Emily Maynard will be the star of The Bachelorette, the reality dating game show by ABC, according to reports.

Maynard, a 25-year-old single mother, has signed on for the show's eighth season, which will start filming in March. There are also reports that suggest Maynard was initially reluctant to star in the next season and required some persuading on ABC's part.

She was famously proposed to by Brad Womack on ABC's The Bachelor in March, 2011. However, the couple soon split and she will be searching for love again as the network's newest bachelorette.

Since ending her engagement with Womack in May, she has been linked to Jeremy Shockey, who is an American football player. Shockey, 31, is a tight-end for the Carolina Panthers.

It has also been reported that the formula for this season's The Bachelorette will be different from the previous ones. Unlike earlier seasons, where candidates vying for the bachelorette's hand would share a house, the men, this time, will travel to Maynard's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

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