Greatest Freak Out Ever

The Greatest Freak Out Ever
The Greatest Freak Out Ever is the collective name of a series of viral videos on the Internet posted on Youtube and various other video sharing sites from 2009 through to 2010. The clips were recorded by Jack Quire from Indianopolis, Indiana, USA and feature his brother, Stephen reacting to various adverse situations with disproportionate levels of aggression and violence. The clips have garnered much attention on Youtube; the first of the series had, as of July 2010, received approximately 30 million views with the following clips averaging closer to 10 million. The first clip was aired on Tosh.O on July 14 2010.
Background and Content
The first video was posted on Youtube by username wafflepwn on 3 May 2009. The clip starts with Jack, the cameraman explaining the background to the scene about to follow - his mother has just cancelled Stephen's World of Warcraft account. Putting the camera on a ledge in Stephen's room he quickly leaves the room and a moment later, Stephen walks in and lets out his frustration and anger for the duration of the clip. A number of factors have contributed to the clip's viral success; Stephen manages to remove his clothes in seconds underneath his blanket (his apparent aversion for wearing shirts a notable aspect of his behaviour that runs through the series), he flails convulsively on his bed, hits himself repeatedly on the head with a shoe, and notably attempts to push a remote control up his anus.
The video received little attention for a month after its' posting until it was promoted by You Tube to featured video status on 22 June 2009. Following that it quickly rose to 10 million by 2 September and as of July 2010 has reached approximately 30 million views.
The second clip, posted a month after the first one shows Stephen responding to attempts to betray him while he is playing an online game. Jack appears to reveal that the betrayer is in fact himself, acting from his mother's laptop upstairs. Stephen's colourful tirade, including threats to 'find him, kill him and then eat his first born child' are interrupted by his mother who forces him to turn the computer off.
The third clip shows Stephen's response to being given a highly battered and graffiti-covered truck as a 16th birthday present. Originally blindfolded, his happiness quicly turns to dismay and anger when the truck doesn't live up to his expectations, whereupon he begins to viciously beat the truck with a baseball bat.
The fourth clip starts off with Stephen playing a simple exercise on his father's guitar; he is then taunted by his brother until he rushes at the wall and smashes the guitar into a wall clock. He then repeatedly hits it on the ground until the neck of the instrument snaps, then stalks off, followed by his brother.
The fifth clip records Stephen attempting to reheat a TV dinner in a microwave. Getting increasingly annoyed at the lack of progress he eventually throws the microwave into the garden, attempts to break the cover off and finally throws a large rock on top of it.
The sixth clip displays Stephen's relationship with his grandmother who has been called to supervise the two boys while the parents are out. Repeatedly ignoring her wishes to watch the news on the television, she threatens him with a large wooden paddle, eventually lightly hitting him on the cheek. Stephen reacts with typical outrage and runs off to call his mother.
The seventh clip begins with Stephen's mother telling him to vacuum the floor. Shortly, the vacuum cleaner cuts out rendering Stephen apoplectic, whereupon he smashes the cleaner into the floor, breaking it into pieces. His father intervenes and Stephen is chased around the garden by the family dog.
The eighth clip shows the two boys playing competitively on Guitar Hero. Jack, who is beating him, taunts Stephen for his perceived lack of skill, until the older brother physically attacks him, pushing him into the wall and inadvertantly ripping a mole off Jack's chest.
The ninth clip has the two boys watching a UFC fight, in which Stephen's favourite fighter is losing. In a rage, he does not allow Jack to leave the room and punches out the panels from his door.
The tenth clip has Stephen learning gymnastics from a female trainer in an attempt to develop his flexibility for wrestling. Her admirable patience begins to wear thin when he screams at her for touching him, calls a particular exercise 'gay and queer' and finally throws a fit when he falls into a pit full of soft foam.
There are also three other clips, one showing the aftermath of Jack showing the first video to Stephen, in which he climbs up a tree and refuses to come down for four hours. Another shows Jack hiding Stephen's Christmas presents; in retaliation Stephen drags Jack's presents outside, as well as the Christmas tree and sets them aflame. Lastly, an interview done by the telivision show Rude Tube, broadcast on Channel 4 is recorded by the two boys' mother. Initially Jack is asked a few questions relating to the background and events leading up to the filming of the first clip, until they are interrupted by the untimely arrival of Stephen who proceeds to beat his head with a tin can in anger when informed of the availability of his latest antics for public viewing on YouTube.
