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Katie Thurston Admits She Doesn’t Know If She and Blake Moynes Would’ve ‘Survived’ If He Didn’t Propose (Exclusive)

While there were a lot of unconventional elements to Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette, she wanted to walk away in true Bachelor style — with winner Blake Moynes placing a Neil Lane diamond on her finger.

Related: ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Engagement Rings Through the Years

“In the moment — because there was a moment where I didn’t think he was proposing — I was just happy to leave with him. I knew that was going to happen no matter what, [but] it’s hard to say the impact of that in the real world [if he didn’t propose],” the 30-year-old season 17 lead exclusively told Us Weekly during a joint interview with her 31-year-old fiancé. “You go through so much and you want to take this very seriously and a proposal and engagement is very serious. I didn’t come here to find a boyfriend. I can do that on a dating app.”

Katie added, “It’s hard to say if we would have survived just as a dating couple, but the fact that we’re both committed to each other as future husband and wife, it just says a lot about our confidence in our relationship.”

Related: Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes’ Relationship Timeline

Bachelor Nation watched Blake get down on one knee during the Monday, August 9, finale of the ABC series. During the proposal, the Canadian hesitated after he said, “I can’t give you what you came here for,” making Katie believe he wasn’t going to pop the question.

After a long pause, Blake continued: “Because you deserve a lot more than that. You deserve the world and I’m excited to support you and be there for you every day moving forward. So that being said, Katie Lane Thurston, will you marry me?”

During an interview with E! News, Blake admitted that he regrets the fake-out.

“It was supposed to come out a lot more clean,” he said before Katie noted that her “reaction was very genuine” as her heart “dropped.”

The Bachelorette season 16 contestant, meanwhile, told Us that he made the decision to propose after getting advice from season 16 lead and season 17 cohost Tayshia Adams.

“She just reminded me of the confidence and the boldness that I came in [with] and why I came here,” Blake explained. “Without her, I probably just would’ve kept spinning. And she was able to make valid points, but then bring me back to what this was all about and why I came here in the first place. … Without her, I don’t know how I would have gotten through that day because she could tell I was a little bit stressed.”

Related: Tayshia Adams and Zac Clark’s Relationship Timeline

He added that he made the official call during an unseen moment.

“I was able to go back to the place and start getting ready and really start to sit down and think about it by myself and take in everything,” Blake told Us about proposal day. “There was no one in the room, no cameras and it just kinda, like, settled in for me and I had to make a decision and it just became very clear when you’re getting ready and putting that tie on, like, ‘This is it. I know it is.’ And so I pulled the trigger.”

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