Maria Menounos Recalls NYE Wedding Where Husband Keven Opened the Ceremony by Saying 'Baba Booey' (Exclusive)

The TV personality tied the knot with Keven Undergaro live on air during Fox's 2017 New Year's Eve broadcast

Maria Menounos is reminiscing about how her husband Keven Undergaro surprised her with his untraditional wedding vows.

The TV personality, 45, and the producer, 56, famously tied the knot live on air during Fox's 2017 New Year's Eve broadcast in a ceremony officiated by comedian Steve Harvey. When it was time for the couple to say their vows just before midnight, Menounos recalls anticipating something sweet and touching from her husband — but he had other ideas.

"It was the coldest New Year's Eve in a hundred years and, when exchanging vows, I was expecting Kev to say something romantic. Instead, he opened with a 'baba booey' to a confused Steve Harvey," she tells PEOPLE, referring to the well-known catchphrase of The Howard Stern Show.

"He then recited an excerpt from an infamous video that Howard Stern producer Gary Dell'Abate made for a former girlfriend," she continues, jokingly adding, "I'm a die-hard, forever Howard fan so even though the weather was like a 'two', my wedding turned out to be a 'noine.' "

Related: See Maria Menounos' Stunning New Year's Eve Wedding Photos

The couple already had a special connection to the shock radio host's popular radio program: Undergaro popped the question to Menounos on Stern's SiriusXM show in 2016. Although the pair had been together for nearly 20 years at that point, Menounos didn't think Undergaro was serious at first.

"This I wouldn't joke about," he assured her. "I love you so much and this show's meant so much to both of us. Why not make it official now?"

Back in September, the former Access Hollywood correspondent shared another special wedding memory with PEOPLE — having her parents by her side for the occasion amid a difficult time for her family. Adding to the joy of the moment, she surprised mom Litsa and dad Constantine with the news that her wedding was about to unfold.

“My favorite memory was probably telling my mom and dad — my mom who had just been diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer — that we were getting married live on TV in about an hour,” said Menounos, whose mom died in 2021. “And she was just so overjoyed and started crying.”

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In that same conversation with PEOPLE, the Miss Universe 2023 presenter also touched on Undergaro's Howard Stern-style wedding vows, joking that she "wanted to kill him" at the time.

I'm like, 'I cannot believe he's doing this.' That might be the other one because then eventually he turned into his real vows," she said.

Related: Maria Menounos Shares Video From When She Told Her Husband That They Were Expecting Daughter Athena

The couple — who welcomed a daughter, Athena, in July 2023 — went on to celebrate a second wedding in October 2018 in Akovos, Greece, the hometown of Menounos' father.

"I always wanted to return to Greece and do our wedding here,” she shared on social media at the time. “Greece means so much to us and our village and our roots."

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Read the original article on People.