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.
"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.
"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.
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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."
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