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Hector, The Taste Buds, and Markiplier on The Viral List

An accidental email, a wholesome foodie project, and a YouTuber’s self-made horror movie are all going viral…

Written and Edited by the YPulse Editorial Team

Feb 6 2026
North America

KEY TAKEAWAYS

An email accidentally sent to all of UA has made a student named Hector a TikTok icon, well outside of campus
Two friends who had an idea to eat from every country in the world, in NYC, are everyone’s new favorite wholesome duo
Gen Z fans drove huge box office success for YouTuber Markiplier’s self-made ‘Iron Lung’ movie

A ‘Bama student went viral for an accidental email going to 40K students After sending an honors society application to the group’s full mailing list, Hector Gutierrez became an instant campus celeb. Friends started letting him know they’d gotten it, but quickly realized everyone had—and they were talking about it on TikTok, Instagram, and even Yik Yak. (Apparently that still exists for Gen Z.) Now, searching for videos about just “Hector” on TikTok are all about him, from him, explaining the lore to outsiders, or showing “how Hector’s email finds me.” (“This is how your email finds me” is,...