Newly-engaged Sam Armytage shows off her diamond ring on Sunrise

Samantha Armytage returned to Sunrise on Tuesday morning, after getting engaged to equestrian businessman Richard Lavender over the weekend.

The 43-year-old proudly showed off her diamond ring, estimated to be worth up to $80,000, before dodging a series of awkward questions about the proposal.

Sam’s co-host David ‘Kochie’ Koch grilled her for details about the engagement and her ‘romantic weekend’ with Richard, 60, in the NSW Southern Highlands.

The notoriously-private journalist wasn’t giving much away, however, telling her colleague his questions were like ‘torture’.

The pair acknowledged Sam’s engagement at 6am, when Kochie said: ‘Thanks for joining us on a very special morning because Sam is back – radiant, gushing, glowing – after a romantic weekend.’

He said the Sunrise team was slowly ‘getting to know Rich a bit more’, before asking a clearly embarrassed Sam how the couple met and what Richard did for a living.

She humoured her co-anchor to begin with, telling him she’d met Richard at a party last year, but soon scolded him for being so nosy.

‘You know what he does, why are you asking all these questions? We’ve known each other for ages!’ she said.

Kochie said his questions were for the benefit of viewers, and promised ‘more questions throughout the show’ as Sam cringed at the desk.

Despite the bombardment of questions, Sam confirmed she was ‘thrilled’ and ‘couldn’t be happier’ about her engagement.

Sam announced her engagement to Richard in an Instagram post on Sunday. She uploaded two photos of herself posing in the arms of her fiancé, with a diamond ring on her wedding finger.

‘What a year…’ she wrote in the caption.

The couple, who reportedly began dating in April 2019, confirmed their romance in an interview with WHO magazine November.

They had sparked engagement rumours in September, when they were spotted shopping for expensive jewellery in Sydney’s Double Bay.