When Bobby Steinburg got a mass marketing e-mail in May saying, "Are you planning on proposing soon? Click here," the assistant men's basketball coach had no idea he would be proposing to his girlfriend on national television a few months later.
In an episode of The Learning Channel's new reality-based show "Perfect Proposal" (which originally aired Nov. 4), Steinburg secretly revealed his intentions to a national audience, then proposed, as television cameras caught the action, to Sandy Lampley -- a teacher he had met in college in 1996 and had been dating since early 2002.
Steinburg says mere whim inspired him to follow the e-mail's instructions and visit the Web site of "Perfect Proposal," where he filled out a questionnaire. "About a week later I received a call. I had almost forgotten that I had filled out the questionnaire," he said.
Steinburg agreed to be on the show, and in mid-September he made the trip to New York.
Steinburg told Lampley he was in New York for a weekend coaching clinic, and asked her to join him. She agreed. When she arrived the couple attended the Broadway show "Movin' Out" before Steinburg took her to the restaurant Cascata Café Italiano, supposedly simply for a bite to eat.
Little did Lampley know, Nikki Boyer, host of "Perfect Proposal," was posing as a waitress so she could be on hand when the big moment came. When Steinburg knelt down and asked Lampley to marry him, it was captured on hidden cameras for the world to see. And yes, Lampley said "Yes."
The seventh-grade science teacher was unaware of the elaborate set-up until after the proposal. A good friend of hers living in New York was even used as a secret accomplice to Steinburg.
"There were hidden microphones and hidden cameras all over the place all weekend," said Steinburg. "She had no clue. She was stunned when she found out it was on TV."
Although they talk on the phone every day, Steinburg has only seen his fiancé once since the engagement. Steinburg moved to California to take a coaching job with UC Davis this fall while Lampley is still teaching in Tennessee.
The wedding is set for June in Richmond, VA. Afterward, Lampley plans to move to California.
Meanwhile, the episode featuring Steinburg is set to be re-run on Dec. 8 at 1:30 p.m. on TLC.