Less than a month after former Bachelorette Katie Thurston and  fiancé Blake Moynes split and called off their engagement, she’s already romancing another contestant from her season, John Hersey. As a result, Blake admits that he feels “foolish” and claims there had to have been “emotional cheating” on her part to move on so quickly.

“I feel stupid and foolish for allowing it to happen, I guess, at some degree,” Blake, 31, explained to fellow Bachelor Nation stars Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo on the latest episode of their podcast “Talking It Out.”

While he doesn’t think Katie, 30, was unfaithful to him physically, Blake thinks she let her feelings for John grow while they were still a couple.

“There was clearly emotional [cheating] for it to transition as quickly as it did,” he shared, adding, “I don’t know if it was partially me too. Like, was she in some sense emotionally cheating to some degrees? Because I wasn’t able to provide something with words of affirmation — which I know I struggle with sometimes.”

Katie did not immediately respond to Life & Style’s request for comment regarding the claims Blake made on the podcast.

Katie let fans know on November 23 that she was taking another shot with the man she sent home in episode three of her season during her final Instagram Stories “12 Days of Messy” video. She had been featuring contestants from her season set to songs from Taylor Swift‘s album Red (Taylor’s Version).

The former bank manager shared clips of John smiling while piloting a plane and happily tending bar, while setting the scenes to Taylor’s “Begin Again,” which is about revisiting a former romance for another shot at love. Katie had dedicated day one to Blake, featuring Taylor’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

Katie also included video from her first meeting with John on The Bachelorette, after he exited the limo on season 17’s first night. Katie gushed how John was “her type” as he walked away, and blushed when she thought he could hear her talking sweetly about him. Later that evening, she regrammed John’s TikTok video showing the pair kissing and cuddling, which was set to Mina Okabe’s song “Every Second.”

Katie unveiling her new relationship with John so quickly after splitting with Blake caught the wildlife manager completely off guard. “Everyone’s asking me questions like I have the answers. I don’t. I really thought there was no way [Katie and John could be dating] just based on timeline and everything,” he explained, adding, “I know they spent a lot of time together and stuff, but there’s just no way. I never had an inkling.”