Olive Garden reviewer Marilyn Hagerty to receive Neuharth Award
August 10, 2012 in The Daily Republic
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty has been selected to receive the 2012 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. Continue Reading
GRAND FORKS (WDAZ-TV) – A lot has changed since Marilyn Hagerty went “viral” with her Olive Garden review.
“You are a dolt and the main reason why North Dakota is viewed as being a backwoods dump. The Olive Garden is the McDonald’s of dining…A touch of Europe? Ha! Why don’t you take a vacation and visit New York or San Francisco and see what real people eat?” That was one of the emails I received when I started going viral a couple weeks ago. My chin trembled, but I didn’t cry. I didn’t cry because for every nasty message I received, there were 40 or 50 friendly notes.
Marilyn Hagerty has not shaken that Internet “virus,” and she’s been downright contagious, too.
Watch NBC ‘Today’ show reporter Kevin Tibbles’ report on Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty, who, he says tongue-in-check, “had the audacity” to review Grand Forks’ new Olive Garden restaurant – and become an Internet sensation.
Here’s how big Marilyn Hagerty has become: She snubbed Jay Leno. To be more precise, an invitation to appear on “The Tonight Show” was declined because of an earlier commitment to media in New York City. Leno’s people didn’t want to wait until she was available next week, when it would be regarded as old news considering the media crush over the 85-year-old Grand Forks resident.
“She’s probably the most famous restaurant critic in America right now,” Alan Sytsma, editor of New York magazine, said in this ABC “Good Morning America” report on Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty and her GrandForksHerald.com Eatbeat Olive Garden column that went viral in recent days. Added a smiling ABC reporter Dan Kloeffler after his report finished: “How do you not love her?”
GRAND FORKS (WDAZ-TV) – The internet sensation, Marilyn Hagerty, has taken the web by storm and now, the national airwaves.
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