The shot was taken unsuspectingly on a night out in 2018
The woman behind one of the internet’s most shared memes has opened up about how she unwittingly became an internet sensation overnight – and what prompted her to pull the face at the time.
Lucia Gorman, best known as the face of the viral nightclub ‘bored club girl meme’, has spilled the beans about how the viral picture came to be and why it appears to have resonated with so many people.
The shot was taken unsuspectingly on a university night out in Edinburgh in 2018 and has since been described as the “most relatable nightclub photo in history”.
It shows a man in a checked shirt trying to convey something he clearly feels is quite important, but Gorman, the woman in the red top, cuts a nonplussed, exasperated figure.
She has now opened up about the moment the photo was taken, saying that while she can’t remember exactly what was being said, she had probably had enough of having her “ear chewed off” and was trying to go home.
The picture is widely recognised as one of the most shared memes in social media history, with Gorman admitting that people ask her to recreate the pose all the time.
“I really struggle to do the face that I was doing in it.
“While it looks really staged, it was completely not and I was so off guard that I don’t even know how to do that face like people do.
“I can try but I just prefer to smile.
“I find it quite hard to do the like moody, grumpy, uninterested expressions, but maybe I should just get Patrick back in my ear again and we can try to recreate it.”
Lucia has partnered with Samsung to highlight the new Best Face feature on their new A Series range – a tool designed to prevent common photo mishaps.
In a survey of 2,000 Brits, blinking (36 per cent), awkward facial expressions when saying “cheese” (26 per cent) and people standing in front of each other (21 per cent) were included the list of most common group photo fails.
The research found Brits will spend a staggering 35,802 minutes – the equivalent of nearly 25 days of their lifetime – perfecting their online images through editing before posting on their social media profiles.
Those edits come in several forms with Brits revealing they crop parts of the image out (30 per cent) and get rid of unwanted people in the background (24 per cent). Whilst nearly a quarter remove red-eye or glare from glasses (23 per cent) and get rid of people blinking or chewing (16 per cent).
The report uncovered the nation takes over 45.3 billion photos a year with Brits admitting to spending 468 minutes per annum editing images.
Top 10 most common reasons for group photo ‘face fails’:
- Blinking – 36 per cent
- Looking in the wrong direction – 36 per cent
- People out of focus – 27 per cent
- Awkward facial expressions when saying “cheese” – 26 per cent
- People standing in front of each other – 21 per cent
- Squinting – 21 per cent
- Red eye from flash – 19 per cent
- People talking – 16 per cent
- Hair blowing across face – 16 per cent
- Looking sad – 12 per cent
Annika Bizon, Mobile Experience VP of Product and Marketing, said: “At Samsung we understand the desire to capture and share life’s best moments. However, our research revealed we spend nearly a month of our lives editing photos.
“With our affordable Galaxy A56 5G with Awesome Intelligence that powers Best Face technology, we’re empowering users to get their best shot effortlessly, so they can spend less time editing and more time enjoying those special moments.”
Samsung’s Galaxy A56 5G comes with the new Best Face feature which uses AI technology to perfect group shots by replacing blinking eyes or awkward faces. The affordable device comes with new Awesome Intelligence, making it the most feature packed A Series phone ever with six years of OS upgrades guaranteed.
