19-year-old urges men not to hit on women at gym after viral TikTok sees her approached by man in his 40s

‘Men and their egos really think they are on to something,’ one viewer wrote

19-year-old urges men not to approach women at the gym (TikTok / @avreyovard)

A 19-year-old has shared a video of an older man attempting to ask her out at the gym only to get defensive when she said no while urging men not to approach women while they are working out.

On Monday, Avrey Ovard, 19, from Utah, uploaded a video of the encounter to TikTok, in which she can be seen filming herself stretching on a yoga mat before a man approached her.

In the clip, the man, who Ovard said was in his 40s, can be heard asking if she is filming herself, to which she confirmed yes.

The man then reappeared after five minutes, at which point he motioned for Ovard to take her headphones out and then asked her her name and attempted to discuss his physical therapy appointment with her, before asking if she wanted to get dinner.

“When I’m about to get out, you might not be here. I wanted to get your number... for dinner,” he said.

The offer prompted the 19-year-old to respond: “Oh I’m sorry, I’m too young for you.”

Rather than accept the response, the unidentified man can be heard asking Ovard: “Oh yeah?” before adding defensively: “Well I’m too rich” and walking away.

In the video, Ovard can be seen laughing “awkwardly” over the exchange and then staring into her camera in clear discomfort.

On TikTok, where Ovard captioned the clip: “LEAVE WOMEN ALONE!!” the video has since been viewed more than 2m times and prompted an outpouring of comments from women who have been in the same position.

“Why can men not handle rejection?” one person commented, while another said: “The way he gets immediately defensive when you were perfectly reasonable lol… ok fully grown man child.”

Others praised Ovard’s response, with someone else writing: “Haha. You GO girl. I’m sorry this happened but your response was perfection.”

In a video shared to her YouTube channel, Ovard also elaborated on the encounter, where she revealed that she has “never had an experience like this, getting hit on in the gym”.

“You can just see it on my face, I could not believe that happened,” she continued after narrating the conversation between herself and the man. “I have never been hit on at the gym before. I see a lot of TikToks about girls being hit on at the gym and I always think I’m really lucky that’s never happened to me.”

Ovard then went on to urge men to “leave women alone in the gym,” with the model adding: “It’s literally the last place where I would ever want to be hit on.”

The Independent has contacted Ovard for comment.