Bachelor in Paradise star John Henry Spurlock is offering more details on his split from Kat Izzo, revealing that he “spiraled” leading up to the end of their engagement.
“This is a long story,” John Henry, 31, shared during a Wednesday, April 24, appearance on the “Almost Famous” podcast. The former BiP star explained that when he started his career as a commercial diver, known for underwater welding, he promised to give 10 years to the job before looking for love. However, his engagement to Kat, 27, derailed his plans.
“I told her, as of right now, my career is not relationship friendly. She knew that. But I was like, my plan is to get out of it anyways,” John Henry explained, noting that he “bounced around a ton” for the job.
Initially, Kat — a travel nurse — moved to North Carolina so she could be closer to John Henry, even though her dream was to live in San Diego.
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“Things were going really well. Now, I have this job and then I get in this relationship. Then now it’s like, OK, I have to start figuring out what I’m going to do, how I’m going to make this transition to a career that is going to be a lot easier for me and her to work with,” he recalled. “It just caught me by surprise. Now I’m starting to stress out about how I’m going to make this move.”
Kat Izzo and John Henry Spurlock ABC/Craig Sjodin
While John Henry was trying to figure out the next steps of life with Kat. “So, I started to have my doubts,” he admitted. “Then, I started to see our differences a lot more. So, things just really got hard for me.”
John Henry proposed to Kat during the Bachelor in Paradise season 9 finale, which aired in December 2023. While he was struggling with the next steps of their relationship, the show was airing, which caused an extra strain on their engagement.
John Henry Spurlock ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
“It got to a point where it was just extremely hard for the both of us. Then basically, I called it quits,” he said. “I said, this doesn’t feel right. I think this should be a lot easier than what it is, and it just, it wasn’t the case. … I just started thinking to myself, maybe this just isn’t for me. Once I got that in my head, it just kind of spiraled from there.”
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The former couple announced their breakup days after the BiP finale aired but they actually called off their engagement days before the show.
Kat Izzo ABC/Craig Sjodin
Kat was “shocked” by the split, John Henry said, noting that his mental health struggles also added to his reasoning behind the breakup. Even though they’ve gone their separate ways, John Henry and Kat don’t have any bad blood between them.
“Kat is amazing. She really is something special. She’s not my longest relationship, but Kat’s a catch. I’ll tell you, she definitely did her part,” he gushed. “Distance is hard for everybody. … When she loves, she gives it her all, and she did everything that she needed to do and then some in order to try to make our relationship work.”
