TV meteorologist nearly speechless as boyfriend proposes on live Kentucky broadcast

What started as a “bet” on a popular dating app has evolved into three years of adventures with the promise of many more to come.

When WAVE 3 News morning meteorologist Tawana Andrew set up her profile on Hinge, she included the prompt, “I bet you can’t bake better than me.”

And when Rusty Steele replied to her prompt, the Kentucky meteorologist first had no idea what to respond.

That’s because he only replied with “bet.”

“Bet. Just bet,” Andrew said. “Just three letters,”

She did end up replying, and those three little letters led to Friday’s “Make it a Goode Morning” special segment with fellow meteorologist Brian Goode.

During the segment’s picture of the day segment, a teardrop-shaped engagement ring popped up on the screen. Included with the photo was a quote — “It’s time for my princess to become my queen.” Goode then requested some help deciphering the photo and message, prompting Steele onto the set.

Andrew was stunned as she saw her then-boyfriend head her way in a navy blue suit, planned to perfectly match her navy dress.

“No way,” she replied as Steele took her hands and dropped to one knee. “No way, no way, no way.”

The tears began to fall, leaving Andrew without many words.

“Tawana, these past few years have been the happiest of my life. Whether its skydiving or watching the entire Star Trek series ... you’ve been my best friend,” Steele said as Andrew continued crying. “And I know we agreed to take this one day at a time and just see where it goes. But with each passing day I’ve fallen more and more in love with you. A love that’s grown to a point that I don’t want to spend another day without you, and I want to love you one day at a time for the rest of my life.”

Steele then pulled the teardrop ring from his coat.

“Tawana Andrew, will you marry me?”

Through her tears and with a smile on her face, Andrew quickly replied.

“Yes, oh my gosh.”

The two embraced for their on-air hug, as Andrew was nearly speechless until she remembered she still had a job to do.

“How am I supposed to do weather after this,” she asked, prompting laughter from her fiance and her station colleagues.

Fortunately, Steele and the Wave 3 News team had a plan for that, too. Someone else was taking over the day’s weather, leaving Andrew with time for a post-proposal interview.

How he pulled off the surprise proposal

During the interview, viewers learned that Steele first contacted Goode about a surprise proposal in mid-July.

“This engagement has many layers,” Goode said. And it was almost thrown off when Steele tried measuring Andrew’s ring size while she was sleeping.

The only problem? She wasn’t actually asleep.

“Tawana comes in to work the next day and she’s like, ‘he’s gonna do it,’ Goode shared. “‘He measured my finger. That’s a sign.’”

To “fix” the plan and keep his then-girlfriend from getting too suspicious, Steele gifted Andrew a birthstone ring for her birthday. It did throw her off, and Tawana was even wearing the birthstone ring Friday morning.

As the crew re-watched the proposal, tears continued to fall.

“I couldn’t breathe at that point — full blown panic attack,” Andrew recalled.

Steele was the only Hinge match that Andrew ever dated, she said, and “he’s just taken me on adventure after adventure after adventure since that point.”

Their first adventure as an engaged couple has already been planned, as Steele arranged plans for a meal and a night in downtown Louisville.

This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:53 AM with the headline "TV meteorologist nearly speechless as boyfriend proposes on live Kentucky broadcast."