I’ve never done it myself, but it can’t be that hard to nail a proposal asking the love of your life to stay with you forever, can it? Think of something decently romantic, ideally something that’s unique to your relationship, and pop the question — after having discussed that you’re both interested in taking the next step, that is. And yet…


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In a recent viral video, we follow the woman behind the camera as she walks through her home, following instructions written down on paper and a trail of rose petals. These instructions include “take off your clothes,” “put this on,” “light this candle” and “pour a glass.”


The handwritten signs continue with a message that reads, “We’ve been together 2 years, you are the girl of my dreams, I want to take the next step and ask you a huge question. Follow the roses.” She follows the roses to the top of the stairs, where her partner is waiting and holding a bouquet while standing next to a door with a sign on it that reads, “OPEN ME.”


She opens the door to find a sign on the washing machine that reads, “Will you do my laundry?,” prompting her to shout at him, “All of this for this?!” to which he responds by telling her to open up the washing machine. Inside is a note that reads, “For the rest of our lives” sitting next to an engagement ring in a box. He assures her that he’s for real, asking her to marry him, to which she readily agrees.


The entire thing is completely staged, obviously — the couple are not particularly strong actors, and their emotional responses seem incredibly rehearsed — so not only is this an example of a cringe proposal that relies on sexist stereotypes about women doing all of the housework, but it’s a cringe sexist proposal that only exists so it can be used as content. What’s the point of huge milestones if you can’t milk them for all they’re worth on social media, amirite?


Twitter users were less than impressed. “And then she had to clean all that shit up AND do his laundry on top of it,” one person wrote, while another added, “Nothing is authentic anymore, everything is content.”


They’re right about that — nothing about the proposal is authentic. The video was posted by @viralishcouples, a TikTok account dedicated to skits about marriage, divorce, and children. According to the videos on this account, the couple in this proposal video have already been married, divorced, had multiple children and multiple gender reveals, and not just with each other! Shocking.


On the bright side, the lame video is fake. On the other hand, this is a reminder that there are countless people out there in the world whose entire job is making unfunny videos like this in the hopes of gaming TikTok’s algorithm and going viral, which is the exact opposite of happily ever after for the rest of us.