Life Uncut - Britt & Ben Share All of the Details of Their Engagement!

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

Hey Lifers, It's been a HUGE week!Laura got nits, producer Keeshia won a media week award and as you all likely know, BRITT GOT ENGAGED!It's been 5 years of us having the privilege of doing this podcast, sharing all of the best life moments and deeply cooked dating lives, whilst praying to all of the Gods that Britt found her penguin! On today's episode, we take a little trip down memory lane of Britt and Ben's love story and then they answer all of your questions about their engagement and future plans!They speak about:-Whether Britt knew it was happening-How the day panned out-All of the ring details and Ben & Laura's secret messages-What's going to happen once they're married with where they live-Any plans for the wedding You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok Or join the Facebook Discussion Group Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! xxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Life Uncut acknowledges the traditional custodians of country whose lands were never ceded. We pay our respects to their elders past and present. This episode was recorded on Camaragal land. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Laura. I'm engaged. But I'm also Brittany. Have you lost your goddamn mind over the weekend? I am on a high, yeah.

I'm on a high and I haven't yet come back down to ground. It's been a big week for everyone, I'd like to point out. So Britt, as you guys all know, and as you are here for, Britt got engaged. But it's not all about me because Laura got nits. I got nits on the weekend and I can't wait to tell you all about it. And producer Keisha won a very important award because she is the best producer in the whole world. Yay! She won a big media award like at our Australian Media Week.

So we're very, very proud. On top of that, you looked absolutely banging. Yeah, when you sent that photo, I was like, fuck, you're hot. Oh, thanks, guys. And then I was like, oh, you won. That's so good. Well, the nicest thing, I think, not only was the award for life uncut in total, but also Mitch, your radio host, was hosting the night.

So I kind of walked into the night thinking that I was going to be sitting like with a table with randoms, ended up knowing quite a few people from my radio days that were sitting at the table, and then Mitch was hosting, and it actually felt like such a nice personal little little evening which is why Keisha got so lit city she couldn't leave her house the next day yeah I got too excited I was like a bit nervous at first and then I got too excited well we are very proud of you because you are a direct reflection of us so we were worried for a little while but you know I thank you so much guys I actually felt so special

and I had such a brilliant night and it's it's really cool because at the awards night the particular one that I was up for on screen producer and a lot of the organizations that were in every single category there were the really big networks it was like paramount nine there was ones for ARN there was ones for SCA like all of these massive companies and then there was just little life on cut you know like just a little fish you know and it actually felt so nice for I don't want to say the underdog but in terms of numbers and in terms of size of a business it's really full that we are in there like you know yeah fighting it out with the big doggy fighting the conglomerates especially when there's four of us that's what I mean you know so yeah no I had a

brilliant time so thank you so much well I know you guys have come here to hear all about my knit story so I'm really thrilled to tell you as well I actually just realized that I like subconsciously scratched my head because anytime I hear that word my scalp just gets itchy it throws you back into turmoil so a few weeks ago when we did the radio show with Midge I was like gloating because my children are so bald that they don't catch nits, right? Like everyone else has had it. All the cousins have had it, but my kids have such wispy, fine hair and that nits can't hang on. But I mean, that's not a quality that most people, thin hair is not something that people find desirable, but like my children, they gained that hereditary gene from me. They have thin,

wispy hair, never to have had nits. Anyway, we're at the cafe on the weekend and I looked down at Marley and I was like, just like playing with her head, giving her a little head massage. And I looked down and I was like oh girlfriend you got dandruff and then I was like she's five I always call a girlfriend and then I and then I and then I had to look a bit closer and I was like holy shit she had I could see them she had like full-on knits crawling through her hair and she was like yeah mom my head's been so itchy so we went home and everyone has had knit treatments and then I woke up and I felt itchy so like the whole family Friday Saturday Sunday all we've done is knit treat each other we're like monkeys in a zoo that pick bugs off each other and eat them but you all

have to commit right we have you can't half commit you can't have commitment issues with a knit situation because they just be like hey sucker i'll come back tomorrow they even jump off sometimes and chill for a minute like on the on the lounge i feel itchy now we have done nothing we're like knit treatment no sleep brush more oil comb every day i smell like tea tree do they still use tea tree is that a thing still oh well i guess it's like a tea tree oil thing i've done two treatments on the girls i've done two treatments on myself i've done two treatments on nana and matt was he was like i'm not having it i my hair's so dirty i'm not gonna get knits and then last night i was in there combing his hair and what did i find a little needy knit knit i feel itchy now like

you've given it to me probably probably given it to all of you you probably should do some knit treatments guys i don't know if my hair's healthy enough anymore i think it's been bleached beyond oblivion because they only pick healthy hair do they it's very humbling let me let me tell you, I feel like I've entered a new phase of parenting and I can't wait for the Daily Mail article to talk about your engagement and Laura Byrne getting nips. What are we for life, Uncut? We've all had some wins in life, but no, look, we know the reason that you're all here today. And it's the reason that, you know, it's the thing we've been holding onto for hope for the last five and a half years. It finally happened. We've been praying to the gods every day.

Please someone take Brittany off our hands. no but last week's episode on Thursday you guys all heard it you saw the videos it was the biggest surprise for us and every time I watch that video I cry it's been viewed millions of times I think a million of those views is me and I think I've cried a million times as well Ben and I said the same thing Ben and I have not stopped watching the video and at the start it was in all honesty Ben is new to this media world right so like he doesn't really do Instagram and online and he doesn't get it plays football and that's it and when i said oh i'm gonna surprise the girls and tell them on camera he couldn't understand it he was like but why like why not just tell them and

i said oh because i just feel like everything is content content content and i had this combo with some lifers actually who were like thank you for like including us and that's what i wanted to do because you life has been on the journey with us all of us for so damn long like literally five years of the highs and the lows and you know it all and I wanted to make it like an intimate moment but also bring everyone in and feel included and Ben was like okay like whatever you want to do but I don't get it anyway he watched the video about crying and he's like I get it he's like it's so good it's like it's so beautiful I love it and he can't stop watching it then I'll hear him he's like I'm just going to the bathroom I'll hear him in the bathroom and

