# Fiji Water Girl

> A Golden Globes photobomb meme led to a disputed $90,000 contract and competing lawsuits.

- Owner: FIJI Water (associated brand); Kelleth Cuthbert (model)
- Kind: Meme & format
- Sector: Food & beverage
- Seed date: 2019-01-06
- Peak proxy date: 2019-01-07
- Date basis: Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 45 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Visible in use, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy, Newsjacking

## Summary

Paid red-carpet placement became a Twitter joke, then Instagram memes and TV interviews. Fiji adopted the joke and put Cuthbert’s image in stores. She sued over the cutouts, and Fiji countersued over a disputed contract.

## Timeline

- 2019-01-06 — Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) (X) — At 23:48 UTC, Jarett Wieselman posted three photos and joked about the water carrier’s inner monologue.
- 2019-01-07 — E! News (@enews) (X) — At 00:04 UTC, E! News posted four red-carpet photos and said the model had come to serve.
- 2019-01-07 — TIME (Press) — At 00:49 UTC, TIME covered viewers noticing the water carrier in celebrity photos.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/fiji-water-girl

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Fiji Water Girl.” Case HIS-01597. Spread Score v1.3: 45/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01597