Former Bachelorette star Michael Allio claimed that Kaitlyn Bristowe “threw me under the bus” during the Men Tell All special after asking him a very pointed question about his feelings for series star Katie Thurston.
The handsome father of one young son was a frontrunner for Katie Thurston’s affections throughout Season 17 of The Bachelorette.
Katie appeared to be impressed by Michael’s tenacity in the face of adversity as well as his honest and caring ways.
Fans of the series were also smitten by Michael, who rarely uttered harsh words about his fellow competitors and appeared focused on learning to love again after the death of his wife, Laura.
Michael made it to the final four of Katie’s season alongside Blake Moynes, Justin Glaze, and Greg Grippo.
The pull of being away from his son for so long wore on the single father and activist, and he made the heartbreaking decision to return home to his family rather than follow his heart.
Why did Michael Allio leave The Bachelorette?
Prior to Michael’s appearance on the Men Tell All special, he told Katie he needed to leave so he could go home to be with his son.
Bachelor Nation held its collective breath while these heartbreaking moments played out for the cameras.
On a video call with his little boy, Michael said he could not be with him because of work. James replied: “Maybe Daddy left because he don’t want to see me.”
Michael went to Katie’s room and explained to her that he needed to return home to his son despite the pair sharing several romantic moments on the ABC show.
“I can’t focus on anything else…With hometowns coming up, I feel like it’s wrong for me to give you half of what I could be.”
He then added, “I’m not leaving because of us. I’m leaving because my son needs his dad.”
What did Kaitlyn Bristowe say that caused Michael to react?
During the Men Tell All special, Michael was questioned by show hosts Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams, who spoke to the Ohio-based businessman about his decision to depart The Bachelorette.
Michael explained on the 3 Things to Know with Stephanie Haney podcast that he did not expect Kaitlyn to ask him about giving his relationship with Katie a second chance after his departure.
“The second [the question] left Kaitlyn‘s mouth, I’m just like, ‘Oh, here it comes, old dude getting rejected,’ which is all good. I guess I deserve that anyways for leaving,” he said to the podcast host.
“When I’m up on stage with [co-hosts] Tayshia [Adams] and Kaitlyn, you know they ask me if I still have feelings for her, and I’m not gonna lie,” Michael admitted. ‘It would’ve been easy for me to say, “You know watching this back, all those feelings are gone, I’m happy for her,” and give some polished answer, but I really can’t detach myself that quickly. So when I said that I still have feelings for her, that’s very much real.”
“Now… Kaitlyn kind of threw me under the bus here because I believe Katie is totally happy. As long as she’s happy, I’m cool. But even if Katie did want to leave with me, she couldn’t say that on TV. There’s still two more episodes [left in her season of The Bachelorette], so it was a lose-lose [situation],” he claimed.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.