I can hear the video playing I reckon Ben has contributed to a million of those it's like two and a half million views. I think he's watched them all. I mean, this is kind of the thing that like Life Uncut was built on, right? Like we've spoken about this throughout the years. On one hand, it was talking about relationships and talking about love. But I think the real thing that's like set us apart is talking about female friendship. Like that's been such a huge part of what makes this podcast joyful. The fact that we are real friends and get to share in these life milestones and like watching that video back. We're just so lucky. We're so lucky we get to work together. We're so lucky we genuinely love each other and that we've been able to create

the community off the back of that. And in terms of an announcement, it's your special day, but you made us feel so special by doing that. So it is incredible. Ben didn't know, but he actually proposed to all of us. Ben, you're all of our Beyonce now. We're all engaged. Thank you. One of my favorite things to watch back in it, if you are someone that hasn't watched that video yet, please go and watch it. But my favorite thing to go back and I just keep freeze framing on the is just watching both of your faces, Keisha, the genuine shock and then like putting her hands over her mouth and her eyes couldn't get wider and then it pans to Laura

and I've never seen someone's mouth so wide. All I could think was lucky Matt if that's what you get. But your mouth, I was just like, woman, you look like Luna Park. Like that, you know. There's so much judgment in it as well, like not in a bad way, but the moment when I started crying and Laura still hadn't clocked and she thought it was a listener's letter. She goes, are you crying at like an Ask Uncut?

And then the realisation. I love the entire thing. I can't stop watching it. I know that sometimes you guys probably think that we know everything beforehand, but we haven't asked Brit any details around the engagement because we wanted it to be like a revelation to us at the same time. So when all that happened last week, when we recorded on Wednesday, we then stopped down and we were like, this is not getting tacked onto the back of an Ask Uncut.

But we're going to have a whole entire episode dedicated to the engagement of Brittany Segrist. But in order to do that, we had to like wait until today. So we are asking all these questions for the first time. We also put out a call out to you guys on Instagram. So we've got all your questions as well to ask Britt. But before we do do that, we have a little surprise for you, Britt. Because as you mentioned, it has been such a journey. You've also brought everyone along for it.

You know, as we always do for these big milestones in our lives that we share on the pod. and this is just a little walk down memory lane. I haven't even heard it and I'm crying. What's wrong with me? What is wrong? There's this deep-seated issue still in society that, oh, if you're in your 30s and 40s and you're single, there's something wrong with you or 99% of the time I'm proud to be single.

I'm happy. Yes, I'm looking for a relationship but I'm still happy in myself. But in those moments, for a second, even I felt it. I was like, I don't want everyone in this audience looking at me being like, oh, like, woe is her. I'm still crushing. I'm already, no. I'm crushing hard.

No. I am going to tell you that this is a disaster waiting to happen. Firstly, you know I have an attraction to people that aren't here. Yeah. Because I'm commitment-phobe. Oh, for God's sake. That he's physically not here. Turn on.

That you only knew him for two days and now you're in love with him. I'm not in love with him. I'm in lust with him. It was three days and we've been speaking for a long time now. Of course. Brittany never learns. I want to know, how's the guy? I don't know.

I feel like saying it's not overly serious yet, but maybe it's going that way. You're like, I can't say that because then what if he hears this and then he thinks it's serious and then you've just said it's not serious and, oh, dear God, it's a fucking minefield. And then this one face popped up and it was Ben. I was like, wow, that guy's good looking, checking on the bio, he's foreign, tick, athlete, wasn't a tick benefit,

but I thought that would be really good if I was going to have a fling, right? Someone, like, fit and healthy that can really go the long haul. and I was trying to say like let's have a little no strings attached fling and by the fourth day he was like I really like you and I said I really like you too well why does that matter if I don't live here if we are the people that we would want to date let's keep talking one part of me was like amazing this makes me feel good the other part was like how am I gonna tell Laura I don't know how you would explain it I don't know what the label is right now it's serious without being serious.

I think it's going that way, but it's not there yet. What are you doing for Christmas, Britt? Well, I booked flights last night, Laura. Oh, shit. I am going to lay it all on the line here. You're either going to get, like, happy in lust, love, Brittany, or you're going to get heartbroken, Brittany. Don't worry, nobody can handle heartbroken Brittany again.

Is it that bad? I don't want that for you. I don't want you to be heartbroken again. That's a horrible thing to have to go through. yeah we're probably three months deep now to the relationship look at your face I'm fully blushing I am so happy like I'm so happy that you're happy all I want is for you to be in a relationship where you feel emotionally secure where you feel secure not just in distance in how supported you are in the level of priority that you take in their life like

all of those things are things that I want for you and I know you want them for yourself yo girl is head over heels in love I cannot fault him right now in one part of his entire life who he is anything about him he's just the most divine human I'm so happy that you are happy you are absolutely emanating excitement and love flash forward to now and I've never been happier and last week on a beautiful island he asked me to be his wife and I just want to know what's a cute way to tell my friends that I'm getting married what i will say is like it was the most incredible day of my life i can't stop crying guys why didn't you prep me with waterproof mascara

i feel like i've probably got black eyes that was so like yeah what the what right what everyone this is we need an intermission this is why producer Keisha won the award I was just putting that together like going back through so many of the episodes and just finding these little snippets of you I was an absolute mess but it just reminded me of how much you wanted this like really true and beautiful love and it's like it's so beautiful to see this come from you know because we've been there we've been there through your breakups we've been there through the times where you were dating and just like not loving life yeah the guy that wanted me to sit on his face meat raffle which one when i got sold what about me raffle where's he now

to kind of you know just listen to all of those moments so back to back and you know know where it got to and know that now we're at this point where you're just like so overwhelmingly happy and you know how happy Laura is for you considering that it was initially you know we thought it was a disaster waiting to happen I do like to say that I'll eat my own shit and in this instance I will eat my own shit but she was like this is a disaster waiting to happen I'm gonna have to pick up the pieces again so now you're just gonna pick up my arm off the ground you know because it's so it's so sore from how big my diamond is but no okay before we start being silly about that it was always really hard because like after we had that conversation

when you very first met ben and you came back from overseas you were like i'm in love and i was like this is a terrible fucking disaster you're lucky not you had great sex for a mom yes you're in a sex hole you've got sex blindness you're this is an orgasm blindness I came back on crutches. And I was like, I love you. You just saw God. I love you. You just, you just flew into heaven.

