--- title: Eye Roll Girl Goes Viral at Nigel Farage Brexit Debate description: A student has turned herself into eye roll girl meme at a Brexit debate by rolling her eyes at Nigel Farage. canonical: https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-06T13:44:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:30.603Z og:title: Student Who Disagrees With Nigel Farage Becomes Viral Meme og:description: It's an eye roll resonating around the world og:url: https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1999908a2954dd0/69893e57096a94b3006a3dc8/eyerollgirlnigelfarage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: The DUP Joins Nigel Farage For Bournemouth Save Brexit Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Student Who Disagrees With Nigel Farage Becomes Viral Meme twitter:description: It's an eye roll resonating around the world twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1999908a2954dd0/69893e57096a94b3006a3dc8/eyerollgirlnigelfarage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Student Behind Nigel Farage Did an Eye Roll Seen 'Round the World > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Over 600,000 People March in London for a Second Brexit Referendum [Watch (HLS stream): Over 600,000 People March in London for a Second Brexit Referendum](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hA5jtYLR.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2018-10-20. People from across the U.K. gathered on a sunny Saturday afternoon in London to take part in what may be the biggest public protest over Brexit since the referendum in 2016._ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 6, 2018 1:44 PM UTC  A woman went viral for rolling her eyes at Nigel Farage during a debate. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) A woman went viral for rolling her eyes at Nigel Farage during a debate. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images) Matt Cardy—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 6, 2018 1:44 PM UTC It’s really all in the face, and a [student who became a meme](http://time.com/5205923/woman-wins-cotton-candy-eating-contest-internet-reactions/) after rolling her eyes at a Brexit debate proves as much. University of Birmingham student Harriet Ellis, 21, was just another [engaged citizen in the crowd](http://time.com/5390134/plaid-shirt-guy/) at Monday’s Brexit debate on Channel 4 titled “What The Nation Really Thinks.” That was until during the live telecast, UK Independence Party member Nigel Farage spoke on behalf of Leave Means Leave. Farage described what he dubbed “Remainers Brexit.” At that precise moment, Ellis’s [eye roll sequence commenced](http://time.com/4673876/side-eye-pictures/). “The Remainers Brexit comment was the breaking point for me. I was thinking about how and why Nigel Farage has such a large platform to say such statements,” she told TIME. Farage did not see her reaction at the time, but the collective internet did as the feelings she was communicating hit a nerve. After she let her peepers do the talking, her expression was quickly shared on Twitter, where it garnered plenty of feelings and appreciation from the collective minds of the Internet who felt bonded to her in that moment. All one needs to go viral is to get close to someone in power and produce a sidelong glance at a major televised debate. Monday was that day for “eye roll girl.” > [](https://twitter.com/JimMFelton/status/1059564298643607553) > [](https://twitter.com/TheOfficialGRB/status/1059541483311824897) > [](https://twitter.com/WanderingSadu/status/1059549076256112642) > [](https://twitter.com/jonoread/status/1059549412299554821) > [](https://twitter.com/eoinyk/status/1059784583502282753) > [](https://twitter.com/jedmarson/status/1059604106166321152) > [](https://twitter.com/MissSashaMorton/status/1059586036412624896) The student confirmed it was her on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/harrietlucyel/status/1059575308079239169) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/"},"headline":"A Student Behind Nigel Farage Did an Eye Roll Seen 'Round the World","datePublished":"2018-11-06T13:44:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:30.603Z","description":"A student has turned herself into eye roll girl meme at a Brexit debate by rolling her eyes at Nigel Farage.","url":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1999908a2954dd0/69893e57096a94b3006a3dc8/eyerollgirlnigelfarage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1999908a2954dd0/69893e57096a94b3006a3dc8/eyerollgirlnigelfarage.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The DUP Joins Nigel Farage For Bournemouth Save Brexit Rally","caption":"The DUP Joins Nigel Farage For Bournemouth Save Brexit Rally","creditText":"Matt Cardy—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/","name":"A Student Behind Nigel Farage Did an Eye Roll Seen 'Round the World"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Over 600,000 People March in London for a Second Brexit Referendum","description":"People from across the U.K. gathered on a sunny Saturday afternoon in London to take part in what may be the biggest public protest over Brexit since the referendum in 2016.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hA5jtYLR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-10-20T16:49:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hA5jtYLR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5445894/eye-roll-girl/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```