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Prospecting for Love

Aired July 18, 2003 - 15:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now a true story of true love delayed. Well, now a true story of true love delayed. Derrick Monnig didn't drop the ball when he proposed to fiancee Debra Sweeney. He dropped the ring. Derrick proposed to Debra in February at the Keystone ski area in Colorado. But when the ring fell in the snow, it was nowhere to be found.
The couple is with us live now from Colorado to let us in on the rest of the story.

All right. So, Derrick, set us up here. What exactly happened?

DERRICK MONNIG, ENGAGED: Actually, I brought the ring up to Keystone with the intent of proposing. And I thought I'd take her to a bowl area, where you hike up and you ski over this little drop-off. I thought it would be kind of neat. She had never done it before. And I thought I'd make it special, a beautiful sunny day. And we got to the edge. Deb looked kind of scared and looked down at this little cliff we're going to jump off. And I thought, better now than never. So I...

PHILLIPS: You knew she had to say yes, right?

MONNIG: Well, she kind of declined me twice before.

So we backed away from the edge, and I asked her to marry me. And when we were putting the ring on, it fell to the snow.

PHILLIPS: Were you nervous?

MONNIG: No, not really.

PHILLIPS: No? So what happened?

Debra, did he just sort of miss the finger? Did you jump up with joy and it went flying? What happened?

DEBRA SWEENEY, ENGAGED: I think he was nervous.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: OK. So then, immediately, you guys obviously panicked. Derrick says you panicked more, Debra. How did you call for help? Who came in? Who helped? How did the search begin for the ring?

SWEENEY: Actually, I froze. I just sat there and didn't move. Derrick said, do not move. And I didn't, because we saw it just bounce right off my boot.

And he got down. And he was just scraping around with his fingers on the top. And we couldn't find anything. So a skier was going by. And we called for help. And the whole ski patrol came up to help us, the director of the ski patrol and like six other guys. And they dug with us for almost six hours to try to find this ring.

MONNIG: They were a great help, great people.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to get a shot of that ring, $6,500 ring, I might add, and very beautiful. So you guys didn't find it. You're totally bummed out. But you go back. And tell us what happened.

MONNIG: Right.

Well, we went back. The only day they could set it up was last Saturday. So we had a couple of treasure hunters that wanted to assist us. And John Brewer (ph) was one of them. And he made a big deal about it. And he brought up metal detectors. And we hiked two miles across this ridge and found out where we were. We approximately where it was and just looked around for an hour and a half.

And by dumb luck, I kind of found it. I was dejected. I was looking down. And I stepped back after telling him how disappointed I was. And I took a step back and it was right under my foot. So...

PHILLIPS: Debra, is this a sign of good luck?

SWEENEY: It was very good luck. There is no reason we should have found that ring.

MONNIG: Not at all.

SWEENEY: We had so much snow in Denver this year. And they did a lot of avalanche blasting up there. They could have blew it halfway across the mountain. Cy Mahin (ph), one of the ski patrol guys, was taking us up. And he told us that crows really like shiny objects.

MONNIG: Yes.

SWEENEY: And so it was very likely that a crow could have picked it up in the summer and flew off with it. So it was -- I mean, we were looking around and it was just like a rock mine up there. And there was -- I don't even know if the metal detector would have got it. But the chances of Derrick and John just standing right on that spot...

MONNIG: Yes, pretty phenomenal.

SWEENEY: And just looking down and seeing it kind of wedged underneath a rock, it's unbelievable.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's pretty awesome you found the ring.

Debra Sweeney, Derrick Monnig, congratulations -- beautiful couple, beautiful ring. You let us know when you get married, all right?

SWEENEY: We sure will.

MONNIG: You call back in and let us know you've got everything all together.

SWEENEY: All right.

MONNIG: All right.

PHILLIPS: OK. No missing vows.

(LAUGHTER)

MONNIG: All right.

PHILLIPS: Good luck, you guys.

SWEENEY: Thanks.

MONNIG: Take care.