Controversy
The clips have raised concerns over the ethicality of the exploitation of vulnerable people on the Internet. Stephen exhibits symptoms of mild to extreme autism and has been made into an object of ridicule for millions of people. As Mepreport on the Daily Kos writes, "Any family with a camera and a computer now has a serious financial decision to make regarding the potentials of exploiting their children for instant fame and fortune. When compared to the huge cost and effort associated with family therapy or counseling, the financial incentives become clear. Why attempt to treat or help a problem child when they can be far more profitable to their parents as an internet celebrity monstrosity?"
The first clip has also raised concerns over the high level of addictiveness online gaming such as World of Warcraft can perpetuate if it's cancellation for Stephen could have meant so much.
Debate rages over whether the clips are genuine or, in fact, scripted and staged. Jack clearly states in the interview with RudeTube that they are genuine, arguing that they look too real to have been consistently staged to back up his claim. However, in an interview with Stephen's mother conducted by Kidd Chris of The Kidd Chris Show, it emerged that the clips had, in fact, been staged and that Stephen was the mastermind behind them. The veracity of her claim is questionable though, as the clips do not portray their family life in a favourable light and she could have been motivated to cover up for her son; in fact that issue is raised by Chris towards the end of the interview.
A further interview, this time conducted by Jack Gill on the Talk Radio Meltdown podcast, who claimed that he was talking to Stephen appeared to elicit a frank admission from the boy that the clips had been staged and that he was the mastermind behind them. To gain publicity, Gill then uploaded the interview on You Tube to a mixed response. However, it was soon taken down from the video-sharing site, and he explained in a follow up podcast that user wafflepwn had repeatedly contacted his e-mail address, demanding that the clip be removed as it was compromising his integrity. His request was eventually acceded to, because Gill was worried that the interview was more potentially damaging for the reputation of his show than it was for the user wafflepwn. The interview, however was re-posted on You Tube soon after; the implication that the identity of the interviewee is Stephen, remains dubious due to the markedly different manner of speech used in the interview than the one more common to the Greatest Freak Out Ever series.
Furthermore, the original sixth clip, featuring Stephen reacting to being locked in his own room by his brother, was taken down shortly after being posted, and substituted for a version that had been clearly acted out. User wafflepwn later posted an explanation for this in which he claimed that his brother had found the sixth clip, demanded that it be taken down and changed for an obviously fake one.
Impact
As of July 2010, the series have received approximately 100 million upload views and 400,000 subscribers to wafflepwn's channel. As of April 2010, the first clip was ranked 74th on the Web 100 Viral Video Chart, no small feat as the clip was almost a year old at the time. The clips have been hosted on break.com,, dailymotion.com, metacafe.com and boomclips.com. A trailer for the first clip is also available for viewing on spike.com.
Wafflepwn has been credited for paving the way for users to turn immensely successful viral hits which had people wanting to see more and, in turn, offer it consistently. Jack commented on the incredible success: "I was just expecting a few comments from my friends, maybe a couple of hundred views - I wan't ready for millions." The content has been parodied numerous times on Youtube, and it was referenced by John Cena at the WWE. Rudetube conducted an interview of Jack Quire which sparked another tantrum from Stephen and Tosh.0 featured a Web Redemption for Stephen who was interviewed by Daniel Tosh and Michael Winslow and hosted the first clip of the series on Comedy Central on 14 July 2010. In it, they attempted to interrogate him to find out if the clip had been faked; Stephen remained adamant that it was genuine, even when being submitted through a spoof lie-detector test.
Some of Stephen's most famous catch-phrases are available from iTunes as a downloadable application for the iphone and ipod.
The official web-site, wafflepwn.com (unaffiliated with either Jack or Stephen Quire) is ranked 290,100 most visited website in the world according to Alexa.
Wafflepwn's new You Tube channel has spawned a fledgling production company -- "Freak Out Productions., and T-shirts have been manufactured and are available for purchase on ebay.

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