While most proposals are thought of as romantic moments, perhaps in a beautiful location, at sunset, with flowers involved, for example, others sometimes take you by surprise.
Of course, a surprise is often involved too, but mostly in a happy, ‘oh my gosh I’m so happy and surprised’ kind of way.
That’s definitely not the case in this scenario however. A marriage proposal which took place in Russia last week has gone viral thanks to its unique idea, certain lack of romance, and all-out terrifying setting – namely, a hostage situation with masked gunman and the bribe-to-be being dragged from her car.
The video shows the unsuspecting woman being dragged from her car by a number of masked gunmen, slammed on the bonnet of the car, shouted at and pretty much terrorised.
Much to everyone’s relief, her boyfriend appears – who was in the car – and gets down on one knee to propose. Understandably, she says yes because, y’know, those guys are still holding guns and – if it was me – I’d just want to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
Check it out:
The video has been called ‘fucking nuts’, with some saying the proposer is a ‘psychopath’ because of the alarming stunt. Others called it the ‘worst proposal ever’, and wondered whether the guy was trying to ‘scare her into agreeing’.
Of course, this couple in Russia aren’t the first to go through an ‘extreme’ proposal such as this.
In 2017, a hopeless romantic called Anthony shared a video of his proposal to his girlfriend, as The Guardian reports.
The proposal took place in a small aircraft, after Anthony had persuaded his fiancee to go for a flight, despite her being quite scared of flying. During the flight, Anthony pretended to lose control of the plane, struggled for a bit before regaining control, before asking his girlfriend to marry him.
It’s a bold and very interesting strategy from the proposers who pop the question in such circumstances – are they scaring their partners into saying yes? Are they proving their abilities to look after their partners in such terrifying situations, because being the protector is what they deem necessary in marriage?
It’s certainly a strange manipulation of what should ostensibly be a romantic situation. One thing is for sure though, these ones will certainly be memorable.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.