4 days ago
Former Oakland flight attendants hope to be 'America's Favorite Couple'
The Brief
Billy and Brenda Marshall hope to be "America's Favorite Couple."
They met 22 years ago at the Oakland International Airport.
The grand prize is $20,000, which they want to use to go to Italy.
MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Calif. - Billy and Brenda Marshall celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday and their big gift to each other will be a trip to Italy – if they become "America's Favorite Couple."
Secret to marriage
"We're always dating," Billy said in an interview. "We've always found time to date each other. And I think that's definitely what's worked for us."
One of their favorite go-to dates is a night out in San Francisco, where they love this hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant on 30th, then dancing, a bar, or "wherever the night takes us," Brenda said.
Met at Oakland airport
The pair, who met as North American Airlines flight attendants working at Oakland International Airport 22 years ago, are trying to drum up votes to win the contest, where the first prize is $20,000, which they want to use to go to Italy, for a honeymoon they never really got. The contest is a partnership between and Colossal, an online site for philanthropic competitions.
The Marshalls decided to enter the contest because Brenda's sister encouraged them to do so.
Brenda was born in Nicaragua and raised in San Mateo since she was 3, and Billy was born and raised in Oakland.
The pair now live in Mountain House in San Joaquin County, and have four adult children, ages 27, 24, 20 and18. They moved to the spacious home eight years ago from Livermore, where they said they return to all the time.
Love story origins
Their love story began with a delayed flight in 2003.
The two were stuck with each other for 11 hours and the two "laughed all night," Brenda said.
"He's throwing ice chips because we're working together on the cart," Brenda said. "People are laughing at us. And the whole time I'm like, this is not happening. This is not real. So because he delayed the flight, he asked everybody out for drinks later. Myself and another flight attendant went when he dropped us back off. I was the only one that got a kiss on the cheek."
Supermom with sass, selfless
The two are no longer flight attendants.
Billy works as a corporate dining general manager at a tech company and Brenda runs a daycare out of their home.
Billy loves that Brenda is a supermom and has some Latin sass.
"She's definitely spicy," he said.
Brenda loves that Billy is selfless, even if he can't say no to anyone who asks for help.
"He's so selfless, he's always available for people," she said.
Contest encourages publicity
The contest definitely has its gimmicks, such as encouraging couples to get as much publicity and social media hype as they can, which means more eyeballs for The winning couple also gets to appear in a Variety advertorial, complete with professional photos.
The contest was the idea of actor Jeff Goldblum and his wife Emilie Golblum, who is an Olympic rhythm gymnast, according to Variety's website. The contest promises to raise money for Oceana and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Couples win with votes from the public. Voters who want to vote more than once for their favorite couple can pay for more votes, which ends up going to these nonprofits.
Billy said that he and Brenda said the nonprofit donations are especially meaningful to them.
They have had their share of hardships, and they depended on Alameda County Food Bank to help them in the past, when Billy lost his job after moving back to the Bay Area from Texas.
"We used all our resources to get back home," Billy said. "I was laid off and so we had nothing."
He said their family had to rely on the food shelters to get through the holidays, but their kids were young and thought it was great.
Public voting
It's unclear just how many couples entered the contest.
A spokesperson for the contest did not respond for comment.
Billy said he believes at least 2,300 couples entered the first round. Some, like he and Brenda, are pushing out their stories, hoping their friends, family and strangers will vote for them.
But through internet research, some of those couples include a Texan husband and wife who love rainbows, Phish fans. an Indiana pair who met on Valentine's Day 30 years ago, high school sweethearts who met in 10th grade English.
The Marshalls have made it to the quarterfinals, which end on Aug. 21.
After that, public voting will determine the top quarterfinalists who will then advance to the semifinals, which begin Aug. 22.
Finals begin Aug. 29 and end Sept. 4. The grand prize winners will be announced on or around Sept. 19.
To learn more, click here.
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