Wii Fit Girl Describes Video Stardom

Hula Hooping Video Goes Viral on YouTube

Lauren Bernat thought the Nintendo Wii Fit video game would be a fun way to get in shape. Little did she know that all it took was a video camera and a pair of striped underwear to make her an Internet sensation.

It was kind of embarrassing knowing people were watching me dance in my underwear. I am certainly not an exhibitionist, nor do I enjoy that type of attention, and I wasn't even looking my best (my hair was up, my glasses were on, my underwear and t-shirt didn't match).

We had just purchased a Wii Fit that Friday and I decided to give our new toy a try the next morning. I'm really lazy when it comes to exercising, but thought this might get me motivated. As I was doing the hula hoop exercise (my favorite out of all of the aerobics exercises) my boyfriend recorded me doing it. I had no idea he was filming me, nor did I know he was going to place it on the Net.

YouTube Fame

I had just come back from a client meeting and was walking toward my office when I heard the music from the Wii Fit Hula Hoop game coming from the President's office. I knew that sound very well because I had been playing it all weekend. I peeped my head in and saw his computer screen featuring me doing the Wii Hula Hoop in my underwear!

I ran out of his office, called my boyfriend who works in the same office, and yelled frantically. The Village Voice had contacted the President to do a story about it because it was becoming so popular on YouTube.

My boyfriend works in our company's department of interactive media. He lives and breathes this stuff. He would wake up every morning and track the video and read the YouTube comments. When we started getting phone calls to do interviews (newspapers, radio stations, television) and saw that it was being watched all over the world, we the call from MTV to appear on Total Request Live (TRL) and actually do the hula hoop was not far behind.

I also appeared on the front page of the Miami Herald (my local newspaper), becoming a top story on Digg.com and for a couple of days, I was the last entry under Wii Fit on Wikipedia. I honestly could not believe it. I mean it's just a girl in her underwear doing the hula hoop. What's the big deal?

The video so successful because it was not staged and it spread on its own without Nintendo's endorsement. I have, however, now asked my boyfriend to let me know before he posts ANYTHING on YouTube.

Since the video hit I've had lots of press and a couple of small payments to use the video in television programs. Nintendo, if you are reading this article, what are you putting on the table?