Katie Thurston andBlake Moynes got engaged on the season finale of "The Bachelorette ."- But Moynes told Insider he thinks their love story was overshadowed by her breakup with
Greg Grippo . - Grippo left Thurston's season early, and many claimed he was "gaslighting" her during their split.
At the end of her season of "The Bachelorette," Katie Thurston walked away with an engagement ring and a new fiancé.
But the man all of Bachelor Nation was talking about wasn't Blake Moynes, who received Thurston's final rose. It was Greg Grippo, the finalist who left the show after a dramatic breakup that aired just an episode before the finale.
As Twitter continued to debate whether Grippo was "gaslighting" Thurston during their split, Moynes told Insider that he believes his own love story with "The Bachelorette" star had been overshadowed by the drama.
"I do think that the whole Greg thing did take away from the love story unfortunately," he said. "It sucks that it was such a focal point for someone who didn't actually end up with her."
"It just feels like I came in hot and then I ended hot, but it didn't show a ton of relationship in the middle there," Moynes added, referencing how the season was edited.
Some Bachelor Nation fans have even criticized Moynes and Thurston's engagement, insisting their relationship won't last because Thurston's split with Grippo was such a big focus of the season. Fellow "Bachelorette" stars Desiree Hartsock and Rachel Lindsay faced similar criticism when their apparent front-runners decided to self-eliminate shortly before the finale.
Both Hartsock and Lindsay still remain married to the men they gave their final rose to, and Moynes said he isn't fazed by what the viewers think.
"Unfortunately, it just kind of is what it is for people who think it should've been Greg. I guess you gotta wait and see," he said. "But it's not about that, right? Who cares about the viewers. We know what we have and that's kind of what we're riding on, especially coming out of this and finally being able to live a real life now."
Moynes, who entered Thurston's season late, said the "Bachelorette" star told him everything about her split with Grippo before the episode aired.
"She was very upfront about the situation and prepared me for anything that she was going to say and really explained everything to me, so I was never surprised by anything," he said.
And Moynes credits his "ridiculous amount of confidence" for helping him stay calm amid the ongoing drama surrounding Thurston's season.
"I never for one second thought that I was number three, number four, number two," Moynes said. "From the same day that I walked in, I thought I was the number one guy and I left being the number one guy."
"When it comes down to it, if [Grippo] was her guy, she would've left with him and she didn't," he added. "So it doesn't really concern me as much as I think it would for the average person."