with me instead of just being Katie," Greg explained, adding that Katie withheld some emotions from him and was unable to vocalize how she truly felt in attempt to save her "I love you" until the end.
"Just as much as you wanted somebody to be certain about you, I also wanted that on my end."
ADVERTISEMENT
"I wasn't asking you to end your journey. I shouldn't have asked the woman I'm possibly going to marry how they feel? You should be able to want to tell me that. I shouldn't have to ask that," Greg explained.
Katie said she did tell Greg how she felt week after week after week, but Greg continued, "A relationship is a two-way street, and yes, I know you're the Bachelorette, but still, that doesn't put you any higher in this relationship and me any lower."
The audience clapped for Greg, and the bachelor added, "I emptied my heart out to you on that couch, and all I got was just a pat on the back after it."
"I just wanted something real at the end of the day. I wanted it to be a two-way street, especially at that point in time," he said.
Greg told Katie that if she really wanted him and was going to choose him, she'd stop him from leaving -- and she didn't. Greg therefore suggested Katie's lack of action told him how she was feeling.
"You're right, yeah, I didn't leave for you," Katie responded in defense of wanting to pursue her other relationships on the show. "My person was not Greg, and when he left, so did everything I felt for him."
Kaitlyn acknowledged there was still a lot of hurt on both sides, but then both individuals wished each other "nothing but the best" before they parted ways.
After the Final Rose concluded with Katie and her winner, Blake, making their first public appearance as a happily-engaged couple. Katie said her relationship with Blake is better and stronger than ever and she's truly and madly in love with him.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski