You never know when the spotlight is going to fall on you. Chances are, you might go your whole life without dozens, maybe hundreds, of people gazing at you all at once, waiting, expecting something to happen. Whether or not you're okay with that is one thing, but be prepared because sometimes that fame won't last long.
Let's take a look at those stories.
Reddit user, u/Internalgenius, wanted to hear the tale of:
What was your "15 minutes of fame?"
Paid Professionals Couldn't Have Done It Better
GiphyMy now ex-husband and I were on the front cover of a few tabloid magazines and interviewed on several radio stations across the US for an ad I placed to re-home our cat, that our son developed allergies to. It was something like:
Free to a good home, female cat or husband. Husband says either the cat goes or he goes. Cat fixed, husband isn't.
But Remember, It All Can All Be Taken Away So Quickly
It happened when I was 10. I was at a summer camp and we were having play fights and this one really tall dude, who everyone was scared of, tries to fight me. What he didn't know was that I had been taking martial arts classes ever since I was 5. I won and then everybody over there thought of me like someone who was really strong. And then like 15-20 minutes later, I slipped and fell on the floor which resulted in the end of my 15 minutes of fame and the start of my "1 week of shame."
Hopefully You Weren't Asked That Whoopee Question
I was on the Newlywed Game about 2 weeks after we got married. I think we got 2nd place (WASN'T MY FAULT) and got a cruise out if it ... A brunch cruise. One of the producers of the show ended up recognizing me at an art opening and I had a random, old acquaintance see us on tv.
Famous For Looking Ticked
People outside of the Uk might not know it but there's really big this show called match of the day that basically shows all of the football( soccer) highlights and a few years ago I went to a game and in the first like 10 minutes of the show when the hosts were talking about the first game before they showed it there was just me on the big screen behind them just sitting in the stands looking fed up and I went to school the next day semi-famous
"There's 104 days of summer vacation..."
When I was 7 years old, I went to comic con with my family because my dad, whos an animator, could get me and my younger sibling in for free. This was the year Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd dimension came out. At comic con, they had a plat-a-bus and a karaoke booth. My sibling and I ended up taking control of the karaoke booth and sung half of the album from the first season. Us being 7 and 4, they let us. When we got home later, we saw that they had put both of us smack on the front cover of an Emagazine and a video of us singing. I'm sure it's still on the internet somewhere.
The Things We Do For Recognition
Some 15 years ago I lost a dispute and had to eat my tie. I ate it, cut in pieces, with an egg and some vegetables. my friend made photos of me and it was all over our national social network (a kind of local Facebook). That was pretty fun.
15 Minutes By 1 Degree Of Separation
A year or so ago, actress Kristen Bell was doing a campaign on Instagram called "10 Featured Teachers". She pick from a list of teachers that were submitted and send out their classroom Amazon wishlist to her followers. The idea was to help teachers supply their classrooms, since they usually have to do it out of their own pockets.
Well, my wife is an English teacher, and threw her name in the hat, and she got picked.
The response was amazing. She had books on her wishlist, since she teaches English, and we got hundreds in a few days. Really restored my faith in humanity for a bit.
I of course shared it on my Instagram as well, so I briefly became "the husband who's wife got picked by Kristen Bell".
Wow, A Major Throwback
In my final year of high school (2009), I won a competition for MySpace to 'crash my formal'.
I was shy and didn't want to tell the whole year at parade so i got a friend to do it. But everyone knew it was me.
Technically, It's 22 Minutes Minus The Commercials, But We'll Allow It
I was on Disney channel like 5 years ago if that counts.
YO THATS SO COOL I've always wanted to do that.
Girl meets world. Like season 2 I think
Encouraging Safety Is Always Cool
My face is on a billboard (for motorcycle safety) where I live. Was supposed to be for one year. They've been up for 8 or 9 years so I guess it's more than 15 minutes.... but I'm wearing a helmet and only my eyes are showing so tough to recognize.
Damn These Child Actors!
I was only a little baby, my parents were on holiday to sea world and they sat me on a chair eating a banana, apparently the big screen kept cutting to me and the audience going "awwww"
Life Getting In The Way Of Creative Pursuits
GiphyI wrote three decently popular young adult novels while in college, then decided I should try my hand at more serious writing and haven't been able to replicate it since.
Then sh-t got weird for me and I can barely write at all.
Edit: No, I'm not gonna give you the titles, lol. They were published between 2000 and 2004, and like I said, they were only decently popular, nothing special and probably nothing you've read.
We'll Play Anywhere Anytime
Me and a couple buddies decided to play a show in the walmart bathroom of our town, published a Facebook event for it and got around 800 responses, they talked about it on a local radio station, and we were offered to do a news interview about it, but sadly could not make the interview due to timing...
Also, after we actually played the show, we landed an interview on a local college radio station where we talked about the bathroom show and some of the other music related shenanigans we like to get up to. I've done a lot of local shows as musician, but this is by far the one i recieved the most attention for
Steal The Spotlight From The True Professionals
Went to a show of my fave youtuber's tour and got on stage with him and a few other fans to play a nintendo game. It was a Harry Potter wand duel game and I got super into it and unleashed my inner theatre kid. Had about 2000 people chanting my name. It was awesome. And yes, I did win 😁
As Long As Some People Stick Around, That's What Counts
...Around 5 or so years ago, Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance, tweeted me 'Good morning.' It was the highlight of my month. I got so many new (and temporary) followers haha.
Anyone Else Picturing The Opening Scene From "The Lion King?"
A couple years ago I was at a very crowded amusement park with my gf and a couple of friends and we found a crying kid who had lost his parents. So I lifted him on my shoulders and started shouting "LOST CHILD ! WHO HAS LOST A CHILD?" and the panicked mom was found in less than 15 seconds. Hundreds of people started clapping and cheering, and a stranger offered me a drink lol. Was fun.
Clearly The Winner Of The Game. Right?
Entire neighborhood came to the house to see why an ambulance arrived. It was just me stuck in the washing machine during a competitive game of hide and seek.
Famous For Your Health And Safety
Does infamy count?
I was on the news when I fell down a ravine and had to be rescued. News stations, helicopters, the whole shebang.
Are you Baby Jessica?
Younglin here, who was baby jessica?
She was this toddler that fell down a pipe years back and it was hell getting her out of there as she was in a awkward position. Took a long time and multiple emergency crews. Bunch of news crews showed up to and it just turned into a big deal. Which it was.
Barely Knew Them
My neighbor stabbed his mom to death and they interviewed me about it. I had recently moved from the country to the city and I looked and sounded like a total hick.
Famous Or Not Wanting To Get In Trouble?
I live in a major city and the main newspaper wrote an article about lack of after school programs and how it was failing inner city kids. Well they were interviewing my guidance counselor and I just happened to be there signing up on his door for an appointment to talk about college advice, not after school programs. The photographer took my photo as I was writing on the door.
Cut to weeks later teachers in the hallway saying hi to me and asking how things were going for me. It was all very strange and Twilight Zone-y especially since I am a very shy and quiet person.
In the middle of class, my guidance counselor was standing outside, and called me into the hallway. Apparently a higher up from the city school board told him to reach out to me to see if I had everything I needed, etc.
I later found out about the article, which was published in the big Sunday edition, and they used my photo. It made it appear as if I was signing up for programs or something and all the teachers read the newspaper and recognized me. I think I managed to find a copy and save it somewhere but it was definitely weird to be recognized and not know why. Social media wasn't a thing back then.
And to randomly tie it back to another story on this thread, I was named after Baby Jessica who fell down the well in 1987.
@elleuk/Instagram
@elleuk/Instagram
