Melissa Sander: The Legend of the Grape Lady
Written by Bill G
Tags: Funny Videos, Odd News, trainwrecks
There’s a legend ’round here. A legend ’bout a lady. A grape lady.
They say she was a reporter in the late 90s, just doin’ a story like all reportin’ types are wont to do. A story ’bout a grape stomping competition. They say she started stompin’ on some ol’ grapes down by the winery – the Chateau Elan, ya’see. Then she got ta’ cheatin’ on that grape stompin’, tryin’ to beat out the other lady that be stompin’ there with her. Turns out the goddess of the vineyard don’t like cheaters. An’ she got to punishin’ the grape lady – a harsh punishment, a painful punishment. She caused the grape lady to fall – right off that platform, right to the ground! They say you could hear her screams miles away! Screams of agony! They say the camera kept on filmin’, and people all over the country could turn on their TV sets and see first hand the wrath of the goddess of the vineyards.
Soon after, the grape lady disappeared. Some folk’ say she never existed. But I knows better. Yes sir, I knows. She’s out there. Waitin’ to get her turn again – to win that grape stompin’ contest. That’s why they say every grape stompin’ contest since has been haunted by the grape lady. If you listen, you can hear her ghostly scream – “Oww! Ohh! Oww! I can’t breathe! Aowww! Aowww!”
Determined to track down the grape lady, we at Odd Culture started our investigation at the Chateau Elan Winery and Resort. This is where the incident began.
The grape lady’s name was Melissa Sander, and she worked for MyFox Atlanta, which is Channel 5, in Atlanta, GA. Soon after the “incident” (AKA Bad Day @ Good Day Atlanta), Melissa Sander ran away to WTEN Albany, working as a weekend meteorologist, where according to one person, acted like she owned the world. Of course, everyone knew the real story – that she was just “owned” by a bunch of grapes.
Melissa Sander Albany Profile (now defunct)
Sometime in 2004 she jumped ship again, this time setting up shop at Fox 29 Philadelphia. At some point after that, it seems she jumped over to UPN 57, which is now known as CW Philly. Apparently, she was fired in 2006.
This is where the trail runs cold. She seems to have disappeared. Has she finally escaped? Settled down on an island far away where nobody has internet access? Did she really ascend into grape heaven?
Anybody with any information leading to Melissa Sanders will get a batch of chambourcin grapes from us. Grape Lady, we can still hear your screams…
Update – April 2010
Not much word on Melissa in the few years since this post. Some more info (just a little):
- After CW Philly, she was at NBC 17 in Raleigh Durham, where she won a 2006 Couldn’t Do It Without You Award.
- In 2008, her cameraman – Gus Valdes – was interviewed. He said that Sander wasn’t seriously hurt. She ended up with some bruised ribs and “a bruised ego” but nothing worse. She was back on the air soon after.
- She may be – and this is just a guess – still living in the Raleigh/Durham area. A cache of WNCN (aka NBC17) current personalities lists her as a “Meteorologist, Fill-in” but recent entries do not feature her name. We assume she is no longer employed at NBC17 but the date of her leaving is unknown. Any info on Melissa’s whereabouts is welcomed.
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anonymous, i agree with you. Melissa had a mistake and unfortunately got hurt while she was doing harmless fun. for all of you that say she was cheating, come on. she was having fun to make the story more interesting. you all are just looking for ways to humiliate her. If you fell off 6 foot wooden platform head first, i’m sure you’d do more than what she did, and i’m absolutely POSITIVE that you wouldnt have gotten up and finished the interview. When i first saw it, yes i did LMFAO because whenever we see somebody get hurt, its basically a human instinct to laugh to prevent yourself from dealing with the sorrow or hurt. Its a natural bodily occurance. But anyways, she made a mistake like all of us to, yes it was funny, but she’s not at all a bad person. she just wants to put this behind her
Everyone, don’t believe these bleeding hearts that claim they know her and she almost died and blah blah. She was fine. Bruised ego and the wind knocked out of her was the extent of it. She tried in a few interviews to claim she got hurt very badly. Ummm nuh uhhh.
http://www.crcked.com/article_16486_p2.htm
I dont think anyone posting on here should be judging her moral character just because she “cheated”–so ppl r saying–and happened to fall off the platform.. And why r people talking about karma? (i agree with “stomp with rabbits foot”)
for those of you who are calling everyone who’s laughing at her cruel, etc—GET A SENSE OF HUMOR!!! It was funny as hell and that’s hard to deny. Personally, if i had made those type of sounds when i fell, i would be laughing at my SELF.
