In a series of TikTok videos posted Sunday, a creator claimed she was locked inside an Orangetheory Fitness gym after class, and viewers are still waiting to find out how the story ends.
Creator @leena.sherif posted the video with on-screen text reading: “Locked inside orange theory, after taking my first class here. SMH. Get it together orange theory.” It has 1.1 million views and about 72,000 likes.
@leena.sherif #locked #fyp #fypシ #orangetheoryfitness #orangetheory ♬ original sound – leena.sherif
In her account’s second TikTok post ever, @leena.sherif spoke to the camera while walking around a seemingly empty location of the workout class chain. The gym is located inside a mall, and patrons walked around outside the glass doors.
“I just showered, and everyone left me,” the creator said in the video. Then, @leena.sherif shook the handles of the doors, which didn’t budge. There was a combination-locked key box attached to the door handles on the outside.
“I see people outside. There’s nobody here,” @leena.sherif said, panning the camera to show no employee at the welcome desk. “So I’m just locked in here. Get it together, Orangetheory.”
According to hashtags used on the video, this Orangetheory location appears to be inside the Westfield Valley Fair mall in San Jose, California. According to the mall website, the location’s hours are 6am to 8pm on Sunday.
Shortly after uploading the video, @leena.sherif posted an update. She said that she was still stuck inside after 20 minutes.
“Can somebody help me?” she said as the camera showed mall shoppers passing by.
“I need to get, like, a free class or a free month from this,” the creator said.
In the comments of the original video, viewers requested updates and shared similar stories.
“I’m sorry but they don’t check the restrooms before they close their studio???” one person commented.
Another commenter wrote, “This is so unprofessional and sadly happens more often than you think. I worked at one up the street from valley fair and had to rush back … to the studio (while I wasn’t on shift nor was the one who locked the member in the studio) to unlock and let people out. Again, this happened twice.” The same commenter added, “Unfortunately when this happens on multiple occasions, specifically on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, staff are running out asap after classes not caring.”
“This is 100% why I don’t exercise,” someone quipped.
“They better give you a year free membership or something,” another viewer chimed in.
Many commenters on @leena.sherif’s update urged the creator to call 911 or mall security.
As of Monday morning, the creator had not posted another update about escaping the locked gym. The Daily Dot reached out to @leena.sherif via TikTok and Orangetheory via email.
This isn’t the first time something like has happened and been documented on social media. In 2021, a JCPenney worker got locked inside a mall after it closed. The same thing happened to a Home Depot employee the next year. Both shared their experiences on TikTok.
