Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart‘s American journey is off to a cool beginning. The two YouTubers, who are also best friends, have escaped the summer heat with a trip to Alaska in the first episode of their new web series, #HeyUSA.
The episode begins Helbig and Hart’s eight-city tour of the United States. Among other activities, the two friends take a tiny puddle jumper to an Alaskan glacier, show off their matching onesies, and concoct a pair of vodka slushies made with snow. A few tweets from fans get mixed into the presentation, and Helbig even notes a short clip from the episode that she thinks should become a gif, a task her fans will surely oblige.
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#HeyUSA is powered by social media interaction with fans, but the first episode also brings a level of professional production to the series. This combination of well-composed episodes and social media “realness” exemplifies the strategy of Astronauts Wanted, the studio behind #HeyUSA, which discussed its approach when it first announced the series six days before the release of the first episode.
Helbig and Hart began their trip to Alaska nine days before the debut of #HeyUSA, and they filmed the intro to their debut episode from their second location: Louisville. After that, their itinerary will be entirely determined by fans, so if you want Grace and Mamrie in your city, start tweeting.
Three episodes will arrive each week on YouTube as the #HeyUSA trip rolls along. If the shorter format isn’t your style, there’s no need to worry–#HeyUSA will be repackaged in longer episodes on the Astronauts Wanted YouTube channel toward the end of the summer.
