Drew's Engagement: Are They Or Aren't They?

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 21, 2008 8:00PM

Oh, Drew. Is there anything you won't do to keep yourself in the limelight when someone else threatens to steal it? The latest edition of "Drew of Our Lives" features an engagement controversy. Earlier this week, word leaked out that Peterson had become engaged to 23-year-old Romeoville waitress Christina Raines, an engagement that concerned Raines' family. Now an alleged live-in boyfriend of Raines' has come forward and claims there is no engagement. A man going by the name Mike told the Tribune, "He's [mad] at her and he's trying to get back at her by dragging her name through the mud." Raines' family is beginning to echo this sentiment, even though they confirmed Drew gave her a ring.

Ernie Raines said his daughter is naive and vulnerable. He said that Peterson and his daughter have been dating for four months, but that it was not serious. He said Peterson tricked his daughter into an engagement.

"He put the ring on her finger," Raines said. "He said, 'We're going to get married and get a house.' . . . He said he'll probably go to jail for a couple of days, but will probably be bonded out . . . She never said she was going to marry him. This is in his head.

"She told me, 'I love Mike. I want to be with Mike,' " said Raines, who is scheduled to appear Monday on CBS' "The Early Show."

Peterson, however, insists the two are, indeed, betrothed, claiming that Mike "is going loony over this." Not that it's hard to not believe Drew...