Hunter Fieri knows that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
Hunter, who is the son of Food Network star Guy Fieri, got engaged to pileball pro Tara Bernstein on Thanksgiving last month. But before the big proposal landed, Hunter, 27, visited Bernstein’s father, Joel Frixx, in New York to ask for his blessing to marry her — and came armed with an unexpected gift to win over his future father-in-law. law.
“I brought her dad a box of White Castle cheeseburgers,” Hunter tells PEOPLE. “So get this – her dad loves White Castle. Frixx is White Castle’s spokesman, chairman, congressman.”
Hunter says he brought 30 hamburgers for good measure.
“He’s literally the president of White Castle,” he continues. “I had to ask him out of respect. And I love Frixx because he’s just a great father. So I brought a box of White Castle and sat down… and then I asked him a question.”
Hunter Fieri and Tara Bernstein.
Cindy Ord/Getty
Frixx was impressed by Hunter’s burger bounty. “He knows the way to my heart there, okay,” she jokes to PEOPLE. “No, it was a great gesture and it was genuine. This guy is a great guy, this girl is a great girl and I love them both.”
Hunter also made sure that Frixx was included in the proposal. He invited Bernstein’s family to the family ranch in Northern California for Thanksgiving, where he popped the question by the property’s pond.
Hunter Fieri opens up about being ‘Guy Fieri’s son’ and his first solo project
“I talked to my parents for hours and hours just thinking about how to do it, how we can surprise [Tara] where he doesn’t understand what’s going on,” Hunter explains. “The best idea was to have a pond that’s down the hill from our main house with an island on it. And if there’s a sunset going on, beautiful scenery, okay, why not go there, take family pictures.”
At one point, Hunter and Bernstein were invited to take a private photo, and Hunter seized the moment and got down on one knee.
“I’m nervous and I’m so happy with the emotions,” he recalls of the proposal. “She’s sitting there with tears in her eyes and then I can hear on the shore of this lake all her family and friends — 40 people — and you can hear them all snorting and giggling and they’re so happy. And I’m like, ‘Shut up.’ I couldn’t focus.”
He adds: “It was really beautiful. And thank God she said yes.”
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Bernstein says it was an incredibly “emotional” moment. “I was in tears after that, especially when I heard his dad speak, his mom, my parents and the whole family and his godfather, just everybody saying all these heartfelt statements,” she tells PEOPLE.
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Guy and Hunter Fieri.
Denise Truscello/Getty
Guy Fieri’s son Hunter and fiancee Tara Bernstein share their love story in first post-engagement interview (Exclusive)
Hunter and Bernstein first met at the 2023 Super Bowl and “quickly connected on a deep level.”
“We weren’t looking for anything. We weren’t looking for each other. It just happened,” she tells PEOPLE.
At the time, she says, she had no idea who Hunter’s father was and was unaware of his status as a celebrity chef. “I had no idea they even had any shows, who they were,” she notes. – It was actually unpleasant.
Fieri put his stamp on the engagement, sharing a photo of his son and daughter-in-law-to-be on Instagram with the caption, “Congratulations @hunterfieri and @taralynn.nyc. You two were made for each other. Welcome to the family, Tara.”
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