Katie’s season ended in usual Bachelor fashion – very *dramatically* with an explosive confrontation at the After the Final Rose where the bachelorette angrily told frontrunner Greg off for mistreating her.

This caused a heavy divide in Bachelor nation with fans calling out Greg for being manipulative behaviour while calling Katie harsh for her angry tone. Let’s look at what had happened that led to this point:

1. Greg’s confession

Image source: ABC / The Bachelorette

After an endearing hometown date where Katie met Greg’s family, he took the courage to tell her he was falling in love with her to which she responded by saying “I like looking at you.”

This shallow response led Greg to spiral thinking she doesn’t have the same feelings back. While this doesn’t give much reassurance to someone you are possibly getting engaged to in 2 weeks, there are a few reasons why Katie reacted this way despite claiming he was a front runner. 1. She is confident that he will be here next week and wants to wait until the end to confess. 2. She was caught up in the moment and wasn’t thinking anything other than being attracted to him.

2. The Next Day

Image source: ABC / The Bachelorette

Now this is where it gets confusing. When Greg walked into Katie’s room confronting her about how displeased he felt about her reaction, Katie apologized but Greg couldn’t get past her reaction and basically ended it when he said there was obviously a disconnect between them. Katie tried to retract by saying she put him as #1 in her book but Greg responded that he didn’t want to be seen as just a number.

Image source: ABC / The Bachelorette

As Greg left the room, Katie chased after him, begging on her knees for him to stay. She even went as far as saying she would leave if he left. Greg couldn’t get past the uncertainty he felt from her lack of affirmations from his point of view while Katie doesn’t understand how his feelings could change so fast. It seems at this point, Greg had given up despite Katie seemingly confirming he was the one she was going to pick.

Yes, Katie made a mistake beforehand but Greg’s sudden reaction seems to be the result of either a lack of maturity, a defence mechanism, or fear of commitment.

3. After the Final Rose

Image source: ABC / The Bachelorette

Katie still went ahead and got engaged to Blake at the end but her hurt feelings didn’t go away. When she saw Greg at AFR, she didn’t say hello, instead going OFF – accusing him of gaslighting her, leading her on to gain fame and that he has no idea what love is because there is no way someone in love would give up so easily after, in her perspective, receiving a ton of confirmation.

In Greg’s defence, this was probably more of a lack of communication on his part than intentional manipulation. But who knows – perhaps he does have other plans in mind.

Image source: ABC / The Bachelorette

At the end, poor communication, lack of emotional control, and aggressive behaviour caused an end to a once beautiful relationship. While Katie and Greg shippers still hope for a possible reunion in the future because of how strong their connection was, they both could work to better themselves for now.

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