They may be planned with the best of intentions, but while most TV pranks are meant as lighthearted fun these bad taste jokes turned out to be anything but a laughing matter.
Unwitting participants put through abject terror for the amusement of the watching public include a woman forced into a frighteningly realistic suicide bomb vest and a footballer dragged into a desert and forced to kneel for his own execution.
A far cry from family-friendly Beadle’s About-style Saturday-night entertainment, these shocking examples show people reduced to quivering wrecks by cruel actors
In one ill-advised stunt, a woman was tricked into thinking a child had plummeted to their death in her home. Another put a frightened woman through a prank plane crash ordeal.
In all of these situation, the results of the pranks went beyond a joke.
Actress ‘kidnapped by ISIS’ and made to beg for her life
This is the moment cruel TV pranksters tricked a terrified actress into thinking she had been kidnapped by ISIS and was made to beg for her life on video
Footage taken in Egypt shows the frightened woman, named as Heba Magdi, surrounded by men dressed as militants from the terror group carrying a range of weapons
This is the moment cruel TV pranksters tricked a terrified actress into thinking she had been kidnapped by ISIS and was made to beg for her life on video.
Footage taken in Egypt shows the frightened woman, named as Heba Magdi, surrounded by men dressed as militants from the terror group carrying a range of weapons.
A balaclava-wearing ‘terrorist’ waves a machine gun at her head and orders her to pose for pictures in front of an ISIS flag as she pleads for her own release.
The screaming actress covers her face with her hands as the fake fanatics pretend to get irate.
At one point she starts sobbing uncontrollably and tries to cower behind a wooden chair as they bark instructions at her.
Hidden cameras then show the men attempting to place a suicide vest over her shoulders – prompting her to make a bid for freedom.
Paralysed with fear, she then cowers on a sofa covering her face with the sound of police sirens outside the door.
The man wearing the balaclava then emerges carrying what appears to be a hand held rocket launcher and aims it at the door.
Amid mocked-up explosions and gunfire, the woman continues to beg for her life – unaware that she is being tricked, AhlulBayt News Agency reported.
Eventually, one of the men sits down beside her apparently revealing she had been the subject of a prank.
But the actress remains visibly shocked as the video comes to an end.
Fake ISIS fighters ‘kidnap’ celebs, strap ‘suicide vests’ to them and tell them they’ll be executed
In one show featuring Nessma, a comic actress in her fifties, enters the home of a family she believes has been forced to flee from conflict before a fake explosion goes off, forcing everyone to run inside screaming
At the last second, her vest and blindfold is removed and she faints once again, needing water thrown at her face to rouse her
In the Iraqi prank show Tanneb Rislan, terrified celebrities were taken to visit families who they believe have been displaced after fleeing from extremists.
But once there, the duped participants are ambushed by fake jihadists and told they will be killed – until ‘troops’ come to the rescue and bring their ordeal to an end.
What looks like a close shave is, in fact, a candid camera-style television show that aired during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that takes tricking celebrities for laughs to a new level. And it’s causing a scandal in Iraq, along with accusations of bad taste.
In each episode, a celebrity, invited for a charitable project, visits the home of a family said to have escaped the clutches of the ISIS.
Once inside, actors disguised as jihadists pounce. The jihadists may be fake, but the pleas of the trapped celebrities are very real.
In one show featuring Nessma, a comic actress in her fifties, enters the home of a family she believes has been forced to flee from conflict before a fake explosion goes off, forcing everyone to run inside screaming.
While she panics with a group of actors in on the prank, gunshots are heard and one of the supposed producers on the show picks up a gun in view of Nessma.
Car loads of gun-wielding and ISIS flag waving jihadists then arrive and surround the home as gunshots appear to ricochet off the walls.
They eventually storm the home and tie up Nessma and blindfold her while she cries and screams for help and starts to pray.
The terrorists attach a suicide vest to her, prompting her to pass out on the floor with fear.
She stays unconscious for several minutes until the presenter, in Hashed uniform, empties a bottle of water on her face before dragging her outside to continue the horrifying prank.
Still blindfolded, she believes she is walking through gunfire while her suicide vest is about to explode.
At the last second, her vest and blindfold is removed and she faints once again, needing water thrown at her face to rouse her as the cast and crew gathered around her applaud her and reveal the prank.
