Andy Lee and Rebecca Harding announce engagement after almost 10 years together

Andy Lee has announced his engagement to long-time girlfriend Rebecca Harding in the latest episode of the Hamish & Andy podcast.

Host of The Hundred with Andy Lee opened up about the proposal to his co-host — Lego Masters host Hamish Blake — during the episode, which dropped at midnight on May 1, 2024.

"I asked Bec to marry me on Sunday," Lee announced.

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"Is it a bit quick? That's all I wanna ask," Blake joked, before getting serious revealing he and wife Zoe Foster-Blake were "crying" at the news.

Lee said he took Harding to their "new old house" under the guise they needed to film videos for social media before they start the build.

While standing in front of the old marble fireplace Lee said he pretended he could see something inside the fireplace and went to take a look before producing a napkin, in a nod to how they met.

"When I was down there, I stayed on one knee and I gave her another napkin — because when I first met her at the café, I wrote on a napkin my details — and I gave her another napkin," Lee said of the romantic proposal.

The friends spoke to Harding on the show and revealed Lee was forced to delay his proposal unexpectedly after she'd booked their dog, Henrietta, in for a grooming appointment.

Hours later, the couple showed off the engagement ring in a joint Instagram announcement.

Posting a loved-up photo, showing off the ring, they wrote, "People keep saying we rushed into this, but we don't care what people say."

The couple have been together for almost 10 years after meeting at a Melbourne café in October 2014, when Lee famously gave Harding his details on a napkin.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald's Two of Us column in 2022, Lee said he was writing jokes for that year's Logie Awards when the waitress caught his eye.

"She was attractive, but it was more her bubbly personality and how she wasn't good at her job," he said.

"She'd leave a table knowing about the person's grandchildren or dog, but forget their order.

"I ordered cups of tea I never drank and eventually left a note on a napkin."

Lee gave Harding, who was a student and model at the time, his personal email address.

She later said she was annoyed he left her an email instead of a number.

But Lee called as soon as she emailed him and the pair soon met again.

READ MORE: Andy Lee and Rebecca Harding's relationship timeline

"She told me she was two weeks away from finishing her master's degree for the year. I said, 'That's a Tuesday. I'll call you on the Saturday and tell you where I'm going to take you,' and we went out Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday," he told the SMH.

For her part, Harding once said during an interview for 60 Minutes that she wasn't initially interested in Lee.

"He hadn't had a girlfriend in a while, he was Cleo Bachelor of the Year, I thought he was a bit of a sleazebag, maybe," she said.

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But she soon realised there was more to him than met the eye.

"He's a bit sweeter than I actually was picturing. He's a really sweet, kind, generous person," she said.

The couple went public with their relationship at the Australian Open in January 2015 but after media pressure split briefly in 2016.

After about six months apart, Lee and Harding rekindled their relationship and appeared arm in arm on the Logie Awards red carpet in April 2017.

After a decade in the spotlight, a number of homes bought together including a massive renovation project, as well as their beloved pet pooch, fans had been pushing for the pair to tie the knot.

Lee said in a previous interview that neither of them thought marriage was "super important" and spoke of the "unfair pressure" placed on them to have kids.

But it seems their time has finally come and fans will be excited to hear of the wedding planning to come and see the couple eventually walk down the aisle.

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