THE ORIGINAL WEB CELEB
Lonelygirl15: Creators behind first YouTube viral sensation discuss their show, 10 years on
The channel was exposed as a hoax in 2007 after amassing over 100 million views
YOUTUBE’s Lonelygirl15 has opened up about her incredible rise to fame 10 years after her channel on the video sharing site amassed over 100 million views and was exposed as a hoax.
Jessica Lee Rose played teenage vlogger Bree Avery under the screen name Lonelygirl15 from 2006 to 2007 in the popular web series, but hit headlines globally when it was uncovered she was actually an actress.
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“When my cover was originally blown it was three days before they found out my name and then I was told I had to do a press conference,” Jessica reveals.
“The fans were really quite sad and I don’t blame them, it’s like they’d lost a friend as that girl [they’d been watching] didn’t actually exist.”
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Jessica landed the unusual role after responding to an advert on Craigslist.
Discussing the initial offer to front the web series, she adds: “My heart just dropped when they told me what [YouTube] was... I thought It’d be porn or something dodgy. I watched a few channels and found it strangely voyeuristic. The first video went massive – with over 100,000 views.”
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Once the truth behind the channel was uncovered, the creators decided to continue to build the web series and expand the story lines of fictional teenager Bree, before she was eventually killed off in August 2007.
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