Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesHow to propose to the woman who has everything?
Presented with that condundrum, Kris Humphries did the smart thing and called up one of Kim Kardashian's pals for question-popping advice. And apparently Spin Crowd star Jonathan Cheban provided some sound counsel, because those two krazy kids are happily engaged!
"We both know it's very hard to surprise Kim," Cheban told E! News in an exclusive sit-down. "It was amazing afterward, she was so excited...but it was touch and go whether the surprise was going to get blown."
"I actually knew way before Kim, and kind of everybody else almost. I was actually coming off an airplane...Kris called me and said, "I think I want to ask Kim to marry me.'"
Cheban told Humphries he thought he was kidding, "And he said, 'No, I'm serious.'"
Then it was time to plan! Cheban told E! that he advised the NBA player not to propose while they were on vacation, "in front of a million people," but rather wait until they were back home.
"Do it on your own pace and not on a rushed vacation," Cheban advised him.
So, Humphries waited...and almost ended up waiting some more!
Cheban described how Kim returned to what she thought was an empty house and later told him she only happened to head upstairs to change her dress, rather than head right for the computer or sit down to watch some TV.
"She walked upstairs and [Kris] was standing there holding flowers, 'Will you marry me?' [spelled out] in rose petals, on his knee," Cheban said. "And it was crazy, because she would have sat downstairs for three hours while he sat there on one knee!"
But yay, Kim got a dazzling ring and Kris got to pick his 6-foot, 9-inch frame up off the ground sooner rather than later.
"They love each other," Cheban said happily. "They're [both] ear-to-ear smiles, which is great for us, all her friends. This is amazing. Everybody's really, really happy."
Perhaps no one is happier than the accountants, however. People snatched up exclusive photo rights to the couple's engagement party for a cool $300,000, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
(Originally published June 1, 2011, at 6 p.m. PT)