Katie Thurston is back on the reality dating show scene, and this time, she’s trading roses for f-boys. The “FBoy Island” star made her first TV appearance on the 25th season of “The Bachelor,” which starred leading man Matt James, back in 2021, and it was then that we knew she’d be a contestant to watch.
From bringing her very own sparkly purple vibrator for her first impression to poking fellow castmate Mari Pepin on the arm with it when her time talking to James was up, Thurston made it clear from day one that she is sex positive, outgoing, and hilarious to boot. We couldn’t get over her history-making first-episode antics, her willingness to take on “Queen” Victoria Larson‘s major attitude, and her emotional breakthroughs with contestants like Sarah Trott. She then went on to helm season 17 of “The Bachelorette,” where she got engaged to contestant Blake Moynes, though they later broke up. Now, Thurston is one of three ladies looking for love on her HBO Max-turned-The CW series, where the girls must sniff out the nice guys among a sea of f-boys trying to take home a cash prize.
Authenticity seems to be the name of Thurston’s game, and apparently, so is serial dating. So, ready to learn more about her? Scroll through for 10 facts about the “Bachelor”-turned-“The Bachelorette”-turned-“FBoy Island” star.
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She Dated Another One of Her "The Bachelorette" Contestants
After ending her engagement to Moynes – a season 16 contestant who joined Thurston’s season midway – in 2021, the “FBoy Island” star reconnected with another one of her season 17 guys, John Hersey, whom she sent home during week two. After moving to San Diego and developing a close friendship with Hersey, the two eventually began dating. People confirmed their relationship in November 2021, though they announced their breakup on their Instagram Stories seven months later.
In October, Thurston told Us Weekly the biggest lesson she learned from that romance was “don’t hard launch too early.” She explained, “When you’re in such a public spotlight, I think you do have to keep things a little closer to your heart and private and protected, maybe, longer because as fun as it is to be public in the happy moments, it’s really hard to go through a public breakup.”
The CW / Adam Rose
She Believes "FBoy Island"'s Dating Process Is More Real Than "The Bachelorette"'s
At this point, Thurston has been on enough reality dating series to understand the fast-paced game-show aspects. However, while comparing her “Bachelorette” experience to that on “FBoy Island,” she told Us Weekly that the latter offered her more time to get to know the guys vying for her affection. “On ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette,’ it’s very quick. You’re almost always looking over your shoulder expecting to get snagged away. During ‘FBoy Island,’ I felt like I got to have so much uninterrupted quality time with these guys even on group sessions where I would just forget, like, 20, 25, 30 minutes later, and then finally another guys coming. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s other guys here,'” she explained. “It was such a normal experience in a very un-normal [environment]. There wasn’t a lot of outside interference.”