Ex-Championship footballer ‘taken hostage and forced to kneel to await execution’
This is the moment a professional footballer was kidnapped, driven to the desert and threatened with execution – in a shocking TV prank
Algeria international Madjid Bougherra, who played for Rangers and Charlton, was subjected to the terrifying ordeal for a hidden camera show
They are then made to kneel in the sand presumably fearing they will shot or beheaded before the stunt is finally revealed
This is the moment a professional footballer was kidnapped, driven to the desert and threatened with execution – in a shocking TV prank.
Algeria international Madjid Bougherra, who played for Rangers and Charlton, was subjected to the terrifying ordeal for a hidden camera show.
He was relaxing in a cafe with a friend when actors posing as armed extremists burst in and forced him to the ground at gunpoint.
All the customers are then forced into a cupboard, where Bougherra eases their panic while appearing clam throughout.
The captives are later blindfolded and driven to a remote location in the desert.
They are then made to kneel in the sand presumably fearing they will shot or beheaded before the stunt is finally revealed.
With a mixture of elation and desire for payback, the clip ends with Bougherra chasing his friend, who had been in on the prank, around the desert.
Bougherra, a defender, had spells with English sides Crewe Alexandra, Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic before moving to Rangers in 2008 for a fee of £2.5 million.
YouTube robbery ‘prank’ ends in fatal shooting
Timothy Wilks (pictured, left) was just 20 when he was shot and killed after approaching the group in February 2021 just after 9pm
The man who killed him, a then-23-year-old, told cops he shot Wilks in self defence outside Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park (pictured)
A prankster was shot dead after he and a friend approached a group of people with large knives outside a Tennessee trampoline park.
Timothy Wilks was just 20 when he was shot and killed after approaching the group in February 2021 just after 9pm.
After he was killed, his friend told police they had been filming a YouTube prank video.
The man who killed him, a then-23-year-old, told cops he shot Wilks in self defence outside Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park.
No one was arrested over Wilks’ death.
His grandmother, Shirley Berry, said following his death: ‘I need to make sure that it won’t happen to somebody else’s family, because I really don’t want them to endure this pain’.
She said she didn’t want anyone to think the worst of her grandson because of his poor choice.
“I’m not angry, but I just don’t want anyone thinking that this person that is lying in the morgue was a thing, she said, adding: ‘He was not. He was a good child. He would do anything for anyone.’
Berry said she wanted anyone who learned of his death to take care if they filmed a prank video.
‘The thing I would want them to know is, if you’re trying to make a statement for yourself, do it in a positive way,” she said.
She added: ‘Do something positive. That’s what I would have told him if he would have come to me with this thought.’
Celeb forced to endure fake plane crash in Lebanese prank show
Media personality Reham Hajjaj (pictured, right) was seen getting on the plane, clueless as to what was going to happen to her
After being warned of a impending disaster, Hajjaj got more and more anxious
But upon landing, she is greeted by the smug host who revealed she is being pranked
Urgent Landing, a Lebanese prank show, sees local celebrities being taken to Beirut Airport under the guise of taking off on a chartered plane.
But within minutes of taking off, they were told that their plane had suffered a catastrophic engine failure and would soon crash.
In one clip, media personality Reham Hajjaj was seen getting on the plane, clueless as to what was going to happen to her.
After being warned of a impending disaster, Hajjaj got more and more anxious.
At one point, she furiously closes the window and shouts at the man next to her: ‘Will you please close the window?’
In a faux-panicked voice, he responds: ‘I like to look outside!’
Bewildered, she says: ‘What? We’re dying, we’re dying! You’re crazy, you’re watching us die!’
Towards the end of the video, she appears to accept her fate and unhappily stares out the window to watch what she believes may be her final plane ride.
But upon landing, she is greeted by the smug host who revealed she is being pranked.
With a begrudging smile, she said: ‘I was about to vomit’.
Dad pretends to kill his own child
American YouTuber Roman Atwood landed in hot water with his wife after pretending to accidentally kill his child
She runs over to her fake son in a frenzy and pulls off his mask, revealing that it was only a mannequin that went over the side
American YouTuber Roman Atwood landed in hot water with his wife after pretending to accidentally kill his child.
