How Do Reba McEntire And Rex Linn Celebrate Valentine’s Day?

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Reba McEntire and her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn, are preparing to celebrate Valentine’s Day together. The pair, who have been dating since 2020, has a Valentine’s Day tradition they follow every year.

While some couples grab dinner at a fancy restaurant on Valentine’s Day, Reba and Rex’s date is much more low-key. They go to the same eatery every year, but it doesn’t serve traditional Valentine’s Day dinners like lobster or steak.

So, where do Reba and Rex go to eat dinner on Valentine’s Day? Sonic! 

“It’s a ritual,” Reba told TODAY in 2024 about her and Rex’s Valentine’s Day tradition. After hearing their story, Sonic enlisted the couple to promote a “Sweetheart Meal” for Valentine’s Day that year.

The couple’s romance blossomed when they went out to dinner (not at Sonic) with friends in 2020. Reba, who’s often professed her love for casual foods like corn dogs and chicken tenders, was thrilled to see that tater tots were on the menu.

Rex found it amusing how much Reba loved tater tots. So he proclaimed that he was giving her the nickname “Tater Tot,” and it stuck. As their relationship progressed, Reba started calling him “Sugar Tot,” and now they refer to themselves as “The Tots.”

To celebrate their shared love of crispy, barrel-shaped potatoes, Reba and Rex go to Sonic on Valentine’s Day. “Every year, it’s an ongoing thing with us: The Tots go to Sonic,” Reba told TODAY.

Reba also discussed her and Rex’s Valentine’s Day meal in a 2023 conversation with Garth Brooks. She said Rex buys the meal, and they eat their food in the car.

“We love Sonic tater tots, they’re absolutely wonderful. And to go in there and get a #1 cheeseburger with everything on it and tater tots? Man, that’s a great Valentine’s dinner. We loved it, sat right there in the car and ate it.”

The Couple Currently Stars On The New NBC Sitcom Happy’s Place

Reba and Rex are practically inseparable. Since they’ve started dating, they’ve starred in multiple projects together, including The Hammer and Big Sky.

The couple currently appears on the new NBC sitcom Happy’s Place. The show stars Reba as Bobbie, a woman who discovers she has a younger half-sister following their father’s death. She and her sister, Isabella, must learn how to work together as they become new business partners running their dad’s tavern.

Rex plays the tavern’s cook, Emmett. He has a gruff, no-nonsense demeanor but also seems to have a softer side, particularly for Bobbie.

Reba and Rex star in the show with Reba’s close friend and former Reba sitcom co-star Melissa Peterman, who plays a bartender named Gabby. Melissa said that Reba and Rex are “adorable” to see together on set.

“…oftentimes…we’re taking a five-minute break or we’re having breakfast or lunch and you look over and we have a bar set—it takes place at Happy’s Place—and you look over and they’re in a booth at the bar. And it looks like they’re legitimately on a date at a restaurant just sitting together being so adorably cute.”

“The Tots” also work well together in the show, as you can see from one of their scenes below. We hope they have the happiest Valentine’s Day this year!