Brad Womack's The Bachelor return is now official.
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Womack, a 37-year-old from Austin, TX who owns several bars, ended his The Bachelor edition in 2007 by rejecting both Jenni Croft and DeAnna Pappas after deciding he hadn't fallen in love with either of them.
"I didn't want to make a false promise when I just didn't feel it in my heart," he said afterward. " I don't have a formula for falling in love."
Womack -- who also rejected Pappas a second time during his After the Final Rose special -- was subsequently lambasted for his unprecedented decision to not select either of his final two women, causing him to say he regretted participating in The Bachelor.
However Womack later had a change of heart and decided he would be willing to do the show again.
"I would do it again, simply because I believe in the fairy-tale romance," Womack said during a November 2007 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show after DeGeneres apologized for calling him a "jerk" during an earlier broadcast.
"I am so disappointed that it didn't happen to me. So of course I'd do it again. Now never in a million years did I expect the backlash, so I'm having to develop a pretty tough skin."
Womack -- who will be the first The Bachelor star to return to the show and get a second chance at love -- has since spent "the last three years going through a radical personal transformation" that included "intensive therapy" which helped him realize he hadn't been "ready to commit to a relationship" at the time, according to ABC.
Pappas later went on to serve as the star of The Bachelorette's fourth season -- launching a suitor-turned-star chain in which former Pappas suitor Jason Mesnick became the next Bachelor star, former Mesnick suitor Jillian Harris became the Bachelorette, former Harris suitor Jake Pavelka became the Bachelor, and former Pavelka suitor Ali Fedotowsky became the Bachelorette.
The Bachelor producers had initially targeted Chris Lambton -- who was rejected by Fedotowsky during the finale of this summer's The Bachelorette edition -- as the show's next star, however the 33-year-old landscaper and former teacher from Dennis, MA turned down the opportunity.
Reports that Womack would be returning to The Bachelor had first surfaced last week.
Womack's new The Bachelor edition will premiere in January.
About The Author: Steven Rogers
