Contest prize a sparkling million-dollar ring
Shariyah Morris shows her million-dollar diamond ring during a visit to Whitefish recently. She and her husband, Cameron, won The World's Most Romantic Couple contest.
Cameron and Shariyah Morris officially are the World’s Most Romantic Couple — and they have a shiny rock the size of a walnut to prove it.
By winning New Zealand jeweler Michael Hill’s online contest, “The Ultimate Engagement Ring,” last month, the Morrises received a 22-carat princess-cut diamond ring estimated to cost more than $1 million.
Socialite Kim Kardashian presented them with the ring before Christmas in New York City.
Shariyah, 26, is from Whitefish and attended boarding school in Polebridge.
She met Cameron, 29, in Seattle, where their relationship quickly blossomed from strangers to newlyweds. They currently live in Auckland, New Zealand, where Cameron grew up.
Last year, Cameron was crowned New Zealand’s fastest texter and competed in the LG Mobile World Cup of texting. According to Shariyah, her husband has an affinity for playing in and winning these types of games, which led him to sign up for a chance to win the ultimate engagement ring.
The contest challenged couples to complete 16 tasks, including submitting a favorite photo, their secret pet names, the reason they’re the best couple, their meeting story, filming an unforgettable date night and a public display of affection, among others.
Each of their tasks was eloquently and professionally presented, and it was their attention to detail that likely put them over the top, Cameron said.
“We knew that our story was special, but if we didn’t do a good job telling the story, it was going to be lackluster,” Cameron said.
To help explain that story to online voters and judges, the couple called on their friends and family to help. Shariyah’s sister, Miriam Folk, wrote a love song and recorded it in Whitefish, which the couple entered for the “Incredible Family and Friends” challenge.
Cameron’s sister also made a video.
“We had incredible help from our family,” Shariyah said. “It’s great to get them involved. They’ve been a part of the contest, and they get to share in it with us.”
The couple needed to be in the top six of online voting to make the finals, and the final cut went down to the wire.
“It wasn’t easy,” Shariyah said. “You only have so many friends and family to vote for you. So the last three days, I camped at Starbucks with a laptop and would go to everyone who walked in the door and ask them to vote for us.”
She said almost everyone she asked voted.
“The last day, we got over 3,200 votes,” she said. “With two hours to go, we were eighth and we finished in second place.”
Four judges, including Hill and Kardashian, then voted for their favorite couple among the top-six vote-getters. The Morrises were the top pick among all of the judges.
They were flown to New York City, where Kardashian presented them with the ring at a public relations event. With a full entourage of paparazzi and bodyguards in tow, Cameron and Shariyah traveled to Chicago and Toronto with Hill for more public relations events.
“It was a real whirlwind,” Cameron said. “We didn’t have a break.”
As for being thrown into the spotlight with the designation of “World’s Best Couple,” Cameron says they’re keeping it all in perspective.
“World’s Best Couple isn’t a title we aspired to have,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re better than anyone. Everyone who’s in love deserves the title.”
The couple plans to keep the ring as an heirloom in the family and even wear it on special occasions.
“Right from the start, we said if we were fortunate enough to win, then we see it as a gift,” Cameron said. “It’s not something we want to stick on eBay or sell. We want to keep it as an amazing experience, as a legacy in our family. It’s an amazing asset that can be handed down. As long as we can protect it, and it’s not a risk to us, then it’s an amazing thing.”
“We feel so blessed to have won,” Shariyah said. “We definitely don’t take it for granted.”
“At the end of the day,” Cameron said, “it’s just a material thing. Our love is more important than the ring. The ring represents our love story, but it doesn’t define us. We’d love to be able to keep it and use it, but it’s too bad we didn’t get a couple of bodyguards with it.”
To learn more about the contest and to watch the Morrises’ challenges, go online to www.my22ct.com/profile/1821.