Caila Quinn joined Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast to recap Katie Thurston’s season finale of The Bachelorette — including the season 17 lead’s confrontation with Greg Grippo.
“Sometimes we have emotions bottled up and you can’t judge people for wanting to get that out. And so I’m happy for Katie that she could just release that and hopefully, it gives her closure because I am happy for her and Blake [Moynes],” the 30-year-old Bachelor season 20 alum told Us Weekly. “You just want them to have the best chance as a couple. And the only way to do that is for her to completely move on. And so I’m glad she said everything she wanted to. And I personally thought Greg took it like a man.”
Shortly after Bachelor Nation watched Katie, 30, accept a proposal from Blake, 31, during the three-hour finale on Monday, August 9, the show cut to her tense After the Final Rose confrontation with Greg, 28. While Caila noted Katie came out swinging — “it was a little much to me” – she acknowledged that tension is high backstage.
“I’ve been in that situation before. They really do bring you back to that moment and bring you back to the breakups seconds before. And they’re like, ‘Do you remember that feeling you had? Do you remember the last words that were said?’ … If there’s anything you want to say, the producers always tell you, ‘Get it out now,’” the Ohio native explained. “I think Katie wanted to not only [do that] for herself, but for all the women out there who have been spoken to in an aggressive manner, I think she wanted to stand up for herself and it was all pent up.”
Greg quit the show during the August 2 episode after accusing Katie of dismissing his feelings. During their reunion, Katie suggested that the New Jersey native was an actor who never cared about her feelings.
“The thing that bothers me is that people were so hard on Greg and were giving him all of these labels,” Caila told Us on the podcast. “The fact that Katie, in this finale, kept saying like, ‘I feel like you were an actor and were tricking me’ — I feel like is unfair because an actor is someone who plays a role and Katie was playing a role. So are we going to label her as an actress? No. I think it’s just really unfair.”
The Bachelor in Paradise alum continued: “At the end of the day, I think Greg was there genuinely looking for his person, but just a different kind of person than Katie was and that’s OK. We’re all not supposed to fall in love with everybody. There’s one person for everyone.”
For Caila’s complete recap of the Bachelorette finale, and a game of “Bachelor Secrets,” listen to Us Weekly’s “Here for the Right Reasons” podcast.