When a local news anchor in Tennessee accidentally announced her proposal as the next story, she was even more surprised than the people watching at home.
A little bit of neighborhood news is hard to beat, isn’t it? One day, it’s a food contest; the next, it’s a story about a brave dog, and now, there’s a live marriage proposal in the studio.
On Monday, August 21, when anchor Cornelia Nicholson went to work at NBC affiliate WRCB in Chattanooga for what she probably thought would be a normal day, she got a big treat.
As usual, Nicholson got through the piece, but she was surprised when she started reading from the teleprompter and realized she was talking about herself.
“Right now, I’ll tell you the story of two young journalists who met and fell in love in the same field,” she said with a laugh.
“Local 3’s Riley Nagel joins us in the studio with a special report?”
Riley, Cornelia’s boyfriend, then came on set with a bouquet of flowers and told the audience that he and Cornelia met almost four years ago when they both worked in the news.
Cornelia didn’t know that she would be giving her proposal. News from Local 3
He said, “Since we met in the news, I thought it would be appropriate to ask you this question here. Would you marry me, Cornelia Nicholson?”
Cornelia said she was “going to cry” when Riley asked her to marry him, but she said yes and stood up to kiss him, much to Riley’s joy and, I’m sure, to the relief of everyone at home.
She later posted the video of her proposal on Twitter and called it “the perfect day.”
“The man I love asked me to marry him on TV,” she wrote. “I’m still surprised!… Thank you to all my friends and coworkers who helped hide this from me and make it happen!”
Cornelia wrote in another TikTok post that she was “still at a loss for words” about the section.
“@Riley Nagel hid this so well,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to our future together.”
People have liked and shared Cornelia’s post thousands of times. One curious watcher asked how the show’s producers got the segment in without Cornelia knowing.
She replied that they had “hid it in the 7 a.m. rundown,” which was smart because she “never looked at that.”
“[They] dragged it over right before I was going to read it,” Cornelia said.
I don’t know what you want more from your neighborhood news station than that. Happy New Year!
