Former Bachelorette contestant Clay Harbor defended his cousin Andrew Spencer after the heartbreaking end to his romance with Katie Thurston.
Clay is a staple in Bachelor Nation, having appeared on Becca Kufrin’s season of the reality television dating series before self-eliminating in week 3 and then returning for Bachelor in Paradise.
The 30-year-old former banking manager sent Andrew, 26, home ahead of next week’s hometown dates. One day later, Andrew showed up at a distraught Katie’s room to say goodbye in a more positive way.
They spoke about his exit and hugged. As she walked him out, Andrew slipped Katie a note which read “If you change your mind … I’ll be waiting.”
Katie dramatically ran down several flights of stairs to find Andrew and threw herself into his arms. Fans were hopeful that Andrew would take Katie up on her option to rejoin the journey, but he declined. He said he chose Katie and he wanted his future wife to choose him back.
Clay Harbour said Andrew Spencer didn’t want to set himself up for heartbreak again
Clay said in an interview for Us Weekly that his cousin did not want to set himself up for heartbreak again, hence his decision not to return to the series once he was eliminated.
“You got to realize that he just got his heart broken. And in that setting, you know, you want someone to pick you and there’s still four guys left,” said Clay.
“And that would be putting a lot on yourself. If you go back, there’s a good chance it’ll happen again, like, setting yourself [up] for heartbreak all over again. So I think he did the right thing in leaving and saying, you know, ‘If this doesn’t work out for you, like, let’s talk and see if this can be something that could happen,’” he continued.
“Seeing some of the people on social media be like, ‘You had a chance to go back. He didn’t care.’ Like, no, he got let go. And he doesn’t want to put himself back in that situation again, where you can break his heart again,” he explained of Andrew’s response to Katie’s plea to return.
“[If she said], ‘No, I want to be with you and only you,’ then I think that’s when he would have obviously left with her and been with her. But I think he handled it perfectly in my opinion,” the former reality star concluded.
Andrew still cares for Katie Thurston
Andrew apparently still cares for Katie, three months after filming ended.
In a heartfelt Instagram post seen above, Andrew thanked Katie for reassuring his belief in love.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.