Food blogger Jen Phanomrat’s boyfriend Leo Samanamud cooked up the perfect proposal.
“9 years later, I said YES to my best friend!” Phanomrat announced in a recent Instagram post. In the photo, Phanomrat leaned into her fiancé while flashing her left hand.
The couple never could have predicted what happened next. Though the YouTube Eat Life stars were inundated with well wishes, some followers mocked the size of Phanomrat’s new jewelry.
“Congrats! Where’s the ring?” wrote one person. Added another: “If my guy ever got me a ring like that I’d smack him into next year. Just saying.”
A third quipped: “So are we all going to pretend like that ring isn’t microscopically small?”
Phanomrat, 30, told Yahoo on Wednesday, June 13, that the hammered gold and pearl design is exactly what she wanted.
“What mattered to me the most was the tiny detail on the inside of the ring,” she revealed. “He asked the ring maker to inscribe the initials of our nicknames for each other. I swear I was floating in the air when he pointed it out. My heart smiles every time I see it.”
The chef admitted the hateful comments hurt and she deleted many of them. “I’ve always been an advocate for women supporting women, so I was shocked to see so many females wasting their time replying to each other to dampen our happy moment,” she told Yahoo. Phanomrat noted that one “female influencer” shared a meme of their engagement photo. It read: “Ladies, would you accept the ring and say yes?”
Phanomrat is focusing on her future with her favorite person. But she had a message for the trolls who littered her social media feed with nasty comments. “What Leo and I do want these people to know is that we mostly choose experiences over material things, and we encourage others to think about how they measure value in life,” she mused. “We made it our priority to travel around the world, eat bucket list foods and experience dream adventures. That’s all we’ve ever wanted and will continue to do, ring or no ring.”
