A TV presenter who used to work for ESPN has revealed that he once ‘slid into’ Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s DMs, but unfortunately for him, Meghan’s response was ‘ice cold’

Before Meghan Markle met Prince Harry, another suitor gave it their best shot to try and win her hand – but it was nothing but a massive failure.

A TV presenter revealed that he slid into her DMs back in 2014, but Meghan didn’t seem impressed by his tentative message sounding her out – and her response was “ice cold”, luckily for Prince Harry.

The TV presenter, Ryan Russillo who used to work for ESPN, admitted his epic failure on the Bill Simmons Podcast and explained that he had met Meghan over the Super Bowl weekend back in 2014. Meghan, who was the star of the hit TV show Suits at the time, and the presenter were taking part in a game of flag football when they crossed paths, and the now Duchess of Sussex captured his attention quickly.

“We played in a celebrity flag football game together and it was all of the [Sports Illustrated] swimsuit models. So, nobody was really paying any attention to Markle,” Russillo brutally claimed, per US Weekly “I was like, ‘That’s my lane.”

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The TV presenter admitted his DM was a ‘soft sell’ ( 
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Getty Images North America)

After the event was over, Russillo decided to take the plunge and send a message to Meghan, using the upcoming series of Suits as a way in, but – Prince Harry will be delighted to hear – his overtures went down like a total lead balloon.

“I shot her a DM,” he revealed. “It was a very soft sell…It was, ‘Hey, I know the new season of Suits is coming out if you ever want to come on the show to promote it.’ It was really professional,” he added. But despite the professional tone, Russillo acknowledged that it was a tentative way of seeing how Meghan would react to him, in a low-stakes way of expressing his interest. “It was like a gauging of interest,” the presenter admitted. “Like, if I got an emoji back, who knows?”

However, there was to be no such luck for the former ESPN star, with Meghan politely responding, but quickly turning down the professional opportunity – and Russillo himself in the process, even if she didn’t realise he was interested in more than working together.

Meghan’s message back was “ice cold” he claimed. “It was, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about sports, but thanks for the offer.'”

In a revealing sit-down with The Cut back in 2022, Meghan was quoted as explaining how much emphasis she and Harry put on manners when it comes to raising their son Archie, telling the youngster “manners make the man” so it’s no surprise that she kept things seriously polite when responding to the presenter – even as she turned him down.