A woman has gone viral for her incredible reaction to walking in to her own surprise proposal—and not realizing it was for her.
Tonia Olikiabo lives in Manchester, United Kingdom, and has been in a long-distance relationship with her partner Tobi, who lives in Colorado, for close to five years.
At the start of 2025, Olikiabo visited her partner in Denver, and when she returned to England after the trip, she didn’t expect to see her now-fiancé for a long time, telling Newsweek she was “so surprised” when he unexpectedly showed up to propose.
TikTok @toniaoliks
To put her off the scent, Tobi had even told her that he was traveling to Texas to visit a friend—but it worked too well.
So, when Tobi showed up in Manchester in February, wearing a suit in a room adorned with flowers to propose, Olikiabo could not process it, and thought the proposal was for someone else.
In a hilarious clip posted to Olikiabo’s TikTok account, @toniaoliks, on April 19, which has been viewed more than 29 million times, Olikiabo opens the door and walks into a room where Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ is playing, while her cousin stands behind her, recording her every move.
But instead of a gasp, cry or shout, Olikiabo stays quiet—and when her cousin walks in the room to record her reaction, Olikiabo is hiding in the corner, recording her right back.
Olikiabo explained to Newsweek that her cousin “told me a whole different story to get me in the room,” and “as I stepped in, the first thing I noticed was the petals on the floor.
“Immediately, I thought my cousin behind me was being proposed to—not sure what was going on in my head to think the person behind me is being surprised!”
She went on: “I immediately scooped myself in the corner in an attempt to get myself out of the way for my cousin, and quickly got out my phone. Then I heard my name.”
In the video, Olikiabo stays hidden in the corner, until her now-fiancé calls her name—and she suddenly realizes what’s happening, and runs over to him with an excited scream.
TikTok @toniaoliks
A second video showed the moment in more detail, along with a sweet montage of the actual proposal and her reaction, Tobi slipping the engagement ring on her finger before they dance together by a heart made of petals.
Commenters were in stitches at the behind-the-scenes video, one commenter asking: “Who was she recording?,” and another writing “whose proposal did she think it was?”
Another pointed out how Olikiabo tried to “close the door to not ruin the surprise,” and as another put it: “She didn’t even see the fiancé cause she was rooting for someone else. You deserve all the happiness, stranger.”
And as one moved commenter summed it up: “The way she quickly tried to close the door to not ruin the surprise and didn’t even realize it was her man. All she cared about was her friend. So many small beautiful details I love this woman.”
More than half of couples began discussing engagement more than a year before the proposal, at 57 per cent, according to The Knot’s 2024 Jewelry and Engagement Study. The vast majority of those proposing prepared for the big moment ahead of time (87 per cent)—just like Tobi did, evident by his set-up—while just 13 per ent reported that it was a spontaneous gesture.
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