‘Your partner should be excited to see you’: Woman surprises her boyfriend at party. It’s a disaster

We all remember where we were when the first "Couch Guy" went viral. Back in 2021, Lauren Zarras' reunion with her long-distance boyfriend, Robert McKoy, ended in disaster. What was meant to be a semi-viral cute relationship moment, set to Ellie Goulding's "Still Falling For You," went completely south. McKay's lackluster reaction to the surprise as he sat on a couch surrounded by three girls made him an internet legend for all the wrong reasons.

What happened next was somewhat predictable. Reactions ranged from "he's just not that into you" to allegations of cheating. Online speculation and sleuthing got so extreme that McKay even wrote a piece in Slate essentially begging to be left alone.

But now, over three years later, another TikTok boyfriend has become worthy of that couch-shaped crown. Even though, technically, he wasn't sitting on a couch.

The new 'Couch Guy'

In the now-deleted video, TikToker Carleigh B (@carbar3) is wearing a purple glitter dress as she approaches the man during what appears to be a New Year's Eve party. The video is captioned: "Surprising my boyfriend on New Year's Eve (he thought I was working)."

The concept of the clip is sweet, but in practice, it doesn't really end up that way. When the boyfriend notices Carleigh, he looks nothing short of horrified. As his face turns increasingly red, his eyes dart across the room before appearing to flinch when the TikToker goes in for an embrace.

While the OG Couch Guy appeared nonchalant, viewers are arguing that this guy looked terrified.

Viewers were confused by his reaction

"Come on, your partner should be excited to see you," Tess Higgins (@tessdhiggins) said in a clip that has amassed 1.3 million views.

"This isn't like she's crashing his like, private gym session or meditation or like, his weekend fishing with the boys or whatever. It's a freaking New Year's party. And if I thought I wasn't gonna be able to spend New Year's like, with my partner and then they showed up after all, I'd be excited, because, duh... This kind of just always gives me bad vibes."

In the comments, users presented their own theories for his bizarre reaction. "I just saw the couch guy video and it doesn’t even come close to this," one wrote. "This guy was mad mad."

Several others claimed to have found the couple on Facebook, on which the pair were "Facebook official."

"Someone said they found their Facebook and they only been together for a month," one commenter claimed. "So it seems he’s upset a girl he’s hardly been dating just shows up to a family/friend event without invite."

Another claimed that the pair had been "broken up for years."

'Is he OK?'

Further reinforcing the "stalker" narrative is a video with 5.4 million views, in which @Angelwearsblack1989 noted how "he looked at her in sheer horror like she’s a stalker and he didn’t wanna make a scene … Like, is he OK?"

@popchisme That man looks more than just surprised to see her... who is gonna tell her that he is couch guy 2.0? #couchguy #nye #surprise #newyearseve #newyear #redflag #Relationship #gossipgirl #gossipgirlhere #foryou #tiktokviral #unitedstates #usa #viral #trend #trending #fyp #CapCut ♬ original sound - Pop Chisme

Over on X, however, Heidi Moore argues that there's a more simple explanation. "[T]he point is that this interaction is representative of a lot of other relationships where the couple seem to have mismatched interest in being around each other, so it's important for women to pay attention to body language and actions, and not just words," she writes.

This just leaves us with one question: Have we actually learned anything from 'Couch Guy'? If this video and its reaction are anything to go by, absolutely not.

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