CagePotato PSA: ‘The Winnebago Man’ Is Bjorn Rebney’s Father
(Warning: Audio is very NSFW. And absolutely hilarious.)
Oh my God, you guys. MiddleEasy has confirmed that Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is actually the son of Jack “Winnebago Man” Rebney, star of one of the first (and most beloved) viral videos of all time. In case you’ve never been introduced to the wonders of Winnebago Man, watch the above video and allow BusinessInsider to explain:
In August 1988, Winnebago Industries hired a video crew to shoot two 10-minute long sales videos. They tapped salesman Jack Rebney, a former broadcast news producer, to star in these commercials. They shot the videos in Forest City, Iowa – the headquarters of Winnebago Industries. Just like any other video shoot, outtakes and mistakes were to be expected, but no one could have anticipated Jack Rebney’s melt down. The RV salesman would constantly yell and curse at himself, his crew, and at the flies that were swarming him.
After the grueling two week shoot, Winnebago Industries got their commercial, but the video crew got so much more. They spliced together the outtakes of the shoot and circulated the video amongst themselves and their friends. Basically, the “Winnebago Man” was passed around on VHS tapes for around 15 years before being posted on YouTube for the world to see.
Jack Rebney currently lives in a cabin in a Northern California forest, and he’s now the subject of a new documentary about the Winnebago Man phenomenon. Until recently, he was completely unaware of his Internet notoriety. Anyway, we just wanted to share our surprise and excitement that Winnebago Man has a connection to the world of MMA. That’s your dad, Bjorn. That’s your dad.
