Here I am, standing next to Fabio in the KOIN Local 6 studios in Portland, Oregon.Â
His biceps have me beat. But I’m pretty sure I taught him all he knows about doing the weather!Â
I was at the store about a week ago buying corn on the cob. And since I butter corn and wrap it up before putting it on the grill, I picked up a spray bottle of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” because this makes it easier for me to get the job done. As I did this, I thought, “I wonder what Fabio is up to these days?” I still remember his campaign for that company.
Fast forward to the middle of the week: one of my bosses calls and asks if I can come in early to help ‘Fabio do the weather.’Â
Say what? Fabio’s in Portland? And he’s looking for a new gig? Uh oh.Â
Luckily, that gig was his online battle to become the new Old Spice Guy–and NOT the new KOIN Local 6 Weather guy!
That was a close call, especially after seeing what a great sport he was and how quickly he took my weather graphics that I built for him–and a script I wrote for him–and made them his own. He Fabioized them! And here is the result. A true classic if you haven’t seen it yet.
Fabio was super friendly and did his recording in about 8 minutes just before our 4pm newscast. The wind machine was going on low so it didn’t make too much noise and I gave him pointers on where to stand and how to point at the weather wall.
When Fabio was done, he spent something like 20 minutes taking pictures with Jeff Gianola, Kelley Day (I think he really liked her) and he took pictures with about thirty people in the newsroom. You’d think we’d never met a TV personality before!
In the end, Fabio lost his bid to become the new Old Spice Guy.
Hopefully that doesn’t mean he’s going to start looking for a weather gig anytime soon!
Dave Proehl says
What a hoot. Fabio is funny – and I love your photo here. Great stuff – thanks for sharing.