[imagesource: YouTube / yankeesfan22vt]

You won’t recognise the name, Melissa Sander.

You will recognise her cries of pain after an infamous grape-stomping fall that remains one of YouTube’s most famous early viral videos.

Sorry, Melissa. We do have sympathy for your plight but it’s Thursday and that means we are throwing it back.

Sander was once a reporter for a channel based in Atlanta, Georgia, in the late 1990s. That career came to a grinding halt when she headed to a local winery and took part in a grape-stomping contest.

There are many videos claiming to be the original with millions of views.

This upload from 2007, with well in excess of 20 million views, is the most popular:

Her fate was sealed when she called the grapes “disgusting”.

As for the inevitable ‘where is she now’ question, here’s Business Insider:

Sander went from Atlanta to Albany, becoming a weekend meteorologist for the city’s News10. However, her bio page at News10’s website doesn’t exist anymore. It seems Sander has moved on, and there’s no trace of her on the internet today — she’s presumably trying to keep a low profile in the wake of the nightmarish grape stomping fail.

Brocouncil did manage to uncover a 2008 interview where Sander spoke about the incident:

During an interview on a syndicated radio program called Totally Real Exposé, she talked about the epic fall. When asked about her thoughts on the incident, she had this to say:

“Am I embarrassed that I fell? Of course. I also broke a couple ribs, thanks for asking. I had to spend a few weeks in the hospital under observation. I suffered quite a bit for an honest mistake, a momentary lapse in concentration, and now I’m trying to move on.”

That account was somewhat disputed by the cameraman on that day, Gus Valdes, who was interviewed in 2008. He said that Sander did end up with some bruised ribs, along with “a bruised ego”, but nothing worse.

Okay, we won’t mention it again.

Enough, Family Guy!

[sources:businsider&brocouncil]