You hit nirvana. It's not real. Come back down to earth. No. What happened after that? Because I mean, when you have just seen your friend go through a bad heartbreak, I think we spoke about parts of it on the podcast, but probably never to the extent, right? You were so unhappy for such a period of time.

and in my mind when we had that episode I know so many people messaged me and they were like fuck Laura can't you just be happy for her and I was like no I can't be right now and it's not because I'm not happy for her it's because I'm so worried that we're gonna be back where we were a year ago and that's not for me that's for you you know I don't want to see you hurt and that was my biggest fear because statistics say that long distance is hard and at the time I was like this is some random dude you've met on fucking raya like i don't know this guy from virus like now ben's sitting here and i love him so ben you you won me over but i genuinely before we get into answering like all the questions and everything like i genuinely want to say from the bottom of

my heart i am so happy that you are happy like i am so i'm not gonna cry what is wrong with us i am so happy finish if you want to lubricate yourself with tears without the place to come No, I'm, I'm so happy for you guys. I'm so happy that you proved me wrong. And I don't, I hope that you never thought that it was anything other than just like the protection of you and not wanting to see you be hurt again. No, and I a hundred percent know, and Ben's a great guy, but we didn't know that then. No, and it's so like, thank you so much for putting that package together because I mean,

that was back in the end of 2022 and we, we do these episodes and we've, we've had over 500 episodes. so often like 570 now just so you know so nearly 600 episodes so we remember what we talk about but at the same time we don't we don't remember exactly what we say and then just to walk back to memory lane to like hear me talking about that first weekend that I met him and like I could hear me blushing through that like the funniness of me like hey y'all on booking flights to see some live with some stranger in the UK but that's what they say right when you know you know and I do feel so lucky that I found Ben the way that I did after like a very dark year and that

I get to look back on it because of our job like that is such a special thing isn't it it's such a special thing and that you guys just put that together for me so thank you so much you pulled one on me this time well Ben's gonna be joining us on the app at some point but before he comes on and sort of tells us like his side of the engagement story we wanted to have the opportunity to grill you first so we've got all the questions from you guys we also have loads of questions ourselves i want to kick it off because i have a few things that i want to tell you around the ring and around the fact that we all kind of had an inkling well actually we knew it was happening but we didn't know when so you played the surprise so fucking well because we had a group text going

after hamilton island and we were like do you think he did it do you think he did it and then the fact that you held the secret for so long, which I know that the diarrhea kind of like enabled that to be the case, but you held the secret for so long that we all doubted ourselves completely and thought, okay, it hadn't happened on that weekend. He must be doing it at another day. I gaslit you. You gaslit us hard. You played it so hard, but talk us through like the start of the day, what was happening when you were in Hamilton Island and like what was happening the day prior? I wonder if Ben's story is going to be slightly different, but my, the way that I see it is we'd only been in Hamilton Island one day and the night before Ben and I had gone to dinner

and he just wasn't normal. He wasn't that abnormal, but I was like, what? I ended up putting dinner. I was like, well, are you all right? I was like, what is wrong? And he's like, nothing. I'm just tired. Like I'm just, and I'm like, but you're on holiday. Why are you tired? You've done nothing. Meanwhile, I'd been running him ragged, like with everything booked every day. You're Like you're a professional sports player. You do way more than this. You should be, this is a relaxation for you. So there was in hindsight, I look back and I see that that was because he was nervous.

Like that was the night that he was thinking, oh my God, tomorrow I'm having this moment. I'm looking at the person I'm going to ask to marry me. But I was like, what the fuck is wrong? I was like, so then the next day Ben was like, I'm going to make you breakfast in the morning because we're staying in an Airbnb on the island. So he's like, I'm going to make you, cause he loves to cook. I'm going to make you a huge, beautiful, big breakfast. in the morning we wake up and he's like oh my god I forgot the avocado for the avocado toast and I'm

like oh I'm like how could you forget the one it was one of three it's avocado toast he goes to supermarket he's like I got the bread that'll do me so he's like I better go down to supermarket and get it I was like I'll come and he's like no just stay and relax I was like it's fine I want to get a coffee he's like I'll bring you a coffee back and I was like babe I'm coming we'll get a coffee we'll go for a walk and he's like can I just make you breakfast in bed and I was like fine for whatever reason you're like you're being crazy so yeah so I can't wait to pick a fight with you about this so I stayed in bed and it turns out that I had been stuck to him like glue since he's been here that he purposely forgot the avocado so that he could have 10 minutes to go to

the supermarket in the morning to call my dad and ask my dad so that was the moment that he left to call my dad I mean you really left it to the last minute babe I said the same thing I was like he's like you wouldn't leave me alone I was like babe I think most people ask like months in advance the day of what if he said no what were you like what were you gonna do that's what I said he's like so he literally called and was like I'm gonna ask Brittany this afternoon if that's cool I'm like Ben what if he said no it's not cool what do you do then so the day was normal we're sitting by the pool and this big beautiful boat went past the ocean so beautiful that I don't often comment But I was like, wow, Ben, like that is a beautiful boat.

