TikToker Discovers Mexican Celebrity Is on Her Flight After Going Viral
TikToker Paige Craig asked her 1.1 million followers if they recognized a nearby plane passenger.
The upload received over 29 million views and thousands of comments who wrote it was Eugenio Derbez.
The Mexican actor caught wind of the viral moment and responded by introducing himself.
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An influencer posted a video asking viewers to help her identify a potential celebrity she spotted on a flight. In under a day, her video had blown up and caught the attention of the man in question — a Mexican actor who got in on the joke himself.
On May 12, 31-year-old TikToker Paige Craig from Orlando, Florida, posted a video she'd filmed during a flight to Los Angeles, which featured an on-screen caption that asked if someone could tell her who a nearby passenger was, as people kept taking pictures with him but she was too scared to ask him directly.
@_paigecraig Other information- he speaks spanish and is a very nice man. Thank you for your service. ♬ Who Are You - The Who
The video then panned to briefly show a seemingly oblivious passenger in a nearby seat, while the track "Who Are You" by The Who could be heard playing in the background. "He speaks spanish and is a very nice man," the TikToker added in the caption as an extra clue.
The upload received a staggering 29 million views and over 40,000 comments as people excitedly informed Craig she was on a flight with the actor Eugenio Derbez. A comment with over 7,000 likes described 61-year-old Derbez as the "Mexican Jim Carrey" while others listed specific films he had starred in, including "CODA" which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2022.
"I was contemplating taking it down since I had my answer and then I wouldn't have to risk the poor man finding out I did this when I had to sit next to him for five-ish more hours," Craig told Insider in an email exchange, but said she ultimately decided to keep the video up to learn more from the comments about the films he had featured in.
However, so many people tagged the actor beneath the video that Craig felt compelled to post a comment of her own which received over 48,300 likes, asking viewers to stop, alongside a string of emojis that are typically used to express embarrassment.
"I spent the rest of the five hours stressing that my video would pop up on his phone," she told Insider.
The actor caught wind of the online furor
On May 13, Craig posted a follow-up video and wrote in the caption that she initially thought she'd gotten away with the actor not spotting the online commotion. The upload, which received 1.3 million views, then showed what appeared to be an Instagram story uploaded by Derbez which had tagged Craig. (The story is not currently available to view on his account.)
@_paigecraig Replying to @Paige Craig really thought I got away with him not knowing this but no Paige, he was just busy having his production team make me a full educational video 💀😭 we shall now binge your movies 🧘🏼♀️ @eugenioderbezoficial ♬ original sound - Paige Craig
The footage began with the clip of the original TikTok and then cut to Derbez who filmed himself in a car and said, "Hi Paige. Let me introduce myself."
He said he was an actor and director, and gave a rundown of some of the characters he had played which included a billionaire in 2018's "Overboard" and a titular Latin lover in 2017's "How to Be a Latin Lover." At the end of the video, Derbez referenced Craig's original appeal and asked his followers, "Now can someone tell me who this girl is?!"
"I thought his response video was hilarious," Craig told Insider. "It was also nice knowing he wasn't going to put a restraining order on me for the creeper vibes," she joked.
To answer his question: Craig has over 1.1 million followers on TikTok where she uploads videos from the perspective of a mom, and videos with her husband, the professional Supercross motorcycle rider Christian Craig, as well as a YouTube channel with over 106,000 subscribers where she posts Supercross-themed vlogs.
On May 13, Derbez also posted a photo to his 18.9 million followers on Instagram which received over 100,000 likes, where he could be seen holding his phone while he looked off in the distance, with a caption that read, "Now I have to look everywhere" and tagged Craig. The caption added in Spanish, "just in case people are filming me."
Derbez did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.
Source: Insider
