Live television is often filled with incredible, unexpected stories, and a woman from Chicago, Illinois, recently went viral after starring in the latest one. This woman gained the spotlight by wearing what seemed to be an ankle monitor during a recent broadcast on the Chicago ABC 7 channel.
In a video circulating online, a woman described as a “news reporter” appears wearing what viewers identified as an ankle monitor during a broadcast. In the short clips, she is seen hugging a man on the stage of a TV show, and in a bathroom, filming her own ankle.
The internet reacted quickly to the viral video, with viewers puzzled as to what could be happening in the footage: “Wait… an ankle monitor? On live TV? I have so many questions.” Many people made jokes such as “Talk about breaking news and making news,” or that if “This stunt goes viral, the news channel must be doing badly.”
Illinois Woman Responds to Ankle Monitor Rumors
Disappointingly, to some people who expected a juicy tale about a news reporter turned criminal and still keeping her job, the whole story was not exactly what it seemed at first glance.
The woman featured in the viral video was Whitney Cumbo, and she was not a reporter but a local business owner who runs PRIMA Lash & Beauty Bar and Supply, and was interviewed on the Chicago ABC 7 channel instead of hosting the show. The device on her ankle was not a monitor, either. She had no pockets or belt to clip her wireless microphone transmitter pack, as explained by Cumbo herself on social media.
The whole confusion that became the viral story started as a joke, as the woman herself uploaded the original video on Instagram, joking that her “ankle monitor would not stop her big break on TV.” She probably did not expect the story to go viral, though, with thousands of people sharing it on social media and even some popular accounts falling for the joke.
Cumbo only explained the joke because, according to her, she doesn’t want her clients or supporters to think that she’s “involved in anything illegal because I take business seriously,” just because “One joke just went a little too far.”
