Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow has been private about his intimate relationships, including a potential romance with model Olivia Ponton – but the 22-year-old has been dropping some hints

Olivia Ponton has made another playful reference to her alleged romance with Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow, as fans pick up on her ‘tiger claw’ gesture.

Burrow has recently become less busy after the Bengals were dumped from NFL playoff contention thanks to the Denver Broncos 38-0 thrashing of the Kansas City Chiefs to claim the seventh-seed in the AFC. Burrow did his best to drag the team over the line, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-17 with 277 passing yards and one touchdown to secure their ninth win.

However, the Bengals fell at the final hurdle as they relied on the Broncos being defeated by the Chiefs, who were surprisingly shut out by the Denver team. Despite this disappointment, it looks like Burrow may be enjoying some downtime with his alleged girlfriend, Ponton, as she hinted at their relationship in a TikTok dance.

Fans were previously speculating about Ponton and Burrow’s connection online after the Sports Illustrated model posted on Instagram with some cryptic emojis. The 22-year-old shared photos of herself in New York City back in December with the caption “Rainy Day” alongside a Bengal tiger emoji and the lucky eight ball emoji.

Fans believed that her caption was a secret good-luck message to Burrow, as the Bengals were still in the playoff race at the time. Now, Ponton has been spotted dancing in her pajamas on her TikTok – which boasts 7.6million followers – and some people spotted an interesting part of the dance.

As Ponton danced along to the song Bonde das Oncinhas by DJ LK Da Escocia, she made a claw gesture with her hands at one point – which could be another hint towards Burrow. The claw gesture and subsequent fake growl that Ponton did could be a reference to a tiger – which many believe to be a Bengal tiger.

Fans spotted this little moment in the video and left their comments underneath the post, which garnered a whopping 3.6million views and 370,000 likes. One follower said: “Was that a lion or a bengal tiger?” Another added: “Filmed at Joe Burrow’s house.” And a third said: “Joey B is so lucky.”

With that in mind, here is everything we know about Olivia, as the alleged romance between her and Joe Burrow continues to heat up.

Who is Olivia Ponton and what does she do?

Ponton is a 22-year-old model and TikTok star who was born in Florida on May 20, 2002. The star signed for Wilhelmina Models in 2020 after a spring break trip to New York, and rose to fam on social media after work began to slow during the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Grazia in 2022, Ponton said: “During COVID I was trying one new thing a day, whether it was cooking, playing basketball, volleyball, or exploring new places in my hometown. I got really positive responses from people about how I made them feel. That was my main motivation to keep going.”

The Florida-born star is a model and TikTok influencer ( 
Image:
INSTAGRAM)
Since then, she has amassed 7.6million followers on TikTok with over 952m likes across all of her posts. Ponton boasts 2.9m followers on Instagram and she also has a successful YouTube channel where she posts typical lifestyle content to her 134,000 subscribers.

In the modelling world, Ponton is currently a Sports Illustrated model, and was featured in their print issue in a swimsuit campaign in 2022. She has worked for the likes of Victoria’s Secret, Ralph Lauren, SKIMS and Juicy Couture since, and claims she is a “workaholic”.

“It’s hard to even tell you exactly where I want to go, but I just love working,” she told GRAZIA. “I’m like, ‘book me seven days a week. I do not care.’ I’m kind of a workaholic.”

How is Olivia Ponton connected to Joe Burrow?

Olivia Ponton has been linked to Joe Burrow for over a year
One of the first instances that Ponton was connected to the Bengals quarterback was when his home in Ohio was reportedly broken into last year. In January 2024, the model reported to the police that someone had gotten into Burrow’s home and ransacked the place, smashing one of the windows on their way in.

PEOPLE reported that the police report said that Ponton contacted her mother before making the 911 call, and was referred to as one of Burrow’s “employees” in the official statement.

The report stated that Ponton provided a “non-detailed itemization of what items were possibly missing”, due to the fact that Burrow was out of town at the time playing the Dallas Cowboys.