Miles Teller's fiancee thought proposal rose was part of a memorial

Miles Teller's romantic rose proposal backfired when his girlfriend thought the flower was left for someone who had died.

The Whiplash actor popped the question to Keleigh Sperry during an African safari in August (17), with her sister Christie York sharing the news on Instagram with a series of cute pictures.

Miles has now opened up about the loved-up moment, including Keleigh’s initial confusion.

Explaining on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday (12Oct17) that the trip involved a coffee break after the morning sunrise safari, the star said, while referring to a photo of his wife-to-be holding a red rose and note, “I was like (to the guide), ‘Wherever we’re gonna be at, tie a rose to a tree and put this note on there,’ which is that note. So we had our coffee break, she sees the flower, she thought somebody had died. She thought it was like, an in memoriam kind of thing, oh my God... and I’m just staring, ‘Just go look at the note!’”

On the proposal note, the 30-year-old star had written the date that they got together, as well as the date of his proposal. In the photo, Keleigh’s diamond sparkles on her ring finger as she beams at the camera, and it turns out the proposal had an even deeper meaning than Miles realized.

“I said, ‘This was the first day I asked you to be my girlfriend, and today was the last day you woke up as my girlfriend,’” Miles recalled. “She watches (dating show) The Bachelorette and stuff so she felt like she had won. ‘Cos she had a rose, she had found a rose."

Host Jimmy then joked to the audience that the pressure is now on for Miles to deliver when it comes to the honeymoon as it will be hard to top Africa, though it seems the actor needs to save a bit first after splurging on the trip and jewelry as he quipped, "I'm broke."