I didn't know, obviously, but he knew that that was the boat that he had charted because they'd messaged him saying the boat's leaving now, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So he's like, wow, that is a beautiful boat. And then we left it. Now I have said, and I've said it on the podcast before. So OG listeners, you guys will know. I have said before that I've had conversations with Ben where I'm the planner. I'm always surprising him with stuff like hardcore boats and choppers and fishing trips

and diving with whales and whatever. there's always something I've said to Ben next trip I'd really like a surprise if you can do that to me because I like surprises too so with an hour to go we're sitting by the pool he's like hey I haven't told you yet but in an hour we're going somewhere and I said where and he's like we're going on a boat so we played it down he's like we're going on a boat and I was like yes you did a surprise like amazing thank you I was like is it the same kind of a snorkeling trip we did last time and he's like yes I know you love that so much it goes out to the Barrier Reef so was like epic he's like we've got an hour to get ready so I put on my togs packed your snorkeling

gear I had I literally mask I had my crocs on I had everything and I was like ready to go and with probably three minutes to go Ben was like oh it's like quite a nice cruise first before we get to the snorkel place to pack something nice he's like why don't you put a dress on and pack your togs and I'm like no it's fine we're gonna be snorkeling and look gross anyway and in hindsight i can see it playing through his head he's like yeah but we never get nice photos like this is going to be a beautiful boat he's like it's nicer than last year you're like we always get nice photos and i put them on my shrine yes i get professional photos taken at every location we go to so i was like okay i'll take a dress and he's like no let's get take a white one

no he goes let's he goes we'll get some nice photos he's like because there's other people it's like a sunsetty cruise you know yes yeah he's like so let's get the photos first and then you can put your swimmers on then we'll go snorkeling and then you can be gross you know like snorkel gross so I was like fine so he with two minutes to go he pulled a dress out because I always bring a white backup dress in case 10 white dresses so I'd have white every day can you okay I love this for how long for how long now in terms of your relationship have you been just packing a white dress for the occasion it's also so funny to me that you have this idea that it had to be a white dress because I've never heard that from anyone else it's not it didn't have to

be a white dress at all but we all know my entire life I'm a neutral girl white is my favorite color it definitely didn't have to be white I had a number of nice dresses that would have been a little bit dressier and so Ben went into my wardrobe with two minutes pulled the dress out and he's just put this on we'll take your swimmers and I was like wow fine he really wants this photo still didn't think about it because I just knew he'd made this sunset cruise so we get down to the boat and the boat's not there then there's this whole other family with kids and I was like i was like are they on a fucking boat and he's like well maybe babe and i'm like six screaming kids on holiday that's on our boat i was like didn't you book an adults only boat

like such a mole i was like what and he's like i like to personally visualize i'm like that would be me i'm like shut up you beautiful couple who like clearly just want to get engaged listen to my screaming children who have nits i was so i just thought this whole family was going on our boat because there's no one else there and then a helicopter bus pulls up and he's like surprise it's a double surprise and I was like oh my god we get to go on a helicopter okay surely if you're getting a fucking helicopter to a boat there's a little tiny bit of you even if it's just your pinky toenail where you're like maybe maybe so you'll remember last maybe he's gonna pop the question you remember we joked last year how I did the surprise for Ben at Hamilton Island I took

him on a helicopter cruise through the Whitsundays to a private island where you have a picnic and The joke was I handed the engagement to him on a platter, you know. So I just thought it was the same thing. He's like, same as last year. I know you loved it. But I still genuinely, and I'll explain why, I didn't think it was going to happen in that moment. So we land.

We take a few steps towards the picnic. He was like, you left your bag in the chopper. So I run back to the chopper. Meanwhile, as we're landing in the helicopter, the whole beach is beautiful and private. It's Whitehaven Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. and it is so bare and there's two girls doing a photo shoot like 100 meters up with a photographer i thought that they were a gay couple that were just doing because it looks very loving romantic

so i was like oh my god they're doing a photo shoot that's so beautiful i've just crashed it 100 meters down the road yes so i was like how beautiful is that going to be again didn't think anything of it the helicopter landed i take a few steps away towards the water ben goes back to get my bag and he's like come in and he's like running up behind me and then as I turn around I'm talking we had been out of the helicopter I don't think the rotors had even stopped we had been out for like 20 seconds and I turn around and he just falls to a knee that was so quick it was and I in true Britney style just burst into laughter I could not and and Ben's on one knee with this beautiful ring I hadn't even looked at the ring and I'm in hysterics cackling and he's like

are you gonna answer yeah and then and then i'm just don't you know when you're just so shocked so i dropped to my knees as well he's like why are you on your knees stand up did he actually ask the question yes okay he said i love you you're the woman of my dreams will you be my forever squid it's very cute laura wants to laugh i do because ben and i call each other cute names are still yeah cute what does mac mac doesn't even have a cute name for me fucking be nicer to me he never proposed he just got down on one knee cried and then popped straight back up and never actually said will you marry me but the ring was a pretty good indicator yeah i mean the knee gave it away also the drop to

the knee then the pop up and then the ring it was a good indication that he wanted to marry me but hasn't actually asked yet he didn't say yes still hasn't well i mean ben said we'd be my forever squid so i'm taking that as will you marry me so i dropped to my knees still laughing he's like get up why are you on your knees anyway then i noticed the photographer who was at the helicopter so the photo shoot was fake so that the photographer could be waiting on the beach so those girls were not getting a photo shoot they were not a gay couple they were no they were actually the camera assist though they were they were the women that organized the whole proposal with ben they were decoys yeah they were a decoy well you can't just have a photographer roaming around a

picnic that's a bit I thought maybe the helicopter pilot doubled in moonlights no but that would have been a giveaway if I was coming down and there was a photographer sitting there waiting I was like oh my god I'm about to get engaged but they were doing their own beautiful photo shoot which happens in Hamilton Island so I'm laughing I'm on my knees he's like get up so I get up he gets up still hysterically laughing cuddling him kissing him whatever there's photos of us me cuddling him with him still holding the ring out behind my back like I just haven't even looked at it yet and he has to actually physically push me away and he's like can you answer me and i was like oh what was the question i was like oh my god yes and then that was it we had this

beautiful beautiful moment the photographer was amazing we didn't even notice her you know i don't know you're just so i mean you're so used to it after being on the bachelor you could have a camera for a foot away from you while you're having sex whatever literally i know it's been a long time but it is a very desensitizing thing like even on the batch by final I was like what cameras and there's like a whole crew and I was like love me exactly um your finger me why do you have to go there I'm sorry I can't be serious anyway so um Ben was like baby you haven't even looked at the ring yet and I was like because I don't care I don't want to say I've thought about it my whole life because I haven't been that person but since I've always