Some on here seem to be taking this personally but, why?..People fall and get hurt allllll the time. Getting the wind knocked out of you happens.. she’s not the first or the last!
best video ive seen in awhile =)
I loled so hard.
Anonymous Says:
March 12th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
“By the way, Ms Sanders broke 5 ribs and punctured her lung. She almost died. Karma will come to you soon enough…”
Watching the clip I didn’t think it could have been that serious. I mean the woman only fell a few feet to a little grassy patch. If true… this event probably helped her realize how fragile she was.
Karma is bs. Good things have been known to come to bad people and bad things to good. If karma is in play here dose that mean that this grape lady had it coming? So if she had it coming it is ok for me to lol right?…
thats awful, at first it looked funny, but then she couldnt breathe and broke her ribs. and they kept filming ! and put it on tv. good job , not
You people are lame. You really think “karma” is gonna get someone for laughing at this shit? Wheres the “karma” for the people in our government who attack small countries, wiping out millions for profit? Huhhhh? Where is the karma huh? Karma doesnt exist. And if your even about to say I deserve to have a punctured lung….. I already have. Spent 2 weeks in the hospital, with 3 fucking chest tubes. So I get free reign to laugh. Haaa haaa haa, fuck you.
I love you grape lady!
Great reply Chao5INcarnate. The fact that George W Bush and Dick Cheney are still with us proves karma doesn’t exist. And Henry Kissinger for that matter…
I broke my ribs when I fell ice skating, knocked the wind out of myself and it hurt like hell. But once the initial burst of pain had gone and I regained my breath, I laughed that the first person to me was a five-year-old kid who skated way better than I ever will. He said “are you alright Mister?” and all I could do was make daft grunting and puffing sounds!
I also searched to make sure She was OK. I didn’t find it funny. I said OMG i know she’s hurt. I had to look and see how she was and this was the only thing I could find. I’m sure it was painful and I’m glad you’re OK now.
LMAO. I can’t believe this thread is 2 1/2 years long!! I love Melissa Sander. She completes me. (and yes, i would laugh if it was me).
Grape Lady FTW!
This is “wild west internet meme” stuff here.
This was before all your Chocolate Rains and your fat keyboard cats and your “walking on sunshine” crackhead girls, and whatnot.
Funny stuff, glad the broad’s alright…and the longevity of this thread shows that she has accomplished more through failure than she could have ever hoped to through victory.
i came across this video and realised that my buddy michael vick(not the controversial quarterback) interned at good day atlanta. so i asked him about it and he said that it was talked about often and that they have a mock internal awards ceremony where they had an award that was introduced in 2008 called the grape lady biggest field fail. he also said that she wasn’t badly hurt but the reason no one seemed to show any concern was because she was a joker and a drama queen who often talked about playing an onscreen prank and they thought she was faking also apparently she tried to sue good day atlanta for pressuring her into stomping the grapes on a platform but the case was thrown out after it was found to be her idea. i know that you will assume that i am lying but i know that this may not be the truth because this is only what my friend was told by colleagues that may have held a grudge against melissa.
oh come on! this was HILARIOUS! so damn funny that Family Guy did a spoof of it!
i dont give a F* about the people talking about karma blah blah or she broke this or that because she didnt.
so those coming to her defense shut the F up because no one cares and this video will continue to make people pee with laughter or spit out their beverage if taken by surprise.
again,shut the fuck up.no i mean it.SHUT UP! lol.
i wont come back to visit this site so if you cry babies wanna let loose by all means go ahead.
oh and did i mention to shut the fuck up? HA!
ow ow owwww owowowowow!!! i cant breathe i cant breathe!!! stop stop!!! ow owowowowooooooowwwww!!!!
[...] the way, she apparently caught her breath and has continued her career in the news [...]
I agree with Bond! A friend of mine had shown this to me today and I was litterally crying. from laughter. I mean come on! This is classic! Hey, we’ve all had the wind knocked out of us at one point in our life. I sounded like a retard when it happened to me but guess what, I can look back on it and laugh now. This ladys career was going no where until she fell and made these sounds. These sounds she made are what made her famous! Suck it up, get over it and the sell the rights to Warner Bros. for the movie. “What happened to the falling grape lady”!!!???
