“I have the most respect for Katie in the world. I just don’t think our lives meshed together once we got outside of ‘Paradise.’ It happens a lot, but we tried,” Bukowski said. “We had a lot working against us — not only from the show, but from the media, from some of our castmates — so it was a constant uphill battle. We just kind of never found a common ground. We’re still friends today. We talk almost once a week. We’re texting all the time. We’re still good friends. I just think we weren’t able to take that next step in our relationship, from an engagement to marriage.”