This hidden-camera show on America’s Sci-Fi Channel took the traditional Candid Camera-style pranks and gave them a horror/science-fiction spin.
The show set up unwitting people in elaborately staged situations, fully intended to panic them, until they find out the joke is on them.
Shannen Doherty (pictured) served as the series’ host for Season 1, followed midway into Season 2 by Stephen Baldwin. From Season 3 onwards, the show was hosted by NBC comedy stalwart Tracy Morgan.
The first episode featured someone fearing his friend had been buried alive, and holiday camp counsellors terrified that they were near an escaped serial killer.
Other pranks included a carpenter accidentally releasing a swarm of killer bees, a dead killer coming back from the grave to terrorise a lawyer’s daughter, and a temp worker being fooled into thinking he had taken part in a massive drug deal.
When a Los Angeles teacher named Kara Blanc appeared on the show in 2003, she believed she was travelling to a Hollywood party with two actor friends, when her car stalled, and they were set upon by a murderous ‘alien’ who appeared to kill her friends and chase her down a remote desert road.
Only then did the producers reveal that it was all a wind-up.
Blanc was not amused and proceeded to sue the channel and the programme makers, saying that she suffered severe emotional and physical distress and had had to be hospitalised.
The producers claimed that detailed reports were carried out on potential victims to ensure they could handle the stress, and the prankee’s friends and family were often complicit in the stunt.
The court found damages in favour of Blanc, including non-economic damages and punitive damages.
Host
Shannen Doherty (1)
Stephen Baldwin (2)
Tracy Morgan (3)
Video
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The show set up unwitting people in elaborately staged situations, fully intended to panic them, until they find out the joke is on them.
When a Los Angeles teacher named Kara Blanc appeared on the show in 2003, she believed she was travelling to a Hollywood party with two actor friends, when her car stalled, and they were set upon by a murderous ‘alien’ who appeared to kill her friends and chase her down a remote desert road.
