Internet personality Drew Scanlon took a tour of a former nuclear base in Ukraine – and it made for some harrowing footage as he entered the facility’s ‘main room’
A YouTuber has given his followers an extraordinary look inside an abandoned nuclear base that had the potential to destroy the world.
Drew Scanlon is best known to the world from the ‘shocked blinking white guy’ meme which went incredibly viral. But as part of his online travel series, Cloth Map, in 2017, he documented his visit to a decommissioned nuclear base in Ukraine.
He is given a tour of the facility by a guide named Dmytro, who informs Drew that it was built for war and designed to accommodate people for 45 days. It comes after a ‘serious nuclear incident’ at Faslane Royal Navy base is deemed ‘Category A’ threat.
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“So actually it’s never been used because this was designed to spend time [in] after they pushed the button,” the guide explained.
“They used to have here everything needed like food in the fridge, mostly canned food, and some drugs and medicine. They used to have radio sets and a television set, but what’s the use after everyone died?”
The most chilling moment in the video came when nervous Drew was taken into the ‘main room’. After opening a hatch and showing the YouTuber inside, Dmytro told him: “This is the main room, the room to destroy the world.”
He further explained that an operator would be sent codes from Moscow from a screen in front of them, and that another person would need to insert their keys and turn them at the same time.
He also showed Drew the ‘big red button’ – which was in fact grey. When pushed, the launch sequence of a nuclear missile would begin.
In an unnerving request, Dmytro told Drew to enact the launch sequence and explained what was happening as the room alarm began to sound with blinking lights.
“So now you can start counting 22 minutes and you nuked Washington DC,” Dmytro added. An admittedly nervous Scanlon looked at the camera and joked: “Sorry, everyone.”
It comes after Drew spoke to the Guardian about his famous meme, which shows him blinking in disbelief, and revealed how it came about.
As a video producer at Giant Bomb, a popular gaming website, he featured in at least five hours of videos a week for the site, as well as on its podcast. And the gif came from an episode of the show called Unprofessional Fridays, which was filmed back in 2013.
Drew and his colleagues were watching their editor, Jeff Gerstmann, play a game called Starbound. The moment comes just as Gerstmann says: “I’ve been doing some farming with my hoe here … “
Drew doesn’t actually remember filming that particular video – but he said, “I think a lot of our effort in these videos is spent on getting each other to laugh, to provide things for other people to react to or riff off. My reaction was, I think, part of that.”
And as weird as internet fame can be, Drew is relaxed about the whole thing. He said: “I like what memes can do for people. They’re such fun, throwaway things I see. These memes have been generally positive.
“It’s a little scary because there’s always the danger someone could change it to something different. It’s not like I’ve a say in what the internet does with a gif of my face. But I’m pleased to see people are enjoying it.”