It’s official: Bachelor Ben Flajnik and his fiancée Courtney Robertson have decided to call it quits. “After meeting over a year ago, we have decided to end our romantic relationship,” Flajnik and Robertson tell In Touch magazine. “The ups and downs weighed heavily on us both and ultimately we started to grow apart because of the distance, time apart, and our need to focus on our respective careers.”
“We have nothing but the utmost respect for each other, and both feel this is the right decision,” the former couple adds. “We continue to remain friends and will support each other in future endeavors. Thanks to everyone for your love and support, it’s been quite a ride.”
It’s not shocking that Flajnik and Robertson are done. After all, only three couples — Trista and Ryan Sutter, Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum, and Emily Maynard and Jef Holm — remain together after 24 seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette (and, fun fact, all three of those couples formed on The Bachelorette). Still, you may wonder what happens to all those Neil Lane engagement rings that are handed out on the show. Do the stars get to keep the stunning diamonds after a breakup goes down? Hollywood.com has the answer.
“Every scenario is different,” an insider close to the situation tells us. “Sometimes they keep the rings. Sometimes it does go back to the jeweler.”
There is a stipulation in the show’s contract, however, that determines whether a winner gets to keep the ring or not. Jesse Csincsak, who walked away from The Bachelorette engaged to DeAnna Pappas, says it’s all a matter of when a couple breaks up. “You always hear the stories of ‘I’m going to donate this to charity,” he says. “No. In the contract, it says if you are not together for two years after the final day of the show airing, you have to give them the ring back.” But, if a couple passes the two year rule, they don’t have to be married to keep the ring. “You just have to stay together for two years,” Csincsak says. “No one has done that except for Ryan and Trista.”
But what happens to the ring once Robertson hands it back over? It’s possible that the diamond may be placed on the market. “It may eventually be repurchased,” the insider says. “Just like estate jewelry or anything that gets returned. But it doesn’t happen for a while.”
So, another Bachelor couple down, another Neil Lane ring returned. Only one question remains, will Ashley and J.P., who plan to wed in December, be able to break the curse of the Bachelor rings?
Follow Lindsey on Twitter @LDiMat.
[Photo Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic, Robin Marchant/Getty Images]
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