By Aidan Elder | Chief Sports Writer
Being largely responsible for scoring a couple of goals at Euro 2012 was a good start for our Paddy Power Lucky Pants, but they’ve moved on dramatically to the next level.
On Friday night, Paddy Power customer, Chris Wheeler from London donned the lucky undergarments and took the plunge, asking his girlfriend, Sam, to marry him. She said yes and although it’s largely down to his ability to be selfless and treat a lady right, we’re also claiming a large chunk of credit for the Lucky Pants. He later tweeted the evidence:
PANT-TASTIC – The lucky couple after Chris proposed (pic: via Twitter)
It’s been something of a whirlwind few months for Chris and Sam. In what sounds like the plot of a Drew Barrymore rom-com, after some brief flirting and lingering glances while socialising amongst a wider group, they finally got together at midnight on New Year’s Eve last, courtesy of a party organised by Chris’s brother.
“It all happened when the New Year bells where ringing and the fireworks were going off,” Chris revealed.
“I’d had my eye on her before that night, but to be honest I left it down to her to make the move,” he said, with a slice of gender equality everyone will applaud, but some women will secretly hate.
It wasn’t long before the idea of spending the rest of his life with Sam came to him. “When you get together with that special person, you suddenly realise why everything else didn’t work out with the other people before. In the last three or so months it’s become very clear that’s it’s something I really want to do,” Chris explained, making us feel all warm and gooey inside.
THE HAPPY COUPLE – Chris generally tends to wear clothes
He began plotting his tactics for popping the question – parents, permission and pants. After doing the gentlemanly thing of asking her parents for their approval, he consulted with his parents and with a newly arrived pair of Paddy Power Lucky Pants began organising the evening special night.
“It was Sam’s birthday on Friday I thought it was fitting that we go out and make it a memorable night. We were at the top of the Gherkin for dinner,” Chris told the Paddy Power Blog.
“The sun was setting across London. We had just finished the main course and at that stage I was feeling as sick as a dog with nerves. We were sitting there, talking to each other and I asked her if everything we’d spoken about before – marriage, having kids, getting a house together, building a life together – was what she really wanted. She said ‘yes’ so I said ‘that’s good because I’ve got something to ask you’.”
“I took a step back out of my seat, got on one knee and popped the question. At that point, she cried for the next hour and a half. After a few minutes of crying, I was getting a bit sore from all the kneeling so I asked ‘is that a yes then?’ and in the middle of the tears she managed to do some nodding which I was happy to take as a ‘yes’!”
Chris says the Paddy Power Lucky Pants helped with the nerves, but he correctly decided that showing them off in the restaurant wasn’t the best course of action. “I told Sam about them afterwards and took a pic to show everyone,” he sensibly pointed out, “it was actually their debut so they’ve got a good record so far!”
Sam certainly seemed happy with the proposal, expressing her excitement succinctly and elegantly with the following tweet:
YEAH! – Take that snotty wedding dress shop ladies everywhere
The wedding nuptials are likely to take place in 2014, probably skilfully placed between the World Cup in Brazil and the new Premier League season. A trip to Las Vegas looks to be on the agenda for the stag party and no doubt some The Hangover style antics featuring the crooning of Mike Tyson.
The next outing for the Paddy Power Lucky Pants is likely to be in about a month’s time when Arsenal begin their Premier League campaign at home to Sunderland. Chris is a committed Gooner and with the club undergoing another summer of transfer tribulations, he admits “We need all the luck we can get.”
Chris and Sam are both on Twitter at @spidey_pig and @miss_chicken and you should follow them because they seem like great craic.
