Student’s quote in WIS-TV interview goes viral
When he ran out of his burning house in a bathrobe and was confronted by news cameras, Alex Maroshek probably had no idea his words would soon end up on two entertainment websites and all over social media.
Maroshek, a third-year biology student, was one of the students asleep in the Olympia Avenue house when the fire started. He described the harrowing experience to a WIS-TV reporter: opening his bedroom door to flames, yelling to his roommates and dialing 911 as he evacuated.
“There’s just flames everywhere — I’m gonna be lucky if I can get to my door,” he recounted.
He said an emergency operator on the phone asked him if everyone had escaped the house.
“I’m like ‘I don’t know! I’m not even out of the house!’” Maroshek said.
But that part of the interview wasn’t what got featured on popular college websites TotalFratMove.com and BroBible.com and shared again and again on Facebook and Twitter.
Asked by a reporter for his initial reaction to waking up to the blaze, Maroshek seemed momentarily at a loss for words. Then the Beta Theta Pi fraternity member responded with a quote that went viral.
“This is just not frat at all,” Maroshek said. “It’s awful. It’s really just terrible.”
A short column on BroBible described Maroshek — who had given quite the high-energy interview — as “Jeff Spicoli meets Frank the Tank at his most enthusiastic ... who we should mention is a hero” and mused as to whether the interview was a parody or viral marketing for a movie.
“It’s too perfect,” the post said. “Amazing stuff.”
Colin Korz, who also lived in the house, said the quote wasn’t a product of an adrenaline rush, but instead an effort on Maroshek’s part to keep his roommates in good spirits.
“That’s the way Marochek always is,” Korz said. “He’s always crazy — trying to find humor in everything. He kept it lighthearted for the rest of us.”
Beta Theta Pi president Nathan Ewoldt said while he’d seen the posts and got a kick out of them, the seriousness of the event was not lost on him.
“It was funny of course, but I think the main thing to focus on is no one was harmed, and we’re thankful for the outreach from the community,” Ewoldt said.
Maroshek declined an interview with The Daily Gamecock through Ewoldt, but shared the same sentiments at the end of the television interview.
“I guess I can sort of laugh at it now because everybody’s safe,” he said. “That’s the primary thing.”