Man sparks backlash after proposing to girlfriend in crowded hot air balloon

A man is sparking backlash on TikTok after proposing to his girlfriend in a crowded hot air balloon — and she begged him to stop his grand gesture. But is it real?

Proposals are meant to be heartwarming romantic gestures — but sometimes they can go askew in the worst ways possible.

Take, for instance, one guy who lost his ring in the sand during his grand proposal on a beach, or a couple whose proposal at Disneyland Paris ended up getting ruined by an employee who snatched the ring away.

However, the latest proposal going viral online is making users seriously cringe and lash out at the guy for his not-so-unique proposal idea.

Man’s hot air balloon proposal goes viral – but is it real?

On November 11, TikTok user Gray Fagan uploaded a video of himself in a hot air balloon with his girlfriend on what, at first, seemed to be a seriously romantic date.

The balloon appeared to be pretty crowded, but despite the close quarters, he popped the question to his partner, ring in hand… but she didn’t seem very enthused by the situation.

Instead, his girlfriend urged him to stop making a scene, whispering “Please stop.”

Judging by her body language, it seemed like this was the exact opposite of the proposal she’d envisioned.

Users were quick to lash out at Gray in the comments, with one user pointing out: “The people in the back started minding their business QUICK.”

“This is actually so sad,” another wrote.

“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,” another advised.

However, it’s looking like this entire thing may have been totally staged. Gray posted a follow-up video showing his girlfriend (fiancé?) happily posing with the ring despite her previous reservations.

In the video, she apparently drops the heirloom ring off the side of the balloon and tearfully apologizes to her man. Due to the theatrics of the entire thing, quite a few commenters are speculating that it might be faked.

Despite this, both videos have gone pretty viral on TikTok, racking up a total 40 million views as comments continue to pour in.