Do You Remember Couch Guy? What Did We Learn From The Viral Incident?

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A few years ago, this TikTok of a girl surprising her boyfriend went massively viral, as viewers were reading a little too far into the situation she walked into, and the boyfriend's body language. But what exactly made it so sus? Did Couch guy deserve the scorn or is he completely innocent, and have we learned anything since?   For more information, visit: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/couch-guy-tiktok  Check out our new MEME STORE: https://thememestore.com/  Subscribe to our channel to learn more about trending memes, hear interviews from meme personalities and more! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrPqq29C9Q_TQP7OFFRzcw?sub_confirmation=1

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00:00The internet accused this man of cheating after seeing this short clip of his girlfriend coming

00:04to surprise him. But the ambiguous clip is far from a confirmation of any real malicious behavior.

00:09Despite this, he's become an internet villain. What was the real story here?

00:13I have a really unpopular opinion. I don't think Couch Guy was doing anything, sus.

00:18Have you heard of Couch Guy? A few years ago, the internet witnessed this odd phenomenon where one

00:22clip had everyone jumping to the same conclusion. But was it the right one? On September 21st,

00:272021, TikToker Lauren Zaris posted a video captioned,

00:31Surprising my boyfriend at college. Filmed by one of her friends, the video depicts Lauren walking

00:35into her boyfriend Robbie's apartment, apparently surprising him with her arrival, as the video's

00:39title states. When she enters, Robbie is sitting at the closest end of the living room couch playing

00:43a Nintendo Switch. Three girls are sitting beside him on the couch, and a male friend is in the room

00:48as well on a barstool. Robbie, or Couch Guy, sees Zaris, smiles, and puts down his Switch controller.

00:53He then stands up with a cell phone in his hand and hugs her. The video garnered over 51

00:57million views in two weeks. But why did it go so viral? After the video was posted,

01:02users began commenting, accusing Robbie, or Couch Guy, of cheating on Zaris. Many of the comments

01:07referred to how many girls were on the couch next to him. Some focused on his lack of visible

01:11enthusiasm to see his girlfriend, and some focused on the apparently sus way his phone was handed to

01:17him. Some of these comments gained hundreds of thousands of likes and inspired a viral debate.

01:23Was Couch Guy guilty of something? Were commenters reading the room right? Or were these completely

01:28baseless allegations? As the debate unfolded across multiple social platforms, the hashtag

01:32Couch Guy became notably popular in early October 2021, with users posting all kinds of content

01:37critiquing and examining Couch Guy, or weighing in on the debate in other ways.

01:41That right there is an unfaithful man. You should go home. You deserve so much better.

01:47With the absurd debate running wild, memers would take the opportunity to parody the event,

01:52with comedic skits and recreations of the video appearing in droves. Many of these would exaggerate

01:56suspicious behavior or include features that would make it completely obvious that the Couch Guy

02:01character was cheating. But Couch Guy didn't stay silent. On October 2nd, Robbie responded to the

02:06controversy via his TikTok page, Soldier Watch Ambassador. The since-deleted video displayed on-screen text

02:11reading, Couch Guy here. You're welcome for getting you off berries and cream TikTok. But remember,

02:15not everything is true crime. Don't be a parasocial creep. Get some fresh air. Take care.

02:20But internet sleuths continued to sleuth, trying to pick apart the video to confirm their theories.

02:24For example, on October 3rd, TikToker Kim Castro posted a video where she zooms in on the moment of

02:30the alleged phone pass, gaining over 11.4 million views in a day. On the same day, TikToker ThinkSblended

02:36posted a video criticizing the girls on the couch, saying they should have been just as excited to see

02:40Lauren and their lack of enthusiasm adds to the suspicion. This video garnered nearly 5 million

02:45views in a day. They should have been jumping up in line to give you a hug the minute you walked

02:51in the door. Some creators would make in-depth videos breaking down Couch Guy's body language,

02:56like YouTuber Observe, for example, whose 20-minute breakdown of the clip garnered nearly 500,000 views.

03:02Couch Guy would go further into detail about how the event affected his life in an op-ed published

03:06by Slate in December of 2021. In it, he says,

03:09While the Couch Guy meme was lighthearted on its surface, it turned menacing, as TikTok users

03:13obsessively invaded the lives of Lauren, our friends, and me, people with no previous desire

03:18for internet fame, let alone infamy. We don't have an update on Robbie and Lauren, except to say that

03:23Reddit users seem to think they're still together, likely based on her Instagram profile picture,

03:27which is a photo of the two of them. There's no proof that Couch Guy is to blame for

03:31absolutely anything at all. Did the internet cancel this guy for no reason? Have we learned

03:35anything from this incident? Apparently, we haven't, as a similar case occurred at the start

03:39of 2025, just after New Year's. In January of 2025, TikToker Carbar3, aka Carly, posted a video

03:46showing her surprising her boyfriend, who allegedly thought she had to work at a New Year's Eve party.

03:51In the clip, which Carly has since removed from her account, she's seen on the steps behind her

03:55boyfriend, who then turns around to notice her. She looks incredibly enthusiastic,

03:59and he looks befuddled, to be sure. The internet leapt into action, once again attempting to decipher

04:04his body language, calling him the New Couch Guy, or Couch Guy of 2025. Many commenters would claim

04:09it was obvious that he wasn't happy to see her, with captions on reposts reading things like,

04:14who's gonna tell her? People cited his facial expression, him looking around the room,

04:18potentially for another girl he was with, and him playfully pushing her away to support their

04:22theories. That was a very aggressive, don't touch me, from him. Carly's obvious enthusiasm didn't help,

04:28as some commenters would accuse her of being a stalker, or overly into him when it was clear

04:33he didn't feel the same way. But I actually didn't think that his reaction was the most

04:36embarrassing part of the video. It was her! But the internet really got all that just from

04:41this short clip? Is there any way they could be completely wrong here? One alleged attendee of

04:46the same party weighed in, saying that for the rest of the evening, it was clear that he was happy

04:50she had come. There was no other woman there, there was no malicious intent, I'm sure. I'm pretty sure

04:58he just didn't expect it to be videotaped, he didn't expect to be thrown on TikTok, he didn't

05:03expect for 3.7 million people to see her video and react the way that they did. While it can be fun to

05:09try to analyze situations based on circling clips, the conclusions jumped to are often baseless,

05:14especially without any context of the rest of these individuals' lives. What do you think about

05:18Couch Guy and New Year's Guy? Do you agree with these judgments or find them totally off-base?

05:22Maybe we should all heed the advice of Couch Guy himself and save the sleuthing for true crime.

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