Photographer: ABC newsman Gio Benitez hired me ‘to cover a surprise proposal’

ABC News journalist Gio Benitez, who grew up and got his start in Miami, hired a Paris photographer this week “to cover a surprise proposal.”

“I did not know any of them. Gio hired me,” Paris photographer Pierre Torset tells the Miami Herald via email. “He and I agreed to meet a certain place and time (scenic one, and early to beat the crowds) and he popped up the question while I was standing nearby.”

On Thursday, Benitez proposed to his boyfriend, actor-model Tommy DiDario, in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. DiDario gasps as Benitez drops to his knees and pops the question.

Both men later posted photos of their engagement on Instagram.

Torset had no idea the photographs would immediately go viral on social networking (tens of thousands of shares on Instagram and Facebook), or that Benitez’s co-workers on Good Morning America would be discussing them.

“Yes I knew that Gio was involved in media, but I did not know he was that popular,” Torset says. “The social response is huge, I really did not expect that :)”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 4:46 AM with the headline "Photographer: ABC newsman Gio Benitez hired me ‘to cover a surprise proposal’."