'Outer Banks' Star Rudy Pankow Met His Girlfriend Elaine Siemek on Set — Details

On the hit Netflix show Outer Banks, Rudy Pankow plays JJ, the free-spirited best friend of John B (Chase Stokes).

Offscreen, Rudy tends to be a bit more private than his Outer Banks character, but we can't help but love the sweet pictures and posts that Rudy dedicates to his girlfriend, Elaine Siemek.

So how did Rudy and Elaine meet? How long have they been dating? Do they have any plans to tie the knot anytime soon?

Here's what we know about Rudy and Elaine's relationship timeline.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, sometimes Cinderella meets her Prince Charming at work and not at the ball. Such is the case for Elaine and Rudy, who met sometime on set during Outer Banks Season 1 filming.

While Rudy is in front of the camera for Outer Banks, his girlfriend Elaine works hard behind the scenes as an assistant to the Outer Banks showrunner Jonas Pate.

According to a People report, Elaine and Rudy have been linked together publicly since November 2020, when Rudy posted a birthday tribute to Elaine on his Instagram that said, "You give me butterflies everyday ... literally. Happy Birthday PBM."

Considering the first season of the show filmed in the summer of 2019, we can assume the two met at that time, although it's unclear when exactly they began dating.

While Rudy does the acting in the relationship, Elaine has established herself as quite the professional photographer (don't take our word for it, check out Elaine's work on her photography website!).

According to Elaine's professional photography bio, she is a "film photographer who enjoys taking environmental portraits. I use professional SLR and TLR cameras, point-and-shoots, Polaroids and Super 8s to capture the beauty in front of me."

There's a huge reason why stars tend to keep their relationships private — because fans can feel possessive. Rudy finally addressed the online bullying against Elaine in a post on his Instagram in November 2021.

The Outer Banks star thanked his loving fans for their support, but added, "Unfortunately I’m here to call out the disrespect and harassment someone who I love dearly is getting on a daily basis."

Rudy added, "It has gotten to the degree where lies are being spread and accusations are being said that go beyond the normal 'hate.' Not only is she not what she is being accused of being, she is the complete opposite and actively is so. Accusing someone you don’t know of being abusive and manipulative is not OK."

Thankfully, Rudy and Elaine have managed to weather the storm of online hate and are still going strong as of today (it looks like they recently took a trip to the island of Mo'orea).

While the couple haven't announced any wedding plans, you can watch Rudy in Season 3 of Outer Banks, which is on Netflix now!