Baseball Proposal Hoax, A failed marriage proposal that left a would-be groom mortified in front of the entire crowd at a minor league Connecticut baseball game last week was all an elaborate hoax, the team revealed this morning.
The New Britain Rock Cats uploaded video of the apparent on-field rejection on YouTube after the game on August 2. Since then it has taken the internet by storm, garnering some 600,000 views and prompting the question: is it a fake?
And, after failing to respond to MailOnline's calls yesterday, the Rock Cats today admitted the proposal was a phoney - and the seemingly ill-fated couple, David and Jessica, were just two employees acting out a skit.
Rock Cats vice President of marketing Mike Abramson said the team's promotions team dreamed up by the prank to entertain fans and attract wider attention to the small-scale team.
'After watching a public proposal, we talked about what would happen if the answer were NO, and how that might affect a crowd, and those viewing it after on video,' Abramson said. 'We worked with two of our employees on the skit and executed a digital strategy to set the video on a viral path; we could not be more pleased with the outcome.'
He added: 'If anyone was offended by the promotion in any way we sincerely apologize; this endeavor was intended to entertain and remind fans you never know what you're going to see at a Rock Cats game.'
It's usually the players - not the spectators - who strike-out at baseball games, which is why spectators were so shocked when hopeless romantic 'David ' asking his girlfriend 'Jessica' to marry him at the minor league game and she responded 'No.'
In the promotion, the fake couple were on the field answering questions when the announcer passed the microphone to David.
'Will you marry me Jessica?' he asked.
Stepping back with her hands over her mouth, Jessica stammered: 'David, I'm sorry, I can't.'
She then sprinted out of the stadium as the announcer laughed.
'Sorry, I don't mean to laugh David, I don't think we've ever had this happen before,' he said in the skit.
The rejected suitor turned as red as his T-shirt as he ran out away, with the mascot still dancing around the field.
The Big Lead speculated the proposal was a hoax, but the Huffington Post reckoned
the 'woman's off-microphone reaction seems pretty real'.
And online, opinions were mixed. Witness, John Poutre, commented on YouTube that he believed the proposal was legitimate.
'I was there, my first thought was that it was fake. But what would the point of that be?' he wrote. 'The guy worked for the team in some way, he ran in the dugout (saw him later) and she ran out of the stadium. All I can say is KNOW THE ANSWER BEFORE ASKING!!!'
Other Rock Cats fans, shocked at what they witnessed, took to Twitter to sympathize with David.
Donald Salvesen tweeted on August 2: 'At the #rockcats game and we witnessed a rejected, on field marriage proposal. The crowd gasped, the players were laughing as the girl ran off humiliated. Very bizarre moment.'
Meanwhile, Anthony Falcone wrote: 'Just saw a rejected proposal onfield at this #rockcats game. So awkward and unfortunate.'
Professional photographer Scott Blanchette got a picture of the proposal prank as 'David' got down on one knee and held out his hands.
He posted the image, which shows 'Jessica' looking decidedly uncomfortable, wringing her hands, on Twitter with the comment: 'On field #proposal at the @RockCats game last night, she said no and ran off. :-('
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