thought about who my person's going to be but i haven't ever cared about that proposal moment as much as some people might and he's like how have you not looked at the ring he's like god damn it look at the bloody ring i mean it has its own gravitational pull so like it's surprising that you didn't just get sucked into its orbit to be honest yes 100 you're like trying to say i do and you're like i love you anyway but i yeah i i do like that he was a bit upset by that and then i did cry in between the laughter I was so overcome with emotions like exactly like what we've been doing since we've been talking about it laughing and then I was crying and then I'm laughing you almost like feel a bit hysterical don't you the wave of hysteria from like happy laughing to like

crying to them laughing you're like am I having is this a breakdown he thought I was crazy am I having an emotional breakdown right now is this a Tuesday for me but so funny then after immediately after he was like look I'm not gonna lie I did expect or hope for a few more tears less laughing but we're made up for it on the podcast I didn't think there'd be quite so much laughter when I asked you to marry me and I had to explain to him that that for me was shock and that's how I I mean we all know laughter and humor is how I deal with everything like any emotion I just start laughing but I genuinely think for a lot of people they probably don't respond in the way that they think they're going to respond because like especially if you are

caught off guard sometimes not even if you're caught off guard like even if you know it's coming I guess it's something that you probably played out a version of it in your head but when it actually happens in real life things don't like connect as quickly as what you expect them to yeah when I went back through the photos because I had the dress has all this open side and I just had the oldest ugliest grayest undies on that you could see because I was like fucking who cares I'll get changed into my swims when I get there so then as soon as I realized we were engaged You took your undies off? I took my undies off.

I was like, can you wait a minute? And I took my undies off and I was like, no, don't shoot from below. Don't, because all the flaps were out. I was like, everything's like, I was like, just shoot me. I have to stand. You're free flapping in all of your engagement pics. I free flapped in all the pics. Yeah.

I love that so much. I did wonder where like the panty line was. I did have that thought. I was like, that's an aggressive dress. I couldn't wear that. Yeah. I couldn't. Like I have to wear underwear.

After your labiectomy, Laura, you didn't do anything. You don't have to wear underwear. You won't even know. I'll look like I have stick-on undies on. I'll look like a Barbie doll again. I just thought this was the most incredible day of my life and I hadn't even really started yet. So then this tiny little boat turns up to the beach,

to the shore in the middle of nowhere, and they were like, this is your charter. And I was like, what? So we get on this little boat that speedboats us to the big, beautiful yacht that we saw originally like three hours before. So Ben had charted. Like I just felt like a Kardashian. I was like, this is my moment that will probably never happen again,

this entire boat with a crew just for us and when we got on he had my favorite cocktail waiting he had an amaretto sour waiting he had like beautiful food platters really nice champagne and we were on that boat for a few hours to cruise around with sundays with the sunset the photographer came on the boat with us and kept shooting us on the boat and we just danced we ate we drank we laughed we were literally dancing like if you look at us dance you would have thought we felt like there were 50 people around us you know like we just felt like so happy yeah we just felt so happy in that moment and ben doesn't really dance but he was happy enough to dance the funniest thing is and i'll put a photo up of this i can only imagine what a boat like that set ben back for that moment

but he wanted to be perfect but he gets on the boat and he can't fit his head hit the roof she's too tall and i'm like oh my god you paid so much for this boat and you can't even stand on it He had to like dug down. But that was the day. So we went to Sunset and then we cruised back and then we had a beautiful romantic dinner and then we had a beautiful romantic evening. Love making evening.

Yeah, to be young again. We're the same age. I was so pregnant. I was so pregnant when Matt proposed to me. So I don't actually remember any of that. Like, I don't know. I think I was like seven. You were like eight months or something.

Yeah. I really baby trapped the guy. so it no you didn't he would have proposed to you anyway he wanted the baby not you he wanted yeah sorry he baby trapped me that's right I got baby trapped by my husband no but I remember him proposing but then I like don't really remember what happened after I probably went home and had a nap I was like that's enough emotions for me today I am hormonal I need to sleep I almost thought it was like everyone says on their wedding night when so many people don't have sex on their no it's different for your engagement no but I almost didn't want to do it because I was like

I'm so emotionally exhausted but then I looked at him I was like oh I'll do it anyway yeah I'll do it but I I had that feeling I was like it won't be my best performance it won't be my best hey let's do the starfish all right I'm gonna get out of here so Ben can come and answer some of the questions that all of the life has had Ben welcome back to the podcast thank you as a fiance wow okay if you guys listen to the pickup version of this there was a couple of little conversations we've already had around rings and stuff but you know what you can just listen to this twice because we're gonna we're gonna hit it all again firstly how were you feeling on the day I was okay on the day I was really chilled I was really nervous the night before I remember we were lying in bed and

I was like I can feel my heart pumping it's like it's very unusual but it was I'm normally quite like a relaxed person so yeah but on the on the day I was I was really fine because I know she didn't know at the time because I thought I'll tell her last minute because if I tell her early her brain starts ticking over and putting things together that's just that's just how you are so i thought i'd just tell her in the last minute you know and she's standing there in her swimmers in the back i was like okay that's not gonna work for me um thank god that i didn't do that engagement and i looked in the wardrobe i was like there are two dresses in there i was like is this one left i'll take the right one that's easier one i just put it on babe we're gonna be

on the boat and uh you know get out of the house it was a little bit rushed i also find it amazing because when you say and I know we spoke about it like a couple of weeks ago you were like I'm expecting it this year yeah which I would then think that if you're expecting within the year you'd be on hyper alert like any like semi situation that could be proposal worthy the only thing is that you guys do proposal worthy things almost every weekend so it's like like that's what keeps the mystery alive well normally normally I would be probably thinking that this would be it but next week we're going over to see my sister Sherry and Jay and we have some more like holiday because every time we're together like you just said Laura it is a holiday like

