Who is Jacinda Ardern's new fiancé?
New Zealand First Bloke Clarke Gayford is a man with many hats.
From fisherman to broadcaster, documentary maker, and radio host - he’s most recently gained attention as stay-at-home dad to ten-month old daughter Neve Te Aroha.
But now the 41-year-old is ready for perhaps his biggest role yet - husband - after popping the question to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
Here, Yahoo Lifestyle has taken a deep dive into the life of the colourful man who went from a fishing trawler to the floor of the UN as part of his transition to NZ’s third First Bloke.
He first met Jacinda because of a constituency issue
Although they first crossed paths at a restaurant awards event in 2012, the couple’s connection was only solidified the next year in a much less glamorous setting.
Clarke claims he was angry about the potential erosion of privacy proposed by a security bureau bill and after getting no response from his local MP, instead wrote to Jacinda.
After meeting for coffee, the pair realised their shared love of music before Clark took his future wife on her first ever fishing trip weeks later.
Two years later he called Jacinda ‘the best thing that’s ever happened to him’.
“I didn't know what it meant to work hard until I started seeing what she does on a daily basis,” he told the NZ Herald at the time.
An on-air gag once got him detained at a US airport
Way back in 2000, Clark was making a name for himself on New Zealand youth radio station The Edge, when a co-host’s gaffe landed him in a little trouble.
Impersonating an Interpol detective, Iain Staples called Los Angeles police to ‘warn’ them Gayford and two colleagues were attempting to enter the US with kiwi eggs hidden in their ‘rear cavities’.
The gag landed the trio in airport detention for two hours - and gave them one hell of a travel story.
He LOVES fishing
For those who know a little about the First Bloke, it’s likely to centre around fishing - the hobby that made him famous.
This passion goes back to the Fish of the Day host’s childhood where he memorised ‘most’ of the country’s fish population in Latin, Maori and English by the age of ten.
Clarke also admitted he ‘live[s] for fishing’ and in 2015 launched Fish of the Day with National Geographic, a documentary series screened in over 35 countries.
In fact, Clark was out on the water on the day his then-girlfriend was announced as Labour Party leader in 2017.
The Prime Minister’s not his first high profile partner
Before meeting his soon-to-be wife, Clarke found love with another famous Kiwi, actress Shavaughn Ruakere.
The pair were in a three-year relationship until shortly before he met Jacinda. Their break-up said to be assisted by both’s work demands.
“He’s got a new challenge so he wants to give it everything,” she told Now to Love NZ at the time.
“And he understands how important it is for me to give the LA thing a go.”
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