SWEENEY: Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 18, 2003 - 15:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, now a true story of true love delayed. Well, now a true story of true love delayed. Derrick Monnig didn't drop the ball when he proposed to fiancee Debra Sweeney. He dropped the ring. Derrick proposed to Debra in February at the Keystone ski area in Colorado. But when the ring fell in the snow, it was nowhere to be found.
The couple is with us live now from Colorado to let us in on the rest of the story.

All right. So, Derrick, set us up here. What exactly happened?

DERRICK MONNIG, ENGAGED: Actually, I brought the ring up to Keystone with the intent of proposing. And I thought I'd take her to a bowl area, where you hike up and you ski over this little drop-off. I thought it would be kind of neat. She had never done it before. And I thought I'd make it special, a beautiful sunny day. And we got to the edge. Deb looked kind of scared and looked down at this little cliff we're going to jump off. And I thought, better now than never. So I...

PHILLIPS: You knew she had to say yes, right?

MONNIG: Well, she kind of declined me twice before.

So we backed away from the edge, and I asked her to marry me. And when we were putting the ring on, it fell to the snow.

PHILLIPS: Were you nervous?

MONNIG: No, not really.

PHILLIPS: No? So what happened?

Debra, did he just sort of miss the finger? Did you jump up with joy and it went flying? What happened?

DEBRA SWEENEY, ENGAGED: I think he was nervous.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: OK. So then, immediately, you guys obviously panicked. Derrick says you panicked more, Debra. How did you call for help? Who came in? Who helped? How did the search begin for the ring?

SWEENEY: Actually, I froze. I just sat there and didn't move. Derrick said, do not move. And I didn't, because we saw it just bounce right off my boot.

And he got down. And he was just scraping around with his fingers on the top. And we couldn't find anything. So a skier was going by. And we called for help. And the whole ski patrol came up to help us, the director of the ski patrol and like six other guys. And they dug with us for almost six hours to try to find this ring.

MONNIG: They were a great help, great people.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to get a shot of that ring, $6,500 ring, I might add, and very beautiful. So you guys didn't find it. You're totally bummed out. But you go back. And tell us what happened.

MONNIG: Right.

Well, we went back. The only day they could set it up was last Saturday. So we had a couple of treasure hunters that wanted to assist us. And John Brewer (ph) was one of them. And he made a big deal about it. And he brought up metal detectors. And we hiked two miles across this ridge and found out where we were. We approximately where it was and just looked around for an hour and a half.

And by dumb luck, I kind of found it. I was dejected. I was looking down. And I stepped back after telling him how disappointed I was. And I took a step back and it was right under my foot. So...

PHILLIPS: Debra, is this a sign of good luck?

SWEENEY: It was very good luck. There is no reason we should have found that ring.

MONNIG: Not at all.

SWEENEY: We had so much snow in Denver this year. And they did a lot of avalanche blasting up there. They could have blew it halfway across the mountain. Cy Mahin (ph), one of the ski patrol guys, was taking us up. And he told us that crows really like shiny objects.

MONNIG: Yes.

SWEENEY: And so it was very likely that a crow could have picked it up in the summer and flew off with it. So it was -- I mean, we were looking around and it was just like a rock mine up there. And there was -- I don't even know if the metal detector would have got it. But the chances of Derrick and John just standing right on that spot...

MONNIG: Yes, pretty phenomenal.

SWEENEY: And just looking down and seeing it kind of wedged underneath a rock, it's unbelievable.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's pretty awesome you found the ring.

Debra Sweeney, Derrick Monnig, congratulations -- beautiful couple, beautiful ring. You let us know when you get married, all right?

SWEENEY: We sure will.

MONNIG: You call back in and let us know you've got everything all together.

SWEENEY: All right.

MONNIG: All right.

PHILLIPS: OK. No missing vows.

(LAUGHTER)

MONNIG: All right.

PHILLIPS: Good luck, you guys.

SWEENEY: Thanks.

MONNIG: Take care.

SWEENEY: Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com