The Bachelor franchise is good at a lot of things: manipulating drama, being a launchpad for aspiring influencers, finding the most boring men. However, it isn’t very good at its raison d’être — helping people find love. Case in point: Recent bachelorette Katie Thurston and her season’s winner, Blake Moynes, have broken up. Do you think their families knew about the split beforehand, or as with their engagement, did they find out at the same time as the rest of the world?
In a set of matching Instagram posts, Thurston and Moynes announced their seemingly amicable breakup. “It is with mutual love and respect that we have decided to go our separate ways,” both captions read, adding that they “ultimately have concluded that we are not compatible as life partners.” They ended their posts saying, “Both of us will forever want the best for one another and ask you to please support us in our decision.” They were together for two months after the end of the season.
Admittedly, their split doesn’t come as much of a surprise — in part because Thurston lives in the U.S. while Moynes resides in Canada, and Thurston talked about struggling to navigate the long-distance relationship in an August Instagram Story. But mostly because, at this point, it’s more surprising when a Bachelor Nation couple does end up staying together.
Four of the five most recent bachelorettes — not counting the current one, Michelle Young — are no longer with the man they chose at the end of their season. During her season’s finale, Hannah Brown broke up with dog-food–jingle artist Jed Wyatt after finding out he [checks notes] had a girlfriend back home. This summer, season 14’s Becca Kufrin became the first bachelorette to go on Bachelor in Paradise following her August 2020 breakup with Garrett Yrigoyen, who, you may remember, liked some very bad memes. Most recently, bachelorette Clare Crawley and Dale Moss, who proposed on episode four, broke up “for good.” The two were engaged, then split, rekindled their relationship, and broke up again last month.
In fact, out of all 17 bachelorettes, only five are still with the person they chose at the end of their season. This is a significantly better hit rate than The Bachelor, which boasts a whopping two couples who are still together out of all its 25 seasons. (One of those two couples is season 25’s Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell, who got together, broke up after news spread of Kirkconnell’s past “offensive and racist” actions, and recently got back together. So, we’re not sure if you’d call that a “successful couple,” but here we are.
All of this is to say, I look forward to inevitably seeing Moynes on Bachelor in Paradise.
