Season 8: Episode 177: With This Ring?
Vanessa stuns her parents by suddenly announcing that she is engaged. She has been engaged for six months, and has known her fiancé for a year without mentioning him to her family. She reveals that he is a maintenance man at her school named Dabnis Brickey. Vanessa brings Dabnis inside to meet Cliff and Clair. They are surprised to discover that he is in his late twenties. They reluctantly invite him to the family dinner that night, and are put off when he mentions his past relationships with several women. The conversation grows so uncomfortable that most of the family is ordered out of the dining room. Clair confronts Vanessa and demands to know why she kept her relationship with Dabnis a secret for so long. She believes that her daughter is in over her head, but Vanessa insists that she is really in love. Cliff assures Dabnis that they are not snobs; they would dislike him regardless of his profession. Cliff seems to reconsider his attitude after Dabnis reveals that he owns his own home--meaning that he and Vanessa would never move into the Huxtable house.