Country singer Charles Esten took a gamble with his wife’s engagement ring over 30 years ago.
The “Outer Banks” actor, 58, shared on X – formerly known as Twitter – that when he graduated from college in 1988 and moved to Los Angeles, after three months he was “already out of money.”
“I’d been in L.A. for 3 months and I was already out of money when I found an ad looking for contestants for SALE OF THE CENTURY,” Charles wrote, alongside a video clip of himself on the game show over three decades ago.
He added, “Long story short: I got on, and 5 days later walked away with $34K in cash and prizes that included the engagement ring that my wife wears on her finger today. None of that happens without this lucky speed round!”
In the video clip, the “Nashville” star was competing under the name Chip and won the trivia question round and got the final answer right. The young Charles won the game by three points.
“Time is up and Chip has won it by 3. Wow,” the announcer said in the video. “A great comeback for the champion.”
Charles and his now-wife, Patty Hanson, were college sweethearts at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. The couple wed in 1991 and share three children: Taylor, Chase and Addie.
In 2023, Esten told Country Now that he was blown away by Patty’s beauty from the moment he saw her.
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“I knew I had seen her freshman year, just the most gorgeous girl I’d ever seen. She was frequently riding by on a moped,” Charles told the outlet at the time.
He added, “She had come from Italy, although she’s a blonde and her maiden name Hanson, but her mother was from Naples. She was actually born in Naples and raised in the States, but went back there for high school. So I would hear this moped arriving by, and that would make my head spin.”
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Charles and Patty currently reside in Nashville, Tennessee. Last month, the actor released his debut solo country album, “Love Ain’t Pretty.”
When Esten announced his album on Instagram in January, he thanked his wife, “who not only provided inspiration but countless hours of hard work.”
