West Elm Caleb is the name that women on TikTok have given to a New York City man they claim has ghosted women after meeting them on Hinge.
The man is from New York City. He’s being roasted for his alleged dating history on TikTok. Women on TikTok are alleging that they’ve dated him and swapped stories. A name for West Elm Caleb has been circulating online, but Heavy is not revealing his identity because it hasn’t been verified; nor are the stories circulating about him verifiable.
The stories follow a common pattern. The women claim they match with West Elm Caleb on Hinge, he love bombs them, they go on a few dates, and then he ghosts them. Some of them claim he is a furniture designer.
Host/producer Zach Schwartz explained the trend on Twitter, “So on tiktok there are dozens of NY women telling stories about a man named Caleb from West Elm who is a furniture designer that gaslights and ghosts them. It’s like if John Tucker Must Die or The Other Woman happened in real life in real time on tiktok.” There is a LinkedIn cache for a Caleb from West Elm who is a designer, but the page is deleted.
Although many people were enjoying the schadenfreude, others felt the West Elm Caleb story was instead yet another example of an Internet run amok, with people trading unverified stories that could change, or even ruin, a person’s life overnight.
So on tiktok there are dozens of NY women telling stories about a man named Caleb from West Elm who is a furniture designer that gaslights and ghosts them. It’s like if John Tucker Must Die or The Other Woman happened in real life in real time on tiktok.
“I made a few TikToks sharing my take on it. I think these types of campaigns are incredibly harmful especially considering this is a man we know *zero* about except through random people’s videos, who in some cases never met him,” wrote Taylor Lorenz on Twitter.
Here’s what you need to know:
A Woman Named Kell Accused West Elm Caleb of Randomly Stopping Texting ‘Out of the Blue’
@kellsbellsbaby I am a victim of nyc dating…yet again #nyc #dating #fyp #hinge ♬ original sound – よかいえき
A woman named Kell created one of the TikTok videos. “When you are dating a man for 6 weeks and find out through a FYP tiktok that he is lying to you and dating every other woman in nyc,” her TikTok is captioned. She wrote, “I am a victim of nyc dating…yet again #nyc #dating #fyp.”
She shared texts she said were from West Elm Caleb in another TikTok video.
@kellsbellsbaby Reply to @jalmones #greenscreen ya this man ghosted me on Saturday and I found out through tik tok :-) anyways enjoy another sad dating story from me #nyc #fyp #dating #hinge ♬ original sound – kell
Kell alleged that West Elm Caleb saw the video and texted her, according to Dexerto, that he was “truly shocked and pretty traumatized by the whole thing. I don’t know the vast majority of people commenting on the video. People saying I had dates planned, that I was creepy, that I went on a date and didn’t pay. People are just commenting to get involved it seems. And yeah, the nature of the app is very fleeting, ghosting unfortunately is just part of it. I was on the app for a couple months and matched with a lot of people before you and the video just gave every single one of them a platform to comment without any need to validate their stories so yes of course it’s going to sound bad.”
This is her story:
Six weeks ago, she said, “I messaged this man on Hinge. It was really fun.” She thought she liked him, and she said she had been through the “dating trenches in New York City.”
She said he was sending her “cute messages.” She shared texts. He sent her a Spotify playlist. But she noticed that he made the same playlist for different women.
She said they went on their first date, and then he said he wanted to see her again. They went to the Met. He sent her a photo he took of her. They dated for a couple weeks.
“We’re texting every day,” she claimed. He was blowing up her phone, couldn’t imagine his life without her, she said. Then one day he asked her intentions. She said he was the only man she was dating right now. He wrote, “Ill ghost you soon don’t worry.” She thought it was a joke, at the time.
Then he randomly stopped texting her out of the blue, she claimed. She was checking in whether he was okay.
She said he was going MIA. She asked if he wanted to hang out. He rushed her out of his home and then didn’t want to see her the next day because he was going on dates with other women. She posted “reveal” photos but asked people not to harass him.
A Woman Named Kate Accused West Elm Caleb of Ghosting Her Twice
@_katepear @MEEMS this is hilarious target audience r reached #westelmcaleb #hinge #fyp #kpandthecity ♬ original sound – Kate Pearce
A woman named Kate Pearce gave this story: She alleged that around Halloween they matched on Hinge, and West Elm Caleb was “love bombing to a T,” messaging and messaging.
He said he wanted to meet in a “wholesome way” and asked her to get coffee. He sent her a full mirror selfie, she claims.
The next day, he “proceeds to ghost me,” she said in her TikTok video.
The next month he contacted her again and said he was sorry; that he was worried she was just going to use him for his body. Then he added her on Snapchat. They were considering getting lunch. And then he ghosted her again, she said.
Another woman, @Meemshou on TikTok, created a video saying she and other women compared notes about West Elm Caleb. She said she created a video to call out this “very tall Caleb.” It went viral. She kept having girls asked “who is this” West Elm Caleb and share stories.
@meemshou Reply to @hannahklub tiktok algorithm do yo thang #warning #westelmcaleb #nyc ♬ original sound – MEEMS
One said he was texting intensely for awhile. “He is love bombing her even though they haven’t met up before,” the TikTok user said, calling it the “biggest red flag. Then of course he ghosts her.”
She said another girl made a TikTok “gushing about her Hinge date.” She recognized the girl from “when I was stupid and naïve.”
Some People Were Loving the West Elm Caleb Trend Online
People took to Twitter to react to the West Elm Caleb TikTok trend.
A woman wrote, “I don’t think I’ve seen anything unite as many 20-something women in nyc like the exposing of West Elm Caleb… the chokehold he has on my TikTok timeline right now is wiiiiild.”
Another woman wrote, “The most compelling thing on tiktok right now Rolling on the floor laughing The way in which the ladies of NYC are unionizing and posting up men’s app profiles and exposing them. The rate is remarkable. #westelmcaleb.”
Wrote another, “My tiktok is literally all west elm Caleb and I’m here for it. Caleb’s life changed for the worse in a matter of hours #westelmcaleb.”
And another: “West Elm Caleb isn’t even my type but round of applause to all the ladies in NYC going in right now! #westelmcaleb.”
READ NEXT: Raiders Fans Go Crazy Over Davante Adams’ Reaction to Hunter Renfrow Play