Local high school sweethearts ace ‘marriage test’ on “Rachael Ray Show”
Two near-newlyweds from Brooklyn got the chance of a lifetime – and the seal of approval from Rachael Ray herself – as they made their small screen debuts in a special Valentine’s Day segment on the star’s popular morning talk show.
The couple – Dyker Heights native Christina Castronovo and Bensonhurst native Joe Castiglione – met in elementary school before eventually becoming high school sweethearts. The two — who filled out an application to appear on Ray’s show — got engaged last summer and, since then, have been planning the wedding of their dreams.
There to help with the hard stuff was Ray, who asked the couple before taping to partake in four “dates” specially curated by Jill Andres and Brook Silva-Braga, the married authors of the relationship advice book The Marriage Test: Our 40 Dates Before “I Do.” From there, the two appeared in-studio to discuss their results, and to partake in a fifth “date,” a spin on “The Newlywed Game” that took place in front of Ray’s live audience.