The public breakup on Valentine’s Day, which occurred in the Pit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received mixed reactions after the “couple” announced it was staged.

Mindy Moorman, a sophomore in political science, acted as the girlfriend in the episode. She, along with her fake boyfriend, Ryan Burke, a senior at UNC, said they had never dated before, but had known each other for about three years, and they planned the breakup scene by preparing a skit beforehand.

The announcement came after students posted various versions of video from the event on YouTube.com, an Internet video broadcast collection.

The video has drawn more than 700,000 views, according to Moorman.

The story of the breakup also appeared in newspapers around the world; some of the countries included France, Germany, Vietnam and Switzerland. FOXNews and MSNBC featured television news broadcasts of the event, according to Moorman.

“We kind of hoped there would be a big enough group to make the local news and newspapers, but we never thought it would be network cable newsworthy,” Moorman said.

The American Broadcasting Company’s early morning television show scheduled the “couple” for an interview on Good Morning America, when the two decided to admit the event was a fake.

“We wanted to come clean to keep our own integrity safe,” Moorman said. “In the end, [Burke and I] want to portray who we really are.”

On the day of the breakup, a female a cappella group from UNC sang a Dixie Chicks song called “Not Ready to Make Nice,” with an audience of hundreds of students, according to the video posted on YouTube.com.

Burke accused Moorman of cheating on him, which was the reason for him to break off their relationship. In response, Moorman questioned his sexual orientation and his need for attention.

“We thought about the worst things we could say to someone to keep [the breakup] going and to keep the crowd from being bored,” Moorman said.

Moorman said Burke contacted her prior to the event and asked if she wanted to help him with his plan.

“I was complimented I was the girl they thought of,” Moorman said.

She said Burke wanted a girl who did not go to UNC and whom he thought would be able to speak in front of a large group.

Moorman said Burke had two reasons for coming up with a public breakup.

“It was one part social experiment to take something so private and to make it an event and see the reaction of people,” Moorman said. “It was also to see how quickly things can be shared and how quickly word can be spread [using methods like YouTube.com].”

Some students said they felt there were other reasons behind the event.Charlie Ramirez, a freshman in First Year College, said he read about the event being a hoax on AOL.com.

Ramirez said he thought the announcement was not surprising.

“Before I knew it was a fake, I felt bad for [Moorman]. Now that I know it’s a fake, I don’t,” Ramirez said. “It was a good joke — anything for publicity.”

Tyler Clark, a freshman in political science, said she thought the video was to “get attention.”

“It seems really outlandish and kind of weird that someone would go out of their way to do something like that,” Clark said.

Moorman said she has received a number of different responses from students about the video. She said the posts on N.C. State’s online forum, The Wolf Web, are the hardest to read.

“The girl on there is a character. She’s a part of me, but that’s not who I am,” Moorman said. “Sometimes I had to take a moment and remind myself that it was the character they were talking about.”

Moorman said her real boyfriend of two years has been very supportive of her decision to participate in the video.

“He knows the kind of person I am, and knows I’m definitely the kind of person to do something like this,” Moorman said.

Moorman said her close friends have also been supportive.

“My friends are very proud of me to use my very explosive personality,” she said.

Despite the publicity, Moorman said she feels like the same person as before she participated in the breakup skit and said she feels “humbled” by the experience.Since the video has received attention, Moorman said she is still working her two jobs and attending class as usual.

“I think it got this much exposure because everyone has been broken up with and could relate. The worst way to have that happen would be to have it publicly humiliate you,” Moorman said. “I’ve taken it with a great stride and with dignity.”

Moorman said she did have regrets for some parts of the video.

“If I could change anything, I wouldn’t have dropped the “f-bomb” so much,” Moorman said. She said her mother was not very happy about her usage of the word.

Moorman said she feels like she is ready for her “15 minutes of fame” to end, but said she hopes people do not forget about her video by Valentine’s Day next year.

“It was a marking point in my life,” Moorman said. “It’s a wonderful memory that I will always have.”