we don't see each other all the time so it's always nice so I was like we got three more trips this year and some of them are with family some are with my sister some are over the summer so I was like it probably wouldn't be with this one knowing that I'm with my sister in two weeks so I thought it was going to be in Europe in two weeks time so it really was a shock for me and thank god so ben really likes to look after himself but just before we were going he looked at my nails and my nails were so bad and grown out and he goes babe i'm gonna go across the road and get a pedicure which he's done before i wasn't shocked he's like do you want me to see if do you need anything done and i was like oh if you're gonna yes okay let's i'll get my nails done then

at the same time so he was like thank fuck you are the most considerate most men would not even think of that no i just know that brit would pay attention to this and then i kind of look i know nothing about nails but i could tell they were kind of like they look terrible they were growing forward or like you know you're like i could see that you could climb up a wall with those talons i thought you needed to fix them yeah so she was wolverine she would never forgive me if she had like a picture of her hands with the ring and then there's some scabby nails i would have had to done everything like me yeah so i know i mentioned this to you last week brit but so when you were in the jungle i got a message from ben and it was when we were on our holiday break in maybe april yeah

so that makes sense march okay so i got a message and it was actually i'll read you the message hi laura it's ben with a little flag i need your help and expertise now that brit is out of the way it's the perfect time to talk well i'm not dead you were in the jungle you were yeah you were gone and then it has a little ring emoji and then it said just gathering some info from you and also from sherry for the perfect one can we arrange a quick call when you're free to talk about some ideas that would be great have a great day ben and at the time i was overseas i was like ben exclamation that i had to keep this a secret from you and from everyone right before walton island you said to me do you think you're gonna get engaged because like just to really rub it in

because i didn't know because then ben went silent so we had been talking a little bit back and forth around different ways to set the stone different ways in which the best way to set a diamond also like what you might like so the thing that was very very convenient was at the time Brit being in the jungle I had access to your full social media so I was doing I was managing like all Brit's socials at the time through like Instagram I got some dodgy messages Laura I'm not gonna they were from Mitch and I went through and luckily Brit had done her absolute due diligence and obviously was very looking forward to the day that she was getting proposed to and she had started to save not one but many engagement rings all of them different ones yes

but there were so many saved it was like she had a whole photo of just like wedding and engagement rings but the thing that was very apparent was although they were all slightly different shapes there was only two there was like oval and cushion cut that were the only two but there was one thing in common and that was that they were fucking massive every single one was so obnoxiously big dream big manifest your perfect ring save them and make it easy so anyway i then screenshot all the ones that i thought were very much like your most recent style and i sent them to ben and then from there the perfect ring was created and you did so well it is so beautiful well i obviously knew you were with the other business that you were you know the person to speak to

you know what to do you kind of know the ins and outs jewelry designer yeah so i thought you spend every day together so i'm sure we would have come up at some stage like if i wanted to get information you were the one because you had the expertise I mean I did try and give you the information I was like she wants yellow gold finally so you sent me a ring that you were like hey what about this one and I was like absolutely not it was a white gold four prong diamond ring you sent me a photo of it and I was like Brit will not want that she does not wear white gold she will want yellow gold and it sent you into a head spin because you were like I must confirm this when we talk about Julie I know she likes gold but obviously different kind of gold and

on all that kind of stuff baby but the way my brain works is i do things step by step yeah so i would have just focused on the actual diamonds and not knowing that it's actually important what kind of gold it is you know white gold the world is gold or whatever so i was just like and you're like gold is gold it's yeah i'm like gold is gold but i was like is this the right diamond yeah so i'm just i'm not paying attention to the ring at this stage because i'm working in like a set order in my head i focus on i focus on the diamond which is i thought is the most important and then i got into the four c's or three c's whatever clarity and cut and then what's the setting and what's yeah what's the setting what's the ring and then ring size so i was just focusing on the actual

diamond i'm going right i've got the diamond right what's the setting and then i just work my way down till i have all the information i needed you were in which is confusing for some people well i know i feel like it's the opposite for someone who works so because like i spend most my days working with people who are getting engagement rings done yeah you were so thorough you knew so much i did my research like incredibly so most men rock up and they're like my girlfriend wants a ring but you i mean you did an amazing job it is so so beautiful how did you feel when you got the ring yeah i got the ring and i opened the box i didn't know it had this light so it has this light which shines directly onto the diamonds like when you're from the box from the box yeah

also where did you because you got it made in i got it made in dubai and you got the diamond sourced in Dubai yes I had a friend my agent helped me out with this who said hey I've had my ring done for my wife quick turnaround because I thought because we talked about it we thought you know it's going to be six to eight weeks and whatever and is the ring going to come from your factory to here and I pick it up or whatever you know it was just too hard so I thought I'll get it made in Dubai I had somebody bring it over and then I looked at this box and it had this light and I didn't know it came with a light and I opened it and I was like oh it's what is that it looks like a toy box you know he was but he was sparkly you know he was nice and then to be

fair it looked great on the video it looked nice in the box but it it doesn't look as nice as it does on your finger it looks so much better it's beautiful i'm glad you approve you obviously know what you're talking about but i'm really happy it came out this way and then last minute obviously i realized it's quite a big stone and i thought i need to break down the ring a little bit optically and i thought i'd get this little hidden halo kind of thing which obviously i didn't know existed but you know i did my research and at one stage i was listening to some girl doing an instagram live talking about rings and settings and i'm just like i'm just like on the team bus like just looking at engagements rings in where all the boys are watching football and stuff and i'm like

okay so hidden halo you were so far you sent me one message and you were like i think i'm going to go hidden halo parvay setting and you like listed all the things and i don't think in my entire time like i'm talking 15 years of doing this have i ever had someone be that specific and know what the actual technical terms were if i do something i want to do it properly yeah like i want to i get that impression yeah like choosing a fiancee yeah the other thing that's very cool and i also think that this is interesting for people who maybe haven't gone down the path of looking for an engagement ring is that there's so many more accessible sources for diamonds now and so what you guys went and chose is they call it a lab

grown diamond but i want to be very specific because it's the exact same composition of an actual diamond a lab grown diamond they're obviously still certified they still go through all the same processing but they are very ethically created well i had only i mean whenever ben and i in the past had spoken about it i had said the one or two things i want one just i want yellow gold And the other thing, I always wanted lab-grown diamond because of that exact reason. I was like, and Ben didn't really know about it then because why would you? But he's like, don't you want a real diamond? And I said, it's identical.

