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Ben Hatcher really is Maria Calderon’s hero after he proposed at an Enrique Iglesias concert.
Romantic Ben went down on one knee on stage at the 02 arena in London to pop the question in front of 20,000 cheering Enrique fans on Friday. And luckily for him, Maria said yes.
“I am still in shock,” said Ben, 32, of Swaine Road, St Michael’s. “It was so surreal.
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“I don’t know what made me do it. I had the ring with me and was going to propose during the concert.
"When Enrique asked if anyone wanted to come on stage, I just stuck up my hand and pointed to the ring box and was picked. It was a spur of the moment thing” - Ben Hatcher
“But when Enrique asked if anyone wanted to come on stage, I just stuck up my hand and pointed to the ring box and was picked.
“It was a spur of the moment thing.”
On a video which captured the moment, Ben is seen saying to Maria, 26: “I know you would want to marry your idol Enrique,” to which the singer says: “Trust me Maria, you don’t want to marry me. Lots of baggage.”
Ben then goes down on one knee to pop the question and a delighted and overcome Maria accepts to cheers and claps from the audience.
Ben, a supply chain co-ordinator for a soft fruit company, and Maria, who works in HR, have been together since 2008.
They met when Ben was on holiday in Spain and Maria, who is from Mexico, was studying there.
The couple maintained a long-distance relationship until they had form of commitment ceremony in Mexico – which was important to Maria’s family because of the different cultures – and she moved to St Michael’s to be with Ben in 2011.
“I always told her I wanted to do something here with our friends and family,” said Ben.
“Maria is really into Enrique so with the concert coming up, I got a ring but was not planning to make such a public proposal.
“On the night it was very spontaneous. Maria was in front of me so had not seen the ring box and did not know what was happening.
“Luckily she said yes. I had said we should start talking about a wedding, but she was so looking forward to seeing Enrique she could not think of anything else.”
Video: Watch the moment Ben proposes to Maria
Since the proposal video appeared on YouTube and Twitter, the couple have been inundated with calls from friends and family.
They plan to get married in April, 2016 – without Enrique present and not before 20,000 people.
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