Sylvia and Pete’s big announcement

THE loved-up pair are on holiday in Europe, but Sylvia phoned in to give Karl and Lisa some happy news on the Today show this morning.

SYLVIA Jeffreys and partner Pete Stefanovic are engaged, the loved-up couple have announced today.

Currently holidaying in Europe, the pair announced via Instagram they’d been engaged for a few weeks now.

“How’s this for a framer?” Jeffreys captioned a picture of she and her new fiance during their holiday. “A couple of weeks ago Pete popped the question, and I said yes, OF COURSE!!! We’ve had the most wonderful time celebrating with great mates. We couldn’t be happier (check the grin) and so excited to share the news with everyone.”

The happy couple.

Stefanovic was a man of fewer words over on his Instagram: “Asked my missus to be my wife and she said yes.”

Karl and Lisa managed to get Sylvia on the phone for a chat on Today, and the newsreader couldn’t contain her excitement.

“We’ve got a wedding to plan! He’s very romantic and he was true to that. We ended up in a vineyard, he was taking some photographs, and I turend around and there he was on one knee,” she revealed.

Stefanovic had brought the ring all the way from Australia, and went to extreme lengths to keep it a surprise from Jeffreys.

The couple have been together for several years after meeting on The Today SHow.

“He kept separating himself from me when we’d go through security scans at airports, he was afraid they’d get him to pull it out. Can you believe he did it all by himself? He didn’t even tell you, I don’t think,” she said to her new fiance’s big brother.

“Why didn’t he tell me? I wouldn’t tell anyone,” joked Karl.

Jeffreys said the engagement happened two weeks ago, and they’d kept the news to themselves since then.

“We didn’t tell anyone for a couple of weeks because we wanted to enjoy it ourselves, but it certainly didn’t take me two weeks to say yes – it took milliseconds.”

Karl and Lisa asked Sylvia if they could speak with Pete - but he was too busy watching football to come to the phone.

“I think this is my life now – doing things while Pete watches football,” sighed Jeffreys.

“Welcome to the Stefanovic clan!” laughed Karl.

Congratulations to our very own @SylviaJeffreys and @PeterStefanovic who are engaged! 💕 #9Today https://t.co/8q3nPIPtKt

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 10, 2016

The pair met when they were both appearing on the weekend edition of Today, and Jeffreys said in a recent interview that the on-air chemistry between them was immediately evident to those around her.

“My sister and my mum both sat me down after that stint on air with Pete and said, ‘Is there something going on? Cos we can kind of pick up on something.’ There hadn’t been anything [romantic], at that point,” she said.

After that on-air partnership, their burgeoning relationship was put on hold as Stefanovic, 33, moved overseas for his role as a foreign correspondent. With no end date on the overseas stint, the pair resorted to good old-fashion pen-palling to stay in touch. Stefanovic got the ball rolling with a handwritten letter.

Karl and Lisa couldn’t conceal their excitement this morning. Picture: Today

“[The first letter] was just nice things, about having a nice time working together, wishing me well and whatnot,” Jeffreys explained.

“But there’s something about a 33-year-old man sitting down and writing a letter and posting it to you — it doesn’t matter what’s in that letter, that is a gesture in itself. In 2016, or 2014 at the time, it is. That was pretty special. It was a smooth move, and it worked.”

It sure did.

Originally published as Sylvia and Pete’s big announcement