Pete Evans announces engagement

My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans has announced his engagement to swimsuit model Nicola Robinson.

The duo became engaged on a trip to New York earlier this year, where they mutually decided to take their relationship to the next step after dating for three years.

Evans said proposing to the Kiwi beauty felt like "the right thing to do at the right time".

"We'd never really thought about marriage - it wasn't top of our agenda - but we love each other and are committed to each other and our family, so we thought let's be traditional and make it official," the Channel Seven foodie said.

"When something is whole-heartedly right, you can really feel it and that's exactly how I feel about Nic."

With plans to marry early next year, the race is on to see who will head down the aisle first - Evans or his fellow My Kitchen Rules judge Manu Feildel, who is engaged to Perth jewellery designer Clarissa Weerasena.