# Wii Fit Girl Wii Fit Girl is the nickname given to Lauren Bernat, a Florida advertising exec whose boyfriend secretly filmed her playing the hula hoop minigame on Nintendo's Wii Fit in her underwear and uploaded the clip to YouTube in May 2008. The 69-second video pulled in millions of views within weeks, triggered Nintendo viral-marketing accusations, and became one of the defining early YouTube sensations of the Wii era. ## Origin On May 25, 2008, Giovanny Gutierrez uploaded the clip to YouTube from the couple's Florida home[6]. He later told The Telegraph he thought the footage was cute and that he wanted to prove to the world how attractive his girlfriend was[2]. Bernat, who also worked in advertising, had no idea the camera was running until a friend pointed her at the YouTube page days later. She reportedly screamed at Gutierrez down the phone and demanded he take it down, by which point the view counter was already climbing fast[1]. Nintendo was not involved in making or distributing the video. Both Bernat and Gutierrez worked at an ad agency, which fueled suspicions that the whole thing was a stealth viral marketing push for the Wii Fit launch. CNET pressed both the couple and Nintendo on this in June 2008; the company and Gutierrez denied it, with Gutierrez repeating that his only motive was showing off Bernat[7]. - **Platform:** YouTube (origin) / Digg (viral spread) - **Creator:** Giovanny Gutierrez - **Date:** 2008 ## Overview Wii Fit Girl centers on a 69-second home clip in which Lauren Bernat, a 25-year-old advertising account executive from Florida, swings her hips to keep virtual hula hoops spinning on the Nintendo Wii Balance Board while wearing a yellow t-shirt and striped grey-and-black underwear[1]. The footage was shot in the couple's lounge by her boyfriend Giovanny Gutierrez on his mobile phone and posted without her knowledge under the title 'Why every guy should buy their girlfriend a Wii Fit'[1]. The hook was never fitness gameplay. It was the clash between Nintendo's wholesome family exercise product and a candid, slightly voyeuristic home video that pulled viewers in[2]. As a format, Wii Fit Girl worked less like a joke template and more like a copycat prompt. Within a year, imitators appeared on YouTube filming girlfriends, roommates, and men in drag attempting the same hip-swinging motion in minimal clothing[3]. Kotaku flagged one such near-identical copycat in May 2009 and openly joked that the woman in it looked suspiciously like a different person angling for the same attention[3]. The clip's shelf life stretched further than most 2008 YouTube hits because Bernat herself kept appearing in follow-ups, from an EA Sports Active promo deal to a Tosh.0 Web Redemption segment[4][5]. ## How to Use Reenactments typically copy the exact setup: a Wii Balance Board, the Wii Fit hula hoop minigame, minimal clothing, and a shaky handheld camera placed low behind the player. Common variations swap in a man in a wig or underwear as a parody flip, as Kotaku documented in 2009[3], or stage the filming scenario as a prank reveal where the player is told about the camera afterward. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Wii Fit Girl? Wii Fit Girl is the nickname of Lauren Bernat, whose boyfriend filmed her playing the Wii Fit hula hoop minigame in her underwear and posted it to YouTube in May 2008[1]. ### Where did Wii Fit Girl come from? The clip was shot in a Florida apartment by Giovanny Gutierrez and uploaded without Bernat's knowledge on May 25, 2008[6]. ### What does Wii Fit Girl mean? The name refers both to Bernat herself and to the viral video format of filming someone doing the Wii Fit hula hoop exercise, which the clip popularized[6]. ### How do you use Wii Fit Girl? Imitators typically restage the original setup: a Wii Balance Board, the hula hoop minigame, and a hip-swinging player filmed from behind, sometimes gender-flipped as a parody[3]. ### Is Wii Fit Girl still popular? The clip is a classic 2008 YouTube artifact rather than an active meme; the original video had passed 11.8 million views within four years of upload[6]. ### Who filmed the Wii Fit Girl video? Her boyfriend Giovanny Gutierrez shot the footage on his mobile phone in their shared Florida home[1]. ### Was Wii Fit Girl a Nintendo marketing stunt? Both Nintendo and the couple denied it when CNET asked in June 2008, though suspicions arose because Bernat and Gutierrez both worked in advertising[7]. ### How did Lauren Bernat react to the video? She was reportedly furious when she found out, screaming at Gutierrez over the phone, though she later embraced the attention[1]. ### What happened to Lauren Bernat after the video? She became a spokesperson for EA Sports Active in 2009[4], appeared on Tosh.0's Web Redemption in January 2010[6], and later hosted the food podcast Chat Chow TV starting in April 2011[6]. ### Were there copycat Wii Fit Girl videos? Yes. Kotaku covered a near-identical copycat in May 2009, including a parody version featuring a man in a wig and panties[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1025434/Girl-Wii-fit-YouTube-clip-gets-TWO-MILLION-admirers.html]() 2. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2105747/Wii-Fit-underwear-girl-is-YouTube-sensation.html]() 3. [https://kotaku.com/nearly-a-year-later-new-wii-fit-girl-sets-trap-5244860]() 4. [https://www.vg247.com/2009/03/18/wii-fit-girl-now-an-ea-sports-active-spokesperson/]() 5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipFEDr5Ej7Q]() 6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wii-fit-girl]() 7. [https://www.cnet.com/news/wii-fit-girl-not-a-marketing-ploy-for-nintendo/]() 8. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110412053530/https://digg.com/news/story/Why_every_guy_should_buy_their_girlfriend_Wii_Fit]() 9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091218044557/http://www.urlesque.com/2009/12/14/wii-fit-girl/]() 10. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31qxrXsxv0]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/wii-fit-girl Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library