Derry student’s Graham Norton red chair appearance goes viral
Aileen from Dery in Graham Norton's famous red chair. The clip, featuring Aileeen telling astory of getting into the wrong car and causing the driver to crash, has been watched more than 35,000 times on Youtube
A Derry student whose appearance on Friday night’s Graham Norton show has become an internet sensation says she has been “taken aback” by the public’s response.
A Derry student whose appearance on Friday night’s Graham Norton show has become an internet sensation says she has been “taken aback” by the public’s response.
Aileen Faller survived the show’s red chair - in which audience members are flipped if their story does not amuse the host and guests - by recounting a story in which she got into the wrong car, thinking it was her boyfriend, and caused the unkown and unsuspecting driver to crash into a lamppost.
The costume interpretation student, currently living in London and studying at Wimbledon Art College, was one of only eight audience members invited to tell her tale in the show’s infamous seat.
A video clip of her appearance has now been watched in excess of 33,000 times of file sharing site Youtube.
“I got tickets for the show and everyone is asked to email in a story for the red chair. There were eight of us chosen and I thought only five might be picked. I never thought I would be on,” Aileen told the ‘Journal’ yesterday.
The story, and Aileen’s delivery, had guests Kenneth Branagh, Frank Skinner, Scrubs actor Zach Braff and singer Taio Cruz in stitches.
“I couldn’t see Graham or the guests, but I could hear them. I just tried to interact with them as much as possible,” she says.
“On Saturday my mum phoned and said there had been about 2000 hits online, then suddenly it was 20,000.
“I can’t believe I survived the chair, never mind what has happened since,” she says.
Aileen says all her fellow students in the halls of residence gathered to watch her appearance.
“It was like Ireland had won the World Cup,” she says. “The place was just going mad.”
She says she’s delighted people have enjoyed her stint on the show.
“There’s been absolutely no negativity, everyone online and the people I have met since have been so positive.
“I’m just really, really pleased that people enjoyed it.”
And she says, there was no way she was missing getting flipped in the chair. “I had to go back and ask Graham, and while they didn’t show it on TV, he pulled the lever,” she says.
If you haven’t seen the clip, click here Aileen on Graham Norton
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