Dakota Kai thought her anniversary date with Karl Fredericks was over. Karl had a very different ending in mind.
While speaking on the ZELVX and CHARLIE GIRL podcast, Dakota revealed that she and Fredericks are officially engaged after he proposed during a late-night trip to Sanford, Florida—a place tied to one of their earliest dates.
The proposal happened on their two-year anniversary, but the plan nearly fell apart before it even got started. Dakota said Karl first took her out for a romantic Italian dinner before trying to bring her to a garden-style venue filled with stalls and fairy lights. There was just one problem: the place was closed.
“Yeah. Our two-year anniversary. The found out like yesterday at the Fourth of July party. But yeah, we just went out to dinner. It was really nice. And then he… we wanted to go to a place afterwards. It’s just like a garden area where they do like a lot of little stalls. It’s really pretty. It has like fairy lights and stuff.
We pull up and it’s like shut down. I like looked through the gate and I don’t know what he’s planning. Like I’m just like, ‘Oh, it’s like closed. We should just go home.’ Like… we had a nice dinner. You know what I mean? Like we’re only five minutes from home. I’m like, ‘Grandma over here.’ I’m a grandma. So I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s time to get to bed. We had a nice Italian dinner.’”
Dakota wasn’t suspicious. She was tired, full from dinner, and ready to call it a night. Karl, however, wasn’t about to let a locked gate kill the proposal. He suggested they make the 30-minute drive to Sanford because it was where they had shared their second date. Dakota admitted her first thought was how late they were going to get home, but she could tell Karl wasn’t ready for the night to end.
“He’s like, ‘Uh, why don’t we… let’s go to Sanford because that’s where we had our second date and it was like a special place.’ But I’m also like, ‘It’s 30 minutes away.’ I’m like, ‘By the time we get to sleep, it’s going to be late.’ I didn’t say that to him because I could tell he was like, ‘Let’s do something.’ So I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ It’s fine.”
Once they arrived, Karl stopped in the middle of the street. Dakota still had no clue what was happening and started trying to pull him along while people watched and cars headed their way.
“Then I go to… I start walking the road and then he like stops in the middle of the road and I’m like trying to pull him like, ‘What are you doing?’ And there’s people around. Like I’m trying to pull him and he’s not moving.”
Traffic briefly forced them to move aside, making the whole thing even more awkward. Once the road cleared, Karl pulled her back into the street and finally got to the point.
“And then when the cars go, he pulls me back out into the middle of the street and then starts his spiel… and then he did the question.”
Dakota said yes, and one group nearby made sure the moment did not go unnoticed. A truck full of women turned the corner, spotted the proposal, and immediately started cheering.
“This truck of girls… went around the corner and they were like hooting and hollering and like, ‘Ah!’ I got congratulated. There was also… like a group of guys or men sitting outside and they just didn’t react at all. I haven’t stopped smiling about it.”
Dakota and Karl publicly confirmed their relationship in July 2024, and now they are heading toward marriage after a proposal that was anything but polished—but somehow felt perfect for them. The plan may have gone off the rails almost immediately, but the ending landed exactly where Karl wanted it to.
In the end, Karl didn’t need the fairy lights, the garden, or some flawless setup. He got Dakota to a place that meant something to both of them, asked the question, and walked away with a fiancée. Sometimes the moments that go completely wrong on paper are the ones people remember forever.
What do you think of Karl Fredericks’ surprise proposal to Dakota Kai? Let us know in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
