And then there were three!
Bachelor Brad Womack inched closer to his final rose ceremony on Monday's episode, as he journeyed to the hometowns of Chantal O'Brien, Ashley Hebert, Shawntel Newton and Emily Maynard to meet their families.
Though Newton — a funeral director from Chico, Calif. — was sent packing after taking a spooked Womack to her workplace, O'Brien, Hebert and Maynard each received a rose.
The hometown date episode saw O'Brien's dad offer his blessing for Womack to propose, but perhaps the episode's most touching moment came when he visited single mom Maynard and had the opportunity — at long last — to meet her daughter.
"I very well could be little Ricki's stepfather," Womack enthused as he touched down in Charlotte, N.C. (Ricki's father is Maynard's deceased race-car driver fiance, Ricky Hendrick, who was killed in a 2004 plane crash.)
It took little Ricki, 5, a while to warm up to her mom's new guy, "Mr. Brad," but in the end, the pair hit it off and Womack couldn't have been happier.
"There's so much love Emily has for her ex and rightfully so," he said on Monday's show. "It sets the bar so high for any guy trying to enter her life. She's what I'm looking for in a wife. She just is."
Added Maynard: "I'm definitely ready for Brad to change my life forever."
As the final three women prepare to go on next week's round of fantasy suite dates in South Africa, tell Us: Which final three contender is Brad's best match?
By Allison Corneau for UsMagazine.com. For more Channel Surfing, click here.
