Robb Derringer has a way with words. Derringer, 49, popped the question to longtime Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba over the weekend, and his proposal sounds like it comes straight from a romance novel. Indeed, Inaba, who ended an engagement to former fiance Jesse Sloan in 2012, seems to have finally found her Prince Charming.
Robb Derringer told People that he proposed to Carrie Ann at the site of their first date — a romantic beach in California — over the weekend with a handwritten note, a good bottle of wine, and a ring by designer Jean Dousset.
“I’m a better writer than a speaker so I chose to share my thoughts with Carrie in a letter expressing how much she meant to me, how much she had changed me, how much she had taught me in our time together thus far and what my hopes and dreams and intentions were for our future together,” Robb told People .
“I then got down on one knee under what I will always remember as the most serene and tranquil night sky I’ve ever seen and asked my beautiful girl if she would do me the honor of being my wife, to which she thankfully replied yes.”
Derringer said he knew Carrie Ann was the one after their first date. Robb described his whirlwind romance and instant connection to the former Fly Girl as “significant and life changing and lasting” and says he feels like the “luckiest guy in the world.”
“There was just a powerful and palpable sense of destiny that I could not deny,” Robb explained. “Like something bigger was guiding us both towards one another.”
It didn’t take long for Robb Derringer to figure out that the 48-year-old Dancing With the Stars judge was his soulmate. According to the Daily Mail , in July, just a few months after she started dating Derringer, Inaba co-hosted with Kelly Ripa on Live With Kelly and flashed a “promise” ring that Robb had given her. At the time, Ripa asked Carrie Ann about her “smokin’ hot fiance,” and the ABC veteran clarified that she was not yet engaged but, “that’s the plan, though.”
Inaba first shared the news of her relationship with Robb in April on her Dan c ing With the Stars blog for Access Hollywood .
“I wanted to share with you and confirm that I am in a new relationship with a wonderful man named Robb Derringer,” the DWTS judge wrote at the time. “I couldn’t be happier to share this news with you all…I feel very fortunate to be with such a wonderful human being and the love we share is something very precious to both of us. At this point, we aren’t quite ready to share the details of our love but just that we are happy to be in love.”
While Inaba has been a full-time judge for the past 23 seasons of Dancing With the Stars , Robb Derringer works as an actor. Derringer, who trained at the Foothill Theatre Conservatory and UCLA, recently appeared opposite Jason Priestly in The Lake , and he played Special Agent Kyle Sloane on General Hospital . Robb Derringer will begin a new role on Days of Our Lives next year, playing Scooter Nelson.
Robb Derringer’s proposal to the ABC star means that all three of the Dancing With the Stars female co-hosts/judges are now engaged. Dancing With the Stars c o-host Erin Andrews is engaged to NHL star Jarret Stoll, while fellow DWTS judge Julianne Hough is also set to marry a hockey player, Brooks Laich. In addition, pro dancers Peta Murgatroyd and Emma Slater are also engaged, to fellow DWTS pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Sasha Farber, respectively.
[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]
