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Kelowna teen Jesse Liandzis and her brother, Marcus, were walking home Saturday morning when they came across a dunk tank. Liandzis probably never expected the next 10 seconds to catapult her into viral fame, but it did.
The 17-year-old, originally from Woodstock, Ont., approached the dunk tank after Marcus, 21, suggested she dunk the man sitting on it, who happened to be Kelowna Chamber of Commerce president Tom Dyas.
"I was like, 'OK', I didn't really hesitate to go do it,” Liandzis said, laughing.
Marcus filmed the encounter and both of them quickly ran back to his house. He submitted the video to the U.K. website Unilad, where it went viral in no time.
"My friends were all tagging me in the video the next morning and the first time I saw it, it was at 1.9 million views,” Liandzis said. “I was super shocked.
“I couldn't believe that a simple video like that made people's days a little brighter.”
While she said the reaction was mostly positive, people didn’t hesitate to comment on her clothes and many suggested she donate to United Way, the charity who had set up the dunk tank at the Downtown Kelowna Street Fair to raise money.
On Tuesday, Liandzis contacted the media to speak out, apologize and donate $20.
According to a spokesperson for United Way, the teen also put up a challenge to anyone who watched or shared the video to do the same.
Liandzis, who is a student at Kelowna Secondary School, has opened up a whole realm of possibilities for herself since the stunt.
Since viewing the video, a woman who works as a model scout approached her and invited her to Vancouver on Aug. 6 model search.
It’s safe to say Liandzis is still a little flabbergasted.
"Everyone's just been like, 'Oh my God, you're famous,' and I'm like, 'I don't know how I'm famous.' But all my friends are freaking out about it and my coworkers.”
The United Way raised $1,500 at the event. MP Stephen Fuhr, who matched the donations, and Coun. Tracy Gray, also did time on the dunk tank.
By Tuesday afternoon, the video had over 6 million views on Unilad.
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