It is exactly the same except ethically sourced. Ben, a very big question for you guys and something that so many people are interested in from the outset is obviously you still are doing long distance at the moment. How do you plan and the conversations that you've had around how does this change things? What are your plans moving forward? and also like how do you maintain the foundation of an amazing relationship as you're doing this long distance I don't think much is going to change I propose because I'm in love so that that thing doesn't change is it probably for some people the normal way of doing it because we

haven't really lived together we haven't had that day-to-day together so for some people it might be a little bit unusual but it doesn't really doesn't really change for me or for us I think we got into this relationship knowing what the relationship is going to look like obviously the end goal is to live together of course i think as many people are aware that somewhere down the line after my career or just before my career comes to an end i'd love to live in australia i love australia i love the people how friendly are they are um love the country obviously the weather is a nice upside to to maybe some parts in in the uk so sorry about the spiders and the snakes and stuff yeah that's a big problem but i've stayed away from them which is nice a lot of people don't

understand and it confuses a lot of people and I understand that we do get those comments and we have got a few of those comments how can you get engaged and not live together but not all relationships are created equal and it's not the same for everyone and for us this is just worked well for now and it will keep working because I'm not currently saying yes to marry somebody because of the day-to-day I'm saying yes to marry a person that he is and the person and the things that we have together and we have to work maybe a little bit harder to make our relationship the same as somebody else's that lives together day to day but we've spent and ben you know ben says oh we don't get the day to day together we spend two months at a time

together sometimes so it's not like we're not spending the time together where we're living with each other then we go away for two months and we come back also i would say i mean if you guys haven't listened to it we interviewed erin holland on the podcast earlier in this year and she spoke so beautifully around her long distance relationship and how you know she was engaged she was married and they were still navigating that long distance aspect. And so everybody's relationships are quite different. And I think had I not heard her speak about it and speak about how they were doing it very, very successfully, despite people's perceptions around their relationship and the way she described it was like the hardest thing that we deal with isn't

the fact that we do long distance. It's that people think that it can't work when it does work. And I, and I like, I really appreciated her perspective on that because I think that really changed the way I feel about it. And we are working towards it. This isn't forever, but right now in our life we know we love each other we know we want to spend our life with each other we know we want to get married we know we can't currently live together like these are just it's just a phase like any relationship it's just it's just a phase you know the way we got to know each other was maybe different than other people do their dating life you know that they probably choose a partner who lives within half an hour an hour where they are based you know we just

happen to live really really far away really really and maybe maybe do it what some people call it the hard way but it's not hard work because we love each other yeah we love each other so it's not a chore to talk to each other I wake up in the morning I'm excited to call her you know we have a long day I'm excited for her to wake up and call me and we talk about the day and everything and that works for us is that what we probably would have wanted before we met each other absolutely not which I think I made pretty clear on our so-called one night stand but now we're here and we're making the best of it and I think we are really happy the way it's gone now but we are working to an end goal which is obviously living together and being together

and being at the same location and this is something which comes with a lot of privilege as well and the fact that you guys are in such a fortunate situation with work and with the way your lives are structured most people wouldn't be able to do long distance in the way that you do it because it is very expensive to fly and see each other all the time it does take a lot of time away from normal work so if you work a normal nine to five you couldn't have that flexibility the way in which your lives are is not the norm for most people and that's like such an exception to the rule as well i think which is what makes it work if you had all those other constraints maybe it would be too hard oh definitely 100 but you have the ability to be able to get on a plane

and if things are tough to go you know and to be together the thing is we don't really financially it is very very expensive and we definitely have to and i do all the flying basically we definitely had to make a conscious decision that like if we're going to do this it's going to cost us a lot of in flight to you we're going to have to make some sacrifices elsewhere but in terms of being able to get on a plane when we want we both can't do that ben gets four weeks off a year that is it that so for all the people asking why ben never comes to australia he football is a job and he works six days a week they get one day off a week if we're lucky if they're lucky and they get four weeks off a year which is right now so that is it for me i'm here and i'm on radio i can't

leave either so we do have very structured every two months i get two weeks with radio that gives us off and then i'll go over there so it's actually not as free-flowing as i think people think it's funny when you were in the jungle when you were doing i'm a celeb i i got into like a fight with someone on the comments on I'm a celeb because every day people were writing like I don't get it why doesn't she just go she just has a little podcast she can do that from anywhere and I got to a point where I was so sick of that conversation because I was like firstly obviously if you could do that you would do it and secondly it was almost this like narrative that was starting to play out and I could see it was like that I'm keeping you from going and I was like just gonna jump in here

hi everyone since you have warmed up i was like towards me i know because i'm trying to keep it from you ben that's actually my my evil plan is to keep of myself no i was like i hate this narrative that it should be you that just gets up and goes because you have a job that you can't leave behind and she should follow me yeah and everyone says oh but like ben has a career and he can't leave he can't leave the celtics and just come to australia and brie you just you do a podcast. You can do that from anywhere. And I wrote this comment back and I was like, I just want to make it really clear. We have one of the biggest podcasts in the country. We have staff that are dependent on us. We run a radio show. I was like, this is not something that you can just

jump online and do an hour of. I was like, there is so much work that goes into running a business. And also why is Brit's career so invalidated in this conversation? Ben, you can play soccer anywhere. Come on over. Sure. You won't get paid as much, but like we've got, we've got the, um what was it central coast versus sydney like but you know what i mean i was like people can be so quick to invalidate brit's career as the female in this relationship but nobody invalidates yours everybody understands why you don't come here yeah but nobody understands why brit doesn't just go to you and i feel the defensiveness over her because i've seen what you have created and when that time comes and you're making it of the volition of yourself and you're doing it for the greater good

of the two of you we'll make it work you we absolutely will make it work and i have so much respect for that but i don't respect other people's opinions when they're like well why doesn't brit just do this because it invalidates the businesses that you've created 100 and also like podcasting technically can be done anywhere yes so people are right when they say that it does make it a lot harder with time differences but people underestimate i think how hard we've worked to get to where we are in terms of radio and our career in media. Physically, I have a Monday to Friday job as well as the podcast. Radio is Monday to Friday.

