Justin Glaze found out he wouldn’t be the one proposing to Katie Thurston during the Aug. 9 finale of The Bachelorette. After nearly leaving the show due to a breakup with Greg Grippo, Katie pulled herself together and decided to give things a shot with her final two guys, Justin and Blake Moynes. However, it wasn’t long before she realized that Justin wasn’t the person who she was meant to be engaged to. In fact, she decided to end their relationship before even getting to the final rose ceremony.
Katie went on her first fantasy suite date with Blake Moynes, and he told her he was in love with her. Even though she was waiting to use that word until the final rose ceremony, Katie gave in and admitted that she loved Blake, too. They spent the night together, and by the time she got to her date with Justin, she knew her heart was with Blake.
Katie got to it right off the bat with Justin and was very straightforward about what was going on. “I want you to know that I know how hard it was for you to tell me that you were falling in love. That is something I thought about every night since,” Katie told Justin. “I was looking forward to today. However, I did have my overnight with Blake and in that, I did tell him that i am falling in love with him. That is something I can only say to one person. You are someone I wanted to explore things with, but given how I now feel about Blake, knowing that I am in love with him, it wouldn’t make sense for to hve us move forward and go on this date. It wouldn’t make sense to have you meet my family. That’s where I’m at.”
Justin was obviously blindsided and upset. “After my hometown when we had that talk, I was kind of just like…’Was [love] something that I shouldn’t have said?’ But my whole thing with you is that I wanted to be 100 percent,” he explained. “It’s tough because I do see what opening up can do for you, but I also feel now the other side of what that can do, and it’s not a fun place to be.”
Katie assured Justin that he did the right thing by opening up to her the way he did. “Remember how far we got BECAUSE of you being open,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing I want you to know. When you open up, you offer so much. I’m so thankful for our moments. You are such a great guy. I know you’d be a great husband and great father. It’s not easy and I don’t make this decision lightly. It’s been on my mind all day and I’m sorry.”
Even though Justin was upset, he had nothing but positive things to say for Katie. “I think the world of you,” he admitted, before saying goodbye. “I think everything that I’ve said to you is 100 percent true. I just hope you know how special you are and what you bring to the table. I hope he knows what he has in you and he doesn’t take you for granted.”
Justin then appeared on After the Final Rose, where he discussed how he was feeling about the breakup several months later. “It hurts just as much now as it did then,” he revealed. “I know how strong I felt about Katie in that moment and how blindsided I was by that. Katie knows how hard it was for me to get to that place where I could open up and be vulnerable and put myself out there. When you get to that point where you’re seriously considering proposing to somebody, you have a lot of love for that person. For it to all come to a screeching halt…your heart just gets stepped on.”
Finally, Justin and Katie got to come face-to-face to discuss the breakup. When he started addressing Katie, Justin immediately broke down in tears. His biggest question for Katie was where he stood in her eyes before Michael Allio and Greg Grippo decided to leave the show on their own accord. “I just, at times, kind of felt like maybe I was here by default because I didn’t have that opportunity to see where our relationship could’ve gone,” he admitted.
Katie insisted that wasn’t the case. “I think that’s a completely fair question,” she revealed. “It truly wasn’t until that date with Blake that I felt in my heart like, that instant moment of….this is my person. So I do hope, Justin, that you do know, based on everything we’ve gone through, that you were there for a reason. We did have a huge connection. There’s so many unseen moments that we shared.”
Justin appreciated Katie saying that to him, and he ended their conversation by thanking her for getting him to be a more open and vulnerable person. “It’s made me a better person,” he gushed. “So I want to thank you for that. My parents have seen a clear difference in who I am as a result of it. I never expected that, so thank you.” They ended things on a good note, and Katie urged Justin to continue to be open and vulnerable in the future. “It just melts my heart to hear that you’re continuing to do that,” she said. “I’m just really happy for you.”