Katie Thurston’s ‘Bachelorette’ Contestants Have Several Bachelor Nation Ties: Details

Credit: Courtesy of Katie Thurston/Instagram

Katie Thurston’s 'Bachelorette' Contestants Have Several Bachelor Nation Ties: Details

Already in the family! Several of Katie Thurston’s Bachelorette suitors have ties to other members of Bachelor Nation. ABC announced 34 men who may be given the chance to compete for the 30-year-old bank marketing manager’s heart in March, later confirming the 30 suitors in May. “We are giving you an early look at the men who may be on this season of The Bachelorette!” the official Facebook account for The Bachelorette captioned the series of images in March. “Leave a 🌹 for who would get your first impression rose.” It didn’t take long for Bachelor enthusiasts to discover that 27-year-old Greg from Edison, New Jersey, and 33-year-old Karl from Miami, Florida, were previously cast to compete on Clare Crawley’s season 16 of The Bachelorette. After the show was forced to suspend production due to the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020, however, both men were cut from the final list of contestants when the show started filming that July. Another one of Katie’s possible suitors, 26-year-old Brendan from Toronto, Canada, is friends with Blake Moynes, who did end up on season 16. This isn’t the first time Bachelor Nation has cast friends of former contestants. Matt James, the most recent Bachelor, landed the gig after his bestie Tyler Cameron became a fan-favorite on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette in 2019. Another one of Tyler’s BFFs, JP Caruso, was set to appear on Clare’s season but didn’t end up on the final list. [jwplayer mjQws33d-l3ahXupL] “My buddy JP was supposed to go on the show and then they kicked him off ‘cause he was too young for Clare,” Tyler, 28, told Us Weekly in September 2020. Katie was one of the women who competed for Matt, 29, on season 25 of The Bachelor, which finished airing on March 15. According to her ABC bio, her “dream man” is “passionate about building a long-term life with her and will treat Katie as his equal in the relationship.” “Katie is looking for a mature man who has ambitions to succeed in everything he does, both personally and professionally,” the bio read. “Nothing turns her off more than someone who sits around playing video games all day or a man who tries to kiss her at the inopportune moment … it’s all about creating the right vibe with Katie!” The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for a list of Bachelor Nation connections to the season 17 cast:

Credit: Courtesy of Katie Thurston/Instagram

Katie Thurston’s 'Bachelorette' Contestants Have Several Bachelor Nation Ties: Details

Already in the family! Several of Katie Thurston’s Bachelorette suitors have ties to other members of Bachelor Nation. ABC announced 34 men who may be given the chance to compete for the 30-year-old bank marketing manager’s heart in March, later confirming the 30 suitors in May. “We are giving you an early look at the men who may be on this season of The Bachelorette!” the official Facebook account for The Bachelorette captioned the series of images in March. “Leave a 🌹 for who would get your first impression rose.” It didn’t take long for Bachelor enthusiasts to discover that 27-year-old Greg from Edison, New Jersey, and 33-year-old Karl from Miami, Florida, were previously cast to compete on Clare Crawley’s season 16 of The Bachelorette. After the show was forced to suspend production due to the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020, however, both men were cut from the final list of contestants when the show started filming that July. Another one of Katie’s possible suitors, 26-year-old Brendan from Toronto, Canada, is friends with Blake Moynes, who did end up on season 16. This isn’t the first time Bachelor Nation has cast friends of former contestants. Matt James, the most recent Bachelor, landed the gig after his bestie Tyler Cameron became a fan-favorite on Hannah Brown’s season of The Bachelorette in 2019. Another one of Tyler’s BFFs, JP Caruso, was set to appear on Clare’s season but didn’t end up on the final list. [jwplayer mjQws33d-l3ahXupL] “My buddy JP was supposed to go on the show and then they kicked him off ‘cause he was too young for Clare,” Tyler, 28, told Us Weekly in September 2020. Katie was one of the women who competed for Matt, 29, on season 25 of The Bachelor, which finished airing on March 15. According to her ABC bio, her “dream man” is “passionate about building a long-term life with her and will treat Katie as his equal in the relationship.” “Katie is looking for a mature man who has ambitions to succeed in everything he does, both personally and professionally,” the bio read. “Nothing turns her off more than someone who sits around playing video games all day or a man who tries to kiss her at the inopportune moment … it’s all about creating the right vibe with Katie!” The Bachelorette airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll through for a list of Bachelor Nation connections to the season 17 cast:

Credit: Courtesy Andrew Spencer/Instagram

Andrew S. Is Clay's Cousin

One of the two men named Andrew who could potentially meet Katie is Clay Harbour’s cousin. Clay appeared on seasons 14 of The Bachelorette and season 6 of Bachelor in Paradise.

Credit: Courtesy Andrew Spencer/Instagram; ABC/Craig Sjodin

Clay Tells Us About His Cousin

“He's hilarious. I just told him to be himself, make her laugh and just go out there and have fun,” Clay told Us in March 2021. “It's a cool experience. And, you know, just try to be as open as possible because it's such a fast process. You got to kind of wear your heart on your sleeve a little more than you would in the real world.”

Credit: Courtesy Ed Waisbrot/Instagram

Joshua Is Friends With Ed

Ed Waisbrot, who competed on season 16 of The Bachelorette, posted a photo partying with 25-year-old Joshua in Florida in February 2020.

In March he shared another snap with him writing, "So excited for my dude Josh to head out to New Mexico to embark on his journey to find that special someone ❤️ 🌹. Carlos will miss Uncle Josh, but hopefully he comes back with an Aunt Katie! 💍"

Credit: ABC/The Bachelorette/Facebook; ABC

Brendan Knows Blake M.

Brendan and Blake both hail from Canada and keep up with each other via Instagram — which could be interesting when Blake crashes the season. 

Credit: ABC/The Bachelorette/Facebook

Karl Was Cast for Clare's Season

Chris Harrison confirmed in 2020 that some of the men originally cast for season 16 of The Bachelorette didn’t make the final cut because their schedules changed after the months-long delay.

Credit: ABC/The Bachelorette/Facebook

Greg Was Cast for Clare's Season

Other men originally set for Clare were dubbed too young upon a second look. (The hairstylist, who turned 40 earlier this month, recently got back together with Dale Moss, whom she got engaged to while filming seasons 16 in August 2020.)

Credit: CraSH/imageSPACE/Shutterstock; ABC/The Bachelorette/Facebook

Chris Bukowski Knows Andrew S. Too

The former Bachelor Nation star told Us in March 2021 that he is friendly with Clay’s cousin too.

“I’m always interested in seeing the new castmates that come on and also Clay's cousin Andrew is on this season. I know him a little bit, so I want to see him embarrass himself a little bit,” he quipped to Us. “He's a very personable human. I haven't seen him not get along with anybody, so I feel like they'll probably have some good laughs together, so I'm interested in seeing how that turns out.”

Chris added that the ABC franchise used to shy away from cast members with family ties.

“I would imagine that [Clay] helped a little bit, but you can only help so much. You kind of get to skip the line a little bit if you have someone on the show prior,” he said. “Back when I was on the show, you couldn't know anybody that was on the show before you were on the show. Now it's, like, everyone talks to you before the show or knows someone that's on the show. It's a whole different world.”