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Who is 'West Elm Caleb'? NYC serial dater goes viral on TikTok for ghosting women

There are unverified reports of Hunter, 25, matching with multiple women in New York City on the dating app, Hinge and then sending a flurry of affectionate messages to his potential love interests before ghosting them all

A number of women have come out on TikTok and shared experiences of going out with a serial dater named ‘West Elm Caleb' and then unceremoniously ghosted. The mysterious figure is none other than furniture designer Caleb Hunter.

More women have come together to share the hashtag #WestElmCaleb, warning others like them to be wary of the man, who is so named as he purportedly works for the furniture company West Elm. There are unverified reports of Hunter, 25, matching with multiple women in New York City on the dating app, Hinge and then proceeding to send a flurry of affectionate messages, which is also known as "love-bombing" to his potential love interests before ghosting them all. #WestElmCaleb has received over 5.4 million collective views as of January 19. The community has led to the situation being compared to the 2006 rom-com movie 'John Tucker Must Die,' where a group of girls teams up to seek revenge on a high school basketball star after discovering that he was secretly dating all of them simultaneously.

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West Elm Caleb has dated 'every other woman' in NYC

A woman named Kell, who goes by the username @kellsbellsbaby on TikTok, described Hunter as tall, artsy, and sporting a mustache. She mentioned that she had been dating him for six weeks. She soon found that West Elm Caleb had dated “every other woman” in New York City. She used the hashtag to warn others of "sus" behavior. "I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else," she said in a Jan 18 video. "The point is: Just avoid him, maybe?"

TikTok user @meemshou shared her experience with West Elm Caleb as well. "I wasn't going to make a video about this, but I feel like it's my duty as your Asian older sister to warn New York City girls about this Caleb from West Elm ASAP." She also cautioned people that "love-bombing is a gateway red flag to all of the other red flags." On a lighter note, she added, “This one’s dedicated to Caleb. No hard feelings though, you were too tall.” Since then, other women have stated that West Elm Caleb: “He literally love-bombed me, dated me for a month, and then ghosted me.”

Another netizen shared: “Omg, stop. I went on a date with him a few months ago. He was texting so much then ghosted after asking me to dinner LOL.” A TikTok user matched with the man twice on a dating app and they began talking. When she questioned him about the circulating stories, she said that he “IMMEDIATELY blocked me on everything hahaha.”

Caleb Hunter denies accusations

Hunter has chosen to blame his actions on the dating app and not take any responsibility. When @kellsbellsbaby shared @meemshou’s video with him during their conversations, he stated that it was “part of what’s been bumming [him] out" as the video was shared by his coworkers. He wrote in the messages which had been screenshot: “I guess this girl just has a big following and talked about a tall Caleb, so naturally, some girls I matched with and stopped talking to asked her if it was me, and then she made this apparently?”

Addressing the allegation that he had the tendency to ghost women, Hunter said that it was the “nature of the app.” He added that dating apps allow you to match with multiple women and that was the reason he behaved the way he did.