Like we do have a media job here as well. And I'm really proud of that and I love it. So I also don't want to give that up. And Ben doesn't want to give his career up because his career isn't infinite. It has an end date. Athletes retire and he will never kick a football again except for maybe with the local teams. He'll probably always play and with the kids. But like that is a huge reason that people don't understand

why we are long distance for now. But we're both proud of that. I just say this with like the utmost respect for both of you. Like in the fact that you are making it work, the fact that you both are able to prioritize relationships but also have goals that you're passionate about that are individual to you that you care about. It's also one of the things I'm most proud of

that she is so driven, successful, and you guys are doing so well. And I think it's a classic case of like, you know, about respect what do i care what other people think brit and i are happy yeah and that's that's the woman i'm going to spend the rest of my time with not with someone who comments something on instagram one of the things i was like i'm i'm so glad she's independent she's driven and goal focused and she wants to do well and she wants to live her passion but at the same time she lets me live my passion and pursue my career and like i said we know there is an end goal and if we work hard at what we love to do right now hopefully our lives will be better down the line with all

the stuff we work for guys i'm so happy for you when is the wedding gonna be and what can we know about it we're thinking probably this time next year i don't want a long engagement and i say that because we still want to go on the kid train like we still want to go i mean you can have kids and then get married i know someone in the room who did that no i think because we know for us it's highly likely kids will be ivf which is a whole fucking other kettle of fish like it's a you really have to commit there to the process to the process because it's it's expensive it's long it's emotionally draining physically draining like there's so much that goes into it so I just don't I wouldn't want to be going through that and also saying what if I get pregnant when the

wedding happens or what if you know so I would rather just be fully committed when that time comes so yeah probably this time next year we think maybe it'll be like maybe a destination wedding somewhere islandy that Ben's family doesn't have to travel quite as far somewhere nice warm and tropical could be Bali it could be Hamilton Island could be I don't know Fiji you know you get the idea like somewhere because it'll be australian winter so i would like it to be a bit warmer somewhere so it can be like a couple of days of wedding stuff and then everyone has a holiday yeah do you think it'll be a big or a small wedding what's considered the big wedding over 100 i would say is a big wedding i would say under 80 is a small wedding small

yeah i mean because my side of the family or friends they have to travel a long way obviously we're gonna have to see how many people actually make it over that's why we want to have like a nice destination wedding so people can have a holiday and maybe combine it that maybe it also leads to come yeah destination weddings like only it weeds out people and only the people that really want to commit and like you're really important close people come don't you reckon is that rude no i think that that's exactly why people have destination weddings it's like only people who really care about you or really really want a holiday they're the only two people that come it's hard because obviously a destination wedding will never make it europe where it's

super expensive for people it's always going to be close to australia yeah because expenses are part too like it's really expensive living right now and it's just unfortunate that our families live on the other side of the world and we have to try and find a halfway kind of place in terms of like how many people from your side of the family and stuff ben what do you think would be like how many people do you think would come it's hard to say i think if all my sort of close friends are able to make it probably be between 20 and 30 with partners obviously it will be between 20 and 30 yeah max yeah we had a small wedding it was like 75 people and it was perfect it was a perfect size yeah i think it will be around that yeah 50 to 70 people i reckon amazing which is

nice it's amazing okay and if you guys have kids will they be bilingual well not from me do you have do you try like have you tried to learn yes i try no they will hopefully be trilingual but it will all be ben's it's not going to be me what languages do you speak obviously i grew up german we have a swiss german sort of like accent which is basically the same and we learn French and English obviously in school and then later on you we would we would learn Italian which is I can understand more than I can actually speak but that's kind of the main so funny when we met we were talking about languages the first you know and I was like so what languages do you speak and he told me like

rattled off four and he's like what do you speak and we're like English there's nothing more australian i was like english we don't speak anything i felt so stupid there is nothing more australian than only knowing one language and it's embarrassing for us but i definitely think me and the kids need to gang up on britain speak you know another language behind the back ben is committed to teaching minimum two languages to the kids which is a big effort like because it means constantly he has to speak german or italian it's a great thing to have in life i think 100 but it also means at that point in your life you'll obviously start to learn it too like that will that will change you've been learning and we're not we're not

brit takes a while with something have you tried speaking german it's really hard that is it from us guys we are like i can't say enough times we're so so happy for you welcome to the podcast that now just talks about wedding content for the next year at least the last thing i do want to say is genuinely from the bottom of my heart like i was overwhelmed i'm just gonna make me upset again by the more crying more tears just the the love from the life it's like the love from just everyone it was so much more than i ever expected and i'm not just saying that it was overwhelming and i want you guys to know that i have tried to read every message and every single comment but there have been literally been like thousands upon thousands

but i have tried to read them i probably can't write back to you all but ben can attest to this like I've cried so many times reading them he reads them out to me sometimes like he'll see them or he'll get them and then just from strangers like I feel like my faith has been restored a little bit in humanity like that like thousands of strangers saying I don't even know you girls but I'm so happy for you and like the love that you have and just the response has meant the world to me and I'm so glad that you guys could all come along this journey because I've waited such a long time and you have been there for the whole whole ride and I guess it's it's the next chapter now You get to come on the wedding journey now

and then hopefully one day the kid journey. Look at this tear roll. It's so slow. Go fast. Look at it. And so a big humungo thank you. And to my beautiful fiancé, I adore you and I love you and I can't wait to spend the rest of my squiddy life with you.

I love you too, baby. And you know the drill. Tell your friends. Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friends and share the love because we have love. Ben, tell someone. you