In the video, titled ‘Killing My Own Kid PRANK!!!’, Atwood was seen scurrying around his house with his son, who wearing a full Spider-Man costume.
As his wife pulls up to the house and walks up the stairs, he and the child are innocuously play-fighting with each other.
Pretending to be out of breath, he asks his wife to get him a bottle of water from the kitchen.
As she walks away, he sets up the prank by asking his child: ‘You wanna fly?’
But he whispers to his child: ‘Go and be really quiet’.
As his wife is fetching a bottle of water, Atwood’s other son quietly brings out a mannequin wearing the same Spider-Man costume and places it in front of him as he loudly says: ‘We’re gonna go so high’.
And as she walks back up the stairs, he flings his ‘son’ over a bannister and pretends to panic.
She runs over to her fake son in a frenzy and pulls off his mask, revealing that it was only a mannequin that went over the side.
Atwood immediately bursts into laughter as she says: ‘I f***ing hate you’.
Not getting the reaction he wanted, he asks: ‘Are you really that mad?’
She says in response: ‘Yeah, I’m that f***ing mad! You don’t pretend to throw out kids off a f***ing balcony! You’re sleeping on the couch’.
Notorious YouTube prankster slammed for fake execution video
Sam Pepper (pictured, centre) was already a controversial figure before his execution prank
In the video, Golbach was shoved into the boot of a car with a bag over his head
He was then tied up and taken to a rooftop, where he was forced to watch Pepper ‘shoot’ Brock (pictured, right) in the head as Golbach (pictured, left) wept in terror
Sam Pepper was already a controversial figure before his execution prank.
Infamous for his prank titled ‘Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank’, in which he went up to women and pretended to ask for directions before grabbing their behinds, his November 2015 prank landed him in even more hot water.
‘Killing Best Friend Prank’ saw him pretend to kidnap internet personalities Sam Golbach and Colby Brock, with the aim of ‘executing’ one of them for shock value.
In the video, Golbach was shoved into the boot of a car with a bag over his head.
He was then tied up and taken to a rooftop, where he was forced to watch Pepper ‘shoot’ Brock in the head as Golbach wept in terror.
Though it was revealed that both Golbach and Brock were in on the video, Pepper received a huge amount of backlash for the ‘ISIS-style execution’.
‘It was a crazy experience, I’m not going to lie. But me and Colby have been pranking each other for the past five years. I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal’, he said.
‘The message here is about living life to the full. It’s about not taking life for granted and loving it because it’s short.
‘Most people need to see a video like that to pick up the phone and call their best friend.’
TV producer who pretended volcano erupted a week after deadly Mt. St. Helens devastation sacked
Just a week after the terrifying Mount St. Helens eruption (pictured), a TV producer was sacked for broadcasting a TV prank in which he pretended a Massachusetts hill had erupted
Mount St. Helens (pictured) had taken the lives of 57 and caused billions in property damage just the week before
Just a week after the terrifying Mount St. Helens eruption, a TV producer was sacked for broadcasting a TV prank in which he pretended a Massachusetts hill had erupted.
Homer Cilley (pronounced ‘silly’), the executive producer of the 6pm news show for WNAV-TV, a local news station, tasked reporter Jan Harrison was filming the stunt.
Harrison filmed a segment claiming that Great Blue Hill in Milton, Ma., was erupting and spraying lava and ash on nearby homes.
The report showed eruption footage of Mount St. Helens, and contained edited remarks from then-president Jimmy Carter and ex-governor Edward King warning people of the development.
Harrison said in the fake report that the disaster had been caused by Mount St. Helens, which had taken the lives of 57 and caused billions in property damage just a week prior.
Though Harrison held up a sign at the end which read ‘April Fools!’, the public was not impressed.
The local police force took more than 100 calls from concerned citizens who wanted to confirm the report.
And the state Department of Civil Defence was bombarded with calls from people asking if they needed to evacuate the area.
After the station received dozens of angry calls, it was forced to issue a live apology on the 11pm news show.
And the next day, Cilley was sacked for ‘his failure to exercise good news judgement’.
To his credit, Cilley entirely owned the mistake, saying following his firing: ‘I think the firing was fully justified. I did it, it was my responsibility and it’s something I’ll have to bear alone’
