BACHELORETTE Katie Thurston is “freaking out” because she “knows fans will have a bad reaction” to her final choice on the show, The Sun can reveal.
As the ABC lead’s journey for love comes to an end, she has been “getting really nervous” over the potential backlash she will get for the suitor she hands out her final rose to next week.
An insider close to the 30-year-old Washington native claims that Katie is “really nervous” heading into tonight’s episode and next week’s season finale.
“She’s freaking out a little bit. It’s the first time she’s really let the stress from all this get to her,” the source alleged.
The pal continued: “She won’t tell her friends who she picked but she keeps saying that she ‘knows the public won’t have a good reaction’ to it.
“That’s making her nervous and overthinking things. That mixed with some hate she’s been getting online the last week or two has been a lot for her to handle.”
In the past two weeks, Katie received backlash for “not being able to name five countries in Africa” during an interview.
She apologized and admitted to being “embarrassed” before she was also later slammed for a sexy lingerie photo.
Responding to a hater of the bra snap in her Instagram DM’s, Katie said she is “not going to change her ways” to “cater to a man with a problem.”
The source continued of the social-media-savvy star: “She sees what people are saying about her, she’s always on Twitter and Instagram and for the most part she has handled it well and stays strong.
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“But she’s been crying the last week or so and her friends are trying to be there for her but won’t fully be able to be until the finale airs since we don’t fully know what happened.
“It’s really hard on us too to not be able to help her but she’s doing great but at the end of the day she’s only human.”
Katie did not respond to The Sun’s request for comment.
As there are just two weeks left on Katie’s journey to find love, finalists Greg Grippo, Justin Glaze and Blake Moynes are the last three remaining.
Bachelor blogger Reality Steve first reported that Katie said “yes” to Blake’s proposal on the season finale.
“I just know that Katie got engaged to Blake at the end of filming and they’re still together,” the famous spoiler wrote on his website.
Back in May, The Sun confirmed that the brunette beauty remains “happily engaged.”
A source close to the series told The Sun: “Viewers want to see a happy ending and the last few years haven’t delivered that.
“The show has been wrapped up in turmoil and execs felt it was crucial for the future of the franchise to have a more traditional, happy ending this season.
“Producers didn’t force Katie to get engaged but there was definitely pressure for it to end in that result. Luckily, it all worked out.”
Katie has admitted Blake slid into her DMs before crashing her season halfway through.
He’s no stranger to The Bachelor franchise as he appeared on both Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams’ seasons.
The season finale of The Bachelorette airs Monday, August 9th at 8pm ET on ABC.
