Couple identified after climbing Empire State Building to propose 1,450ft above New York
Jen Thomas
Featured Image Credit: instagram/angela_nikolau
A couple who scaled the 1,450ft to the top of the Empire State Building to get engaged have been identified.
Most of us dream of a memorable proposal, but is it worth getting arrested for?
The duo were filmed scaling to the top of the tower in New York where they unfurled a banner which read: "When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace."
Dressed head-to-toe in black and wearing masks, the lovebirds didn't appear to be wearing safety harnesses as they climbed the terrifying height at the top of the antenna.
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They have now been identified as Russian climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus.
Back in 2024, they told Variety that they had moved to New York looking for new adventures and buildings they haven't 'conquered' but 'we can’t tell you what they are.'
After spending time at the very top of the building, they climbed down to a lower level where the proposal took place, and they were then hugging and kissing afterwards.
Police bodycam footage shows an officer approaching the pair, telling them "You can't be up here".
A voice off-camera says what sounds like "We are engaged."
The antenna area is off-limits to the public, who can access certain areas for a viewing platform.
A spokesperson described their stunt as 'unauthorised', but stressed that nobody was harmed.
Shocked onlookers watched from below, and one eyewitness told Sky News: "It's crazy - it's like being in the movies."
Back in 2023, actor and singer Jared Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building, after he climbed to the base of the antenna from the 86th floor.
The daredevil couple previously featured in a Netflix documentary called Skywalkers: A Love Story, back in 2024.
Netflix shared a post about the film following their stunt, although this new activity is not connected to the streaming platform.
It featured a line from the film: “When you fell, I lifted you. When I fell, you lifted me," and the synopsis: "Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus climbing the second-tallest building in the world in SKYWALKERS: A LOVE STORY (2024)."
The newly-engaged couple are self-declared 'rooftoppers' who scale skyscrapers and other heights, and the film premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary covered their climb of the even taller Merdeka Tower in Malaysia.
At 2,227-feet-tall, it's the second-tallest structure in the world.
They spent a long time preparing, filming themselves spending around 30 hours inside the building, hiding from construction workers.
The couple achieved the climb and then fled Malaysia before they could face legal repercussions, but they didn't escape the law this time.
Director Jeff Zimbalist told Variety that the couple knows their own minds: “Sometimes they would override us, and they would do their own process. So, the best we could do in those circumstances was tell them to be safe and tell them that the film didn’t need them to risk their lives, and then the rest was up to them.”