ESPN Host Reveals ‘Ice Cold’ Meghan Markle Turned Him Down At The Super Bowl

A former ESPN host is speaking out to claim that a decade ago, an “ice cold” Meghan Markle rejected his advances during the Super Bowl.

Oh, what could have been!

Meghan Meets ESPN Host

Ryen Russillo, 49, alleges that he met Meghan, 43, over Super Bowl weekend in New York in 2014. At the time, Ryen was working for ESPN and Meghan was an actress on the cable drama Suits. She was still two years away from beginning her relationship with Prince Harry.

During the festivities, Ryen and Meghan found themselves playing in a celebrity flag football game. The lineup for this game was full of former NFL players, celebrities, and even Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.

Given how breathtakingly beautiful some of the models were at this event, Ryen thought it was his chance to shoot his shot with Meghan – who is no slouch herself. The fourth season of Suits was about to premiere, so Ryen thought a good way to get into Meghan’s good graces would be to ask her if she wanted to come on his ESPN radio show to promote it.

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Meghan Shuts Ryen Down

Unfortunately for Ryen, however, Meghan wasn’t having any of it.

“We played in a celebrity flag football game together and it was all of the swimsuit models. So, nobody was really paying any attention to Markle,” Ryen recalled while appearing on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”

“I was like, ‘That’s my lane. She’s probably doubting herself a little bit right now. She’s never been more obtainable,'” he continued.

After the event, Ryen decided to reach out to Meghan on social media to make his offer, hoping that it would lead to something more.

“It was a very soft sell,” he explained. “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. It was like a gauging of interest. Like, if I got an emoji back, who knows?”

While Meghan eventually got back to him, it was definitely not the response that Ryen had wanted.

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

Ouch, that rejection had to have stung!

Important Event For Meghan

Things may not have worked out for Meghan and Ryen, but this 2014 event turned out to be an important one for the future Duchess of Sussex. Indeed, it was here that she met the tennis star Serena Williams, who remains a part of her inner circle to this day.

The photo below was taken at the event in question.

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“We hit it off immediately, taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing in, and chatting not about tennis or acting, but about all the good old fashioned girlie stuff,” Meghan later recalled. “So began our friendship.”

Though Meghan turned down Ryen’s offer by claiming to know nothing about sports, she would become a staple at Serena’s tennis matches in the years to come. During her time in England, Meghan would frequently attend the Wimbledon tennis tournament to cheer Serena on.

So much for not knowing anything about sports!

Of course, Meghan would go on to achieve international fame just a few years later when her engagement to Harry was announced. Given how far she’s gone since then, we doubt she’s lost much sleep about turning down Ryen’s offer!