woman uses leap year to propose to boyfriend on live TV - but she gets a Very awkward response

TV hosts  left cringing after a woman proposes to boyfriend on live TV - but she gets awkward response  
Surprising leap year proposal live on television leaves viewers squirming after the man in question hesitated a little too long before saying...

Photo: ITV

Butcher Mark from Cumbria received a surprise visit from his girlfriend Helen at work... who decided to propose live on This Morning

Helen Hartley from Kendal, Cumbria, decided to take advantage of the rare February 29th date to ask her man, Mark Shepherd, who owns a butcher's shop in Ambleside, if he'd marry her live on This Morning.

Accompanied by television presenter Alison Hammond, Helen told Mark that he 'was the best thing that’s ever happened to me', she finally popped the question, only for him to tell her: 'I need to think about it.'

 Watch videso after cut .......

Photo: ITV

Phew! After issuing an emotive proposal, Helen was forced to wait for her yes...as Mark said 'I need to think about it...' which left Holly and Phil back in the studio on the edge of their seats

The cringe-worthy moment was being shown live on This Morning and almost left presenting duo Holly and Phil back in the studio gnawing their fists as they willed Mark to answer positively. 

It's hard to know whether Mark's hesitation was genuine or whether he was pulling the leg of his girlfriend, who'd obviously mustered up the courage to suggest they get spliced in front of a hefty daytime television audience. 

At first, she tells her boyfriend that she's simply there to buy 'a pound of sausages' before getting serious about the real reason for her visit.  

Fortunately, when the answer finally came, it was in the affirmative and it seems that the delay had been Mark's way of making Helen sweat. 

It was a heart-in-mouth moment, especially as Helen had issued an emotive proposal telling Mark: 'I love you so much and you’re my soulmate. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me' before adding: 'You know it's a leap year...' 

Photo: ITV

'Is it?' Mark appeared to have no idea why Helen had turned up at his shop with a television crew

Photo: ITV

'I've been avoiding this...' Mark utters the words that no proposal maker wants to hear

Photo: ITV

But it's all alright in the end...after the heart-in-mouth moment, Mark finally says yes - and Holly and Phil breathe out

The moment starts to take a truly awkward turn when Mark, dressed in his striped butcher's apron, expresses surprise that it's a leap year. 

'Is it?' he says, when told before saying: 'I've been avoiding this.'

As the presenters, including Alison, wait on tenterhooks, the outcome for Helen looks set to be an embarrassing one as Mark stumbles: 'I don’t know, I need to think about that a little bit don’t I?'

'Of course, I will,' he then mutters before the camera pans back to the studio and Holly and Phil are seen throwing themselves back against the sofa in relief. 

Alison Hammond told the couple afterwards: 'You had me going then! I didn't know if you were going to say yes or no!' 

After the proposal Mark said of his life-changing moment in front of the cameras: 'I could have cried, I could have laughed, I could have been sick, I could have done anything that first half hour.'

'Alison was brilliant, she really put me at ease, but it has been an experience!' 

A leap year is a day longer than usual years - and happens every four years. The Egyptians are credited with inventing the inclusion of a leap year into the modern calendar. 

Legend suggests that the leap year proposal came about in 5th century Ireland, when St Bridget, impatient at being made to wait to be asked for a hand in marriage, cajoled St Patrick into letting women have a day in the calendar where they could instead do the asking.