Emily Maynard and Brad Womack are finally over. Though no one is surprised, one thing that IS surprising is that Maynard returned the ring to ABC. I am going to guess that she was contractually obligated to do so, but it's still a bummer. According to a source on PopEater:

Emily is happy in Charlotte [North Carolina] and is not moving to Austin with [her 5-year-old daughter] Ricki. She is content.

The breakup is no shocker. The two have been back and forth and cold since the finale last March. But the ring?! The ring!

The Neil Lane stunner would fetch a healthy sum on the market, and quite frankly, it IS Emily's prize for winning the show. Like it or not, the show is more a dating game show than a real matchmaker. Few and far between are the couple(s) who have actually stayed together after the show ends, so the ring -- much more than the man -- is the prize.

And Emily deserves it. She has put up with a lot, lost her chance to be the Bachelorette because she was otherwise engaged, and generally had to deal with the tabloids and all the drama of the show.

According to MSNBC Womack, 38, is being a giant baby about the whole thing. One friend told MSNBC:

Brad keeps drunk-dialing her. Brad is such a loser.

In a normal breakup, the proper etiquette is that the person who breaks it off doesn't get the ring. However, in this case, since Bachelor romances are giant shams anyway, the ring is Emily's and ABC ought to respect that.

Do you think she should keep the ring?

 

Image via ABC