He married a stranger from TikTok with a divorce guarantee. 5 years later, nobody's cashing it in

Movies and television series show countless instances of love sparking between two strangers who bump into each other in unusual circumstances. In a plot twist worthy of a Hollywood rom-com, Gunnar Michels (@danielleandgunnar) also found the love of his life in a stranger he first bumped into on TikTok after posting a video joking that he was looking for a wife and would even pay for a divorce if the marriage didn't work out. One woman, Danielle Elleinad (@daniiiellelele), decided to take him up on the offer. Cut to five years later, the couple is still happily married. Their videos have been making rounds on social media, each amassing thousands and millions of views.

Crazy proposal

It started with a January 2021 video that the 24-year-old Michels posted on TikTok. The videographer said that he was looking to marry someone he would meet on the app because he thought “people take life too seriously.” In the video that has been viewed 1.8 million times, he said, “I’m going to fly me and you, wherever you are, out to Las Vegas, where we will get married. I think people take life too seriously, and I’m just here to prove that it ain’t that deep. Life’s a game. Let’s break some norms.”

Two strangers on an adventure

Michels received hundreds of direct messages. Out of them, his interest captured Elleinad. In a video she posted as a response to his TikTok, she said she was willing to embark on this crazy adventure with him because, like him, she didn’t believe in taking life too seriously. “I’ve always wanted to get married in some crazy, stupid way, like, in Vegas, in a bikini and a cowboy hat, getting married by Elvis, or going on a rollercoaster and getting matching tattoos with each other on the rollercoaster,” Elleinad said.

A week after their marriage, they were already planning to get divorced and never see each other again, as the bride shared in another TikTok. But fast forward five years, and they are still together. Their TikTok feed is brimming with videos of them enjoying quality time together, from petting their three foster kittens to having weekly apartment vacuuming sessions, from strolling on a beach to enjoying a steamy sauna in the middle of a snowstorm. They also shared in a 2025 video that after countless travels in their van, they finally settled in a permanent home. "We both still have a love of traveling, but this chapter in our lives is all about planting roots and nesting for stability," the caption read.

Friendship first, romance later

Their relationship is a classic example of what researchers said in a study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. They revealed that two-thirds of romantic relationships start platonically, just like in their case. Researchers surveyed 1,900 adults, of whom 68% reported that their current or most recent romantic relationship began as a friendship or as strangers. Starting as strangers, many couples remain friends for an average of 22 months before transitioning into romance.

'The love story we all needed'

On a TikTok that shows Michels proposing to Elleinad and has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, @aleksandra_snc commented, “Am I the only one or is it a little bit surreal?” @ashes445 said it’s the “love story we all needed.”

You can follow Gunnar Michels (@danielleandgunnar) and Danielle Elleinad (@daniiiellelele) on TikTok to catch up on more of their everyday moments.

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