Typically, marriage proposals are romantic and spontaneous whether done at a restaurant, on vacation, or on a walk on the beach. Here, a popular content creator thought he had a creative way to propose to his girlfriend of six years—on a hot air balloon ride—that didn’t work great.
The video was uploaded by TikTok user Gray Fagan (@graysworld) where a friend filmed Fagan himself and his girlfriend, Chloe, on a hot air balloon ride. Immediately, he began proposing, a ring between his fingers.
“Um, Chloe, I’ve known you for six years now. I, uh, have known since the day I met you that I wanted you to be my friend and partner forever,” he said, nervously fiddling with the ring. “And today I thought on this beautiful day, in this beautiful place, I would make it official and ask you to be my wife.”
Shocked, Chloe looked around, on the verge of tears.
In the background, other passengers’ eyes were all on them. Then, the couple gazed at each other, Fagan beaming with happiness and Chloe surprised. After a few moments of silence, Chloe kept muttering, “No, please stop” and looked around. Instantly, the people in the background’s attention averted to the scenery. The video concluded with Chloe pushing the content creator’s hand, reiterating to stop.
However, Fagan remained optimistic in the caption, “i mean she never really said no tho.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Fagan via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment. The video amassed over 35 million views and viewers shared their thoughts.
But was it a real proposal or a prank video? The creator’s profile does say he barters in “scripted chaos.”
@graysworld i mean she never really said no tho
♬ original sound – graysworld
Viewers took it at face value.
“This is actually so sad,” one viewer wrote.
“I can’t be the only one thinking the ring would fall off the hot air balloon,” a second commented.
“I think the lesson is.. bring a parachute if you’re going to propose on a hot air balloon.. just to be safe,” a third remarked.
In addition, others claim this is the reason why you shouldn’t propose in public.
“Do not do a public proposal unless you’ve talked about marriage and it’s 100% sure she will say yes and is just waiting on you to pop the question,” one user advised.
“A proposal should never be an actual surprise. People need to talk about rings, wedding, finances, goals, so many things. How and when you do it can,” a second said.
In a follow-up video, Chloe appeared to accept his marriage proposal and its ensuing hijinks seem to almost surely suggest that the whole event was staged.
In it, the happy couple is radiating with joy. “She said ‘yes,’” Fagan stated, showing off the ring on Chloe’s finger. Afterward, she went ahead and took a photo of her ring-studded hand. While she did that, Fagan and a friend were chatting, claiming he had been planning the proposal for a year and a half. A friend named Michaela thought of the idea to propose to Chloe on the hot air balloon. Suddenly, the camera shifted to Chloe who was leaning over the hot air balloon’s basket, mumbling “Oh, my God.”
She looked at Fagan with tears in her eyes. “I dropped it,” she murmured followed by multiple apologies. How did the ring slide off her finger? “You got it too big. It’s not my fault,” she explained. To add insult to injury, the ring belonged to the content creator’s grandmother. The video wrapped with Chloe asking if they would be able to get a replacement ring for free.
