(April 1, 2012) When Debbie Purrtell released an eHarmony video profile on YouTube last year, she had no idea it would become a viral hit with more than 20 million views. But it did. She also didn’t know that it would help her land a job. But it has. eHarmony has named Debbie Purrtell its new spokesperson, saying in a press release that she has a “connection with people and felines”. Before we give details of her new eHarmony spokesperson job, here is the video that launched her into fame:

[pbp_pinit mediaurl=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc” mediatype=”youtube” count=”horizontal”]
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc
[pbp_pintfollow username=”onlinedating” button=”follow”]

When Debbie Purrtell put that video up last June 3, she didn’t have a job and spent most of her day looking at cat videos on YouTube and taking care of the 9 cats she owns and 12 that she fosters. Purrtell is one of many “foster cat moms” for Salem Friends of Felines in Salem, Oregon, where she is known as “the cat lady that doesn’t give her foster cats up when they are adopted because she can’t stop hugging them long enough to hand them over to their new home.” Until the release of the video she had been making money by standing on the corner with a sign that says, “Will Work for Cat Food”.

But after the release of her video, everything changed. She became famous and started getting thousands of messages from guys on eHarmony. According to eHarmony, she has received more messages than any other member in the site’s history.

“She has received more messages than any other member in the site’s history,” says Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony.

Warren also says that hiring Purrtell as their new spokesperson was a no-brainer because she knows how to bring people to the site.

“Hiring Purtell as our new spokesperson was a no-brainer because she knows how to bring people to the site,” said Warren.

Online Dating Magazine was able to reach Purrtell on the phone. We asked her to tell us a little bit about herself.

“Hello. My name is Debbie. Um… this is my first attempt… oops… um… at a eHarmony spokesperson job… my first job at an online dating service, so I’m nervous but I’m excited at the same time. So I’m just going to start talking about what I like and hope I get some replies.”

Purtell continued to tell us that she loves cats, a fact that had already been established in her viral video.  After she got done crying, she was able to tell Online Dating Magazine that her first goal is to attract more cat lovers to the site. She is also trying to talk eHarmony into opening up a cat matching service that matches up cats from around the world with her. We’ll keep you posted on how that turns out.