TV Reporter Receives Surprise Proposal While Covering Fake Tragedy Staged by Fiancé — Watch

A local TV reporter broke some unexpected personal news while investigating what she thought was a very real tragedy.

Valerie Bell, an investigative reporter for Alabama’s ABC 33/40 News, thought she was meeting with authorities earlier this month to discuss the specifics of a domestic violence call that ended with someone going into a lake. What she didn’t know was that the entire scenario was concocted so that her boyfriend could surprise her with the proposal of her dreams.

(At this point, we know what you’re wondering: Did Bell’s fiancé need to devise such a grim cover-up story to get her on the scene? The answer… is no. This probably could have been a cat stuck in a tree.)

“Before you take notes, I think you’d like to see one thing right behind you,” an officer tells her during an interview, at which point she turns around to see her now-fiancé down on one knee, ring in hand.

“Oh my God, I’m trying to process what just happened,” Bell said, likely referring both to the proposal and to the specifics of the crime that she now realizes didn’t actually happen.

Most of the comments on Bell’s initial Twitter announcement (below) are positive, with ABC 33/40 viewers offering heartfelt congratulations to the happy couple. There are also others that question both the involvement of local authorities (“Yes, a great way to spend taxpayers’ money!”) and the story that brought Bell to the scene. (“Could we maybe not have used [domestic violence] as the premise?”)

Watch the full video of Bell’s proposal below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on the elaborate ruse.