One News reporter Kimberlee Downs and Newshub sports reporter Ollie Ritchie have announced their engagement.
The pair follow a tradition of TV news couplings, including Simon Dallow and Ali Mau at TVNZ, Mike McRoberts and Paula Penfold at then TV3 and Kate and Andrew Gourdie, who actually met when then Kate Lynch, was a reporter for TV3 and Gourdie was a sports reporter for the station. Lynch then went on to a successful reporting career at TVNZ.
Downs, who is originally from New Plymouth, and Ritchie, who is from Christchurch, first met in 2016 when Downs was sports reporting for TVNZ and Richie was at Newshub covering a Black Caps' training session at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
A spark did not ignite until two years later when they met again while covering the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Downs was based in Sydney for TVNZ at the time and Richie in Wellington. Spy understands a long-distance friendship began when Downs returned briefly to Auckland to host the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens coverage. She reportedly popped down to Wellington to visit Richie for one day and ended up staying for five.
The long-distance relationship continued until the next year when both were transferred into their network's Auckland offices. Spy understands the couple bought a home together on Auckland's North Shore a year ago — and that's where Downs posted photos of their engagement last weekend, which she captioned: "The easiest yes of my life."