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! She acted like a bitch talkin bout “disgusting”. You got it fatty, and will watch this over and over while masturbating at your dumb ass. Hope it felt good.
[...] Melissa Sander: The Legend of the Grape Lady » oddculture.com [...]
[...] Melissa Sander: The Legend of the Grape Lady » oddculture.com [...]
I hope Melissa Sander is doing well. I’m sorry she was hurt, but at the same time, I hope she might someday see the humor in it because it is funny. Maybe she might consider seeing it this way: if the sounds she was making were made for a cartoon or special effect in a feature film, I imagine it would be as memorable. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being the butt of a joke from time to time; especially if it brings a smile to so many people. It’s one of the things I try to do. In a way, I’m envious.
Stomp with rabbits foot said(on May 27, 2009):
“And no the grape lady isnt posting here. Considering this type of embarrassing as some sort of “fame” is something that would typically be lost on her generation. Its the younger generation that grew up with the viral video and you tube experience that would find fame in this. I am quite sure she is trying to move on with her life and move past this mistake.”
Oh please…ENOUGH with the pretentious condescension and stereotyping! I’ve been online since 1998, when this video happened supposedly, and that station(Channel 5 in Atlanta) switched to FOX(the logo you see in the video) in late 1994, so she can’t be THAT old. I’m in my late 30s(probably not that much younger than “Grape Lady”) and I LOVE the video(I have it bookmarked). And yes, I use Youtube daily(it’s a great resource, and not just for fun).
This(I presume) “baby boom generation” C-U-Next-Tuesday, Ms. Sander, is shown insulting and ridiculing that employee’s(or employer’s) workplace(business) on live television when she, in utter contempt and with mal intent, muttered “Disgusting!” right next to that poor woman like her grapes she was stepping in were PIGSHIT! You can even hear the other woman say “What???” right after, so she was clearly hurt/offended. Just on that ALONE, “Grape Lady”(HARDLY a lady at all) got exactly what she deserved, because she was TRASHING THAT OTHER WOMAN’S WORKPLACE/BUSINESS ON TV AND HUMILIATING HER. Don’t you get it??? THERE’S your KARMA, you effing FOOLS!
And please, all you sanctimonious “older” people, stop putting this on us(the “younger generation”(funny, I’m nearly 40, I don’t feel(OR look) like a kid)) for watching and enjoying this video, when many of the “baby boomers”(as well documented) were the FIRST generation to BLOW THE F’N PRECIDENT WIDE OPEN for being EXTREMELY SHALLOW, SELF-INDULGENT, MATERIALISTIC, EGOTISTICAL, OBNOXIOUS, POWER DRIVEN, HYPOCRITICAL, etc etc etc etc more than ANY generation, past OR present; and this Ms. Sander seems, in this video, to emdody ALL of those negative traits all into ONE! Besides, wasn’t it Andy Warhol, a great BABY BOOM ERA ICON, who made the famous “15 minutes of fame” observation way back when?[Yes I know it was Warhol, for those of you that weren't sure if that last question was rhetorical]
And one more thing, before anyone or the person I’m replying to(if she/he still reads this) trashes me, I generally agree with everything the poster I referenced said prior to that last unfortunate paragraph. I just had to get this rant off my chest because I’m SICK of “older” people(usually “baby boomers”) who LIVE to go on forums, blogs & message boards of all sorts and condemn everything about “the younger”, like we are all some soulless, subhuman, cretinic “other”. I’ll admit were hardly all perfect, but ENOUGH with the stereotype and demonization, ok?????? Good.
That was hilarious seeing her fat, doughy, pale, ass hit that perfect face plant. I heard that she was a real bitch to work with at the news channel anyways. And since when is it a crime to laugh at someone doing a face plant. She wasnt terribly injured, and fell on her face. Ah so what!!
Come on you people are feeding in to this way to much, I heard from a reliable source that she was universally hated at the channel she worked at. You can tell by the way those two new anchors are holding there peepees to keep from laughing their asses off, so come on. Gravity at its finest, stop trying to make sence of it,….because you cant, that my friend is karma Duh!!!!