Ryan's engagement joy - 'WHEN YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW'

The TV presenter is living his dream of happily ever after

- Fleur Guthrie

Sometimes you’ve just got to be cruel to be kind. At least, this was the strategy TV presenter Ryan Bridge adopted when he proposed to his beau of four years.

In a desperate bid to keep his romantic plans a surprise, the popular broadcaster admits that whenever his partner “skirted around the edges” of any wedding talk, Ryan would feign no interest, quickly changing the conversation.

“Which isn’t a nice thing to do is it?” laughs the AM host, sharing his exciting news exclusively with the Weekly. “[It meant] we didn’t really talk about getting married at all, and perhaps sounds weird. I just always knew I wanted to propose to him and for him to have that experience as a surprise.”

And as much as Ryan would like to introduce this ‘handsome mystery fi ancé’ to the world, his 36-year-old partner – a former professional athlete who now works in construction – prefers to maintain his anonymity.

The pair showed their commitment to each other early on by buying a 1900s railway cottage and becoming fur-parents to gorgeous beagle Fanny. Ryan says he picked up on how important marriage was to his partner, so two years ago, he started secretly sending money to his mum, while he saved up for a ring.

“The main thing for me was ‘How am I going to get this ring without him knowing, when we have a joint bank account?’” he explains. “My partner loves designing jewellery – that’s his thing – so I didn’t want to get it wrong or buy any old ring.