{"id":150908,"date":"2026-02-11T00:11:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150908\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T00:11:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:11:29","slug":"couple-from-tampa-got-engaged-during-bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150908\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple from Tampa got engaged during Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It may have been rehearsed, but a dancer and model from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Tampa;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Tampa<\/a> wants you to know that he really did pop the question during Bad Bunny\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/life-culture\/music\/2026\/02\/08\/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-lady-gaga-ricky-martin-wedding\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Super Bowl;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Super Bowl<\/a> halftime show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThat\u2019s the main thing people keep asking: \u2018Was it real, was it real?\u2019\u201d Victor Dimaren, 30, told the Tampa Bay Times. \u201cMy parents know, her parents know. Yes, it was real. We\u2019re engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Sunday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/slicklikevic\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Dimaren;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Dimaren<\/a> was the guy to whom Bad Bunny passed an engagement ring during the performance. Dimaren knelt and presented it to his partner of three years, Emma Eldridge, 27. An estimated 136 million people around the world were watching.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dimaren grew up in Tampa and for years was part of the local breakdancing scene. He and Eldridge, a longtime Tampa resident originally from South Africa, met at a Tampa pool party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">To be clear, Dimaren and Eldridge were not<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/09\/us\/super-bowl-wedding-real-halftime-show.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:the couple that got married during the show;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">the couple that got married during the show<\/a>, just before Lady Gaga showed up. That couple had invited Bad Bunny to their wedding, according to a statement from the artist\u2019s publicists, and wound up being invited to the Super Bowl instead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It was actually the third Super Bowl halftime show for Dimaren, who danced at The Weeknd\u2019s show in Tampa and Kendrick Lamar\u2019s in Los Angeles, but he\u2019d never appeared as prominently as on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dimaren recently moved to Los Angeles for work, but his social media landing page still reads, \u201cReppin\u2019 Tampa, Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dimaren said that when a Super Bowl casting call went out for a couple who\u2019d be willing to stage an engagement \u2014 and make it real \u2014 he jumped at the opportunity. He was already planning on proposing this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As the couple moved along in the casting process, Dimaren said everything started to click.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe whole message of the performance was that the only thing more powerful than hate is love,\u201d Dimaren said. \u201cThat\u2019s why you saw an engagement and a marriage. I\u2019m Puerto Rican, Emma is an immigrant herself, it was connecting all the dots.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Back in Tampa on Sunday, members of the local dance community took to social media after recognizing Dimaren\u2019s familiar face on the world\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cCongratulations<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/slicklikevic\/?hl=en\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:@slicklikevic;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">@slicklikevic<\/a> for doing amazing things out there!&#8221; read a post from Dance Tampa Bay, a nonprofit that advocates for dancers and dance education in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Jep Jacinto, a Tampa resident better known in the street dancing community as JepStar, did a double take.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cHe\u2019s definitely one of the prominent B-boys from the battle scene here,\u201d Jacinto said. \u201cEveryone was like, \u2018What?! Wait! We know that guy.\u2019 It\u2019s always cool when someone from Tampa gets booked for a gig.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1d4e1cb1a56dfdf28f48991b57b9f1f2.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dimaren didn\u2019t post about the moment himself until later on Monday. By Tuesday morning, he said his phone was literally hot from the amount of messages and congratulatory calls he\u2019d been receiving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And yes, there was really an engagement ring in the box, graciously paid for by the production. Now, he said, they just have to get it sized.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may have been rehearsed, but a dancer and model from Tampa wants you to know that he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16497,72852,72851,12769,135,19880,137,136,72850],"class_list":{"0":"post-150908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-bad-bunny","9":"tag-emma-eldridge","10":"tag-engagement-ring","11":"tag-super-bowl","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-bay-times","14":"tag-tampa-headlines","15":"tag-tampa-news","16":"tag-victor-dimaren"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}