'Brianna And Jaelin Walking Tour' Explores Viral YouTube Couple's Ill-Fated Chicago Stay
By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 25, 2016 8:13PM
The “house-flipping yuppie” couple that thrust the city into paroxysms of WTF (us included) has reached peak Chicago infamy: like Capone’s gang and world-class architecture before them, Brianna and Jaelin White have inspired a walking tour.
The couple's now-viral video was posted to Reddit on Aug. 15, where it quickly shot to the top of Chicago's sub Reddit and first caught our attention. In it, the Arizona transplants spend 16 agonizing minutes detailing, among other things, their brave use of public transportation, “sketchy” Edgewater denizens, Uber confusion and the assault that finally spoiled them on living in Chicago. One hates to mock a guy who (spoiler alert) got punched in the face; but the couple’s obliviously bourgeois tendencies (shout outs to Yelp, IKEA and Volkswagen) and blinkered understanding of Chicago was enough to make our staff wonder: Are they mocking us?
But the clip was real (that's what the couple told DNAinfo a week after it went viral) —and so too is the walking tour. Organizer Kevin Fergus reassured Chicagoist this is no Limp-Bizkit-at-a-gas-station prank. There will be a guided tour. And it'll hit all of the video's key locations, including the now famous Subway and CVS parking lot.
"It’s definitely going to happen," Fergus told Chicagoist. "But I did not expect it to be so big. I thought maybe it’d be ten of my friends. I’d pretend to be a tour guide for two hours, then we’d go to the bar.”
As of Thursday afternoon, over 1000 people had RSVPed on Facebook.
Fergus, a local improv student who has lived in the Whites’ barely trod former stomping grounds of Edgewater for three months, says he’s working on the tricky logistics.
“There’s a team now,” he said. “I’m thinking there will be several small groups. Maybe we’ll split up and go in different directions.”
As for the video, Fergus says he can’t stop watching. “There are so many little details, it’s weirdly fun to revisit. It’s like watching a movie where you notice new things each time.”
And in case you’re wondering what tone the tour might take, Fergus seems to have worked out any feelings of conflict. “I feel bad that he got punched in the face. But everything else about it was funny.”
The tour is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 6 (7 to 9 p.m.) and will meet at the CTA Red Line Granville Station (1119 W. Granville Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60660). A trip to either "Chipotle or Arizona" will follow.
And if you haven't had the pleasure, here's the video that started it all.