Meme Heroine Recalls Vladivostok Pickup Shoot

A frame from a TV segment filmed in Primorsky Krai in 2013 has become a meme — the internet uses it to react to gifts. The author of the legendary phrase «So unexpected and pleasant,» Darya Revel, told the Post- Telegram channel about the shoot and her life after television.

The channel«s authors found that the segment»s budget was 1,500 rubles ($17 at current rates). Besides Darya, it featured Ivan Arefyev, cast as a pickup guru: he advised viewers how to approach a girl in a cafe by ordering her a cup of tea, then inviting her out and giving her a plush flower.

At the time, Darya was a student at the sports faculty and worked part-time on television. The segment was an editorial assignment. According to the heroine, the plan was to feature a bodybuilder with well-trained speech, but he refused. In the end, they found a first-year student from Darya«s faculty.

She said she still uses her signature phrase, but had to change her phone number — during the shoot she had left her real number on a napkin for some reason, and calls flooded in after the segment aired.

Darya filmed several more TV spots — about amulets in her apartment and about her experience correcting protruding ears. In reality, she herself had ear surgery.

After graduating, she moved to Krasnodar and now practices alternative medicine, often traveling to China for training. Her co-star Ivan Arefyev lives in Vladivostok. After the army, he started working in sales.

He declined to speak with the channel«s authors, saying they were not offering any financial incentive. Commenters joked that for 1,500 rubles he probably would have agreed.