''Punk'd'' is an American

hidden camera A hidden camera or spy camera is a camera used to photograph or record subjects, often people, without their knowledge. The camera may be considered "hidden" because it is not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another obje ...

–

practical joke A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrat ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

television series that first aired on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

in 2003. It was created by

Ashton Kutcher Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. His accolades include a People's Choice Award and fifteen Teen Choice Awards, in addition to a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. K ...

and

Jason Goldberg Jason Goldberg (born 1972) is an American film and television producer. Goldberg is the producer of the films '' Guess Who'' and ''The Butterfly Effect'' and executive producer of the shows '' Beauty and the Geek'' and ''Punk'd''. He often wor ...

, with Kutcher serving as producer and host. It bears a resemblance to both the classic hidden camera show ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is an American hidden camera and practical joke reality television series. The show was created, developed, and presented by Allen Funt. Various versions of the show have appeared on television from 1948 to 2014. The program ...

'' and to ''

TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes ''TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes'' is an American television program. Debuting as a weekly series, new episodes have been broadcast as infrequent specials during most of its run. It premiered on NBC in 1984, moved to ABC in 1998, and was revived ...

'', which also featured pranks on celebrities. Being "punk'd" referred to being the victim of such a prank. New episodes hosted by

King Bach Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), better known by his stage name King Bach ( ), is a Canadian-American Internet comedian and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, on which he was the most-followed user w ...

and DeStorm Power aired on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

. A reboot of the series hosted by

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

premiered on

Quibi Quibi ( ) was an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman as CEO. The service raised $ ...

in 2020 and moved to

The Roku Channel The Roku Channel is an over-the-top video streaming service available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the UK. The service was launched in 2017, and is owned and operated by Roku, Inc. It is the most popular free ad-supported streaming televisio ...

until its cancellation in December 2021.

History and format

Originally, Ashton Kutcher and MTV were developing a program called ''Harassment'', a hidden camera show which would feature pranks on regular everyday anonymous people. However, a January 2002 prank involving a fake dead body at the

Hard Rock Hotel Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a chain of theme bar-restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos, hotels and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

backfired and the couple who were targets of the prank sued Kutcher, MTV, and the hotel for $10 million. The concept was later retooled to involve celebrities instead. Pranks would be set at a variety of locations, public and private. One of the show's first pranks was set at singer

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

's home, where he was led to believe that government agents were seizing his home and valuables because of unpaid income taxes. ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine ranked the prank #3 on its list of 32 Epic Moments in Reality-TV History. Another (the very first) involved

Frankie Muniz Francisco Muniz IV (; born December 5, 1985) is an American actor and racing driver. Muniz came to prominence in the 2000s playing the title character of the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), for which he was nominated for an E ...

's special custom-made limited edition Porsche being stolen. A frequent segment during the first two seasons was a ''Punk'd'' cast member pretending to interview celebrities at red carpet events, only to mock them instead. This segment closely copies what originated on ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

'' in the 1980s, when Stern and his writers began sending interns (most notably Stuttering John Melendez) to ask celebrities embarrassing questions on the red carpet. During the first season then-fifteen-year-old

Ryan Pinkston Ryan James Pinkston is an American actor and model. He was a cast member on ''Punk'd'', he played Arnold in the third '' Spy Kids'' installment, and played Billy Hunkee in ''Soul Plane''. Life and career Pinkston was born on February 8, 1988, in ...

posed as a reporter from a children's television program, and would insult the celebrities. During season two, the producers then chose a foreign interviewer accompanied by her interpreter who would then ask inane questions to the guests. Several actors, like

Jill Wagner Jill Suzanne Wagner (born January 13, 1979) is an American actress and television personality. She was the on-field host for the ABC game show '' Wipeout'' from 2008 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2014, briefly leaving during the fifth season i ...

Masi Oka is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for starring in NBC's '' Heroes'' as Hiro Nakamura, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, ...

, B. J. Novak,

Caitlyn Taylor Love Caitlyn Taylor Love (born June 16, 1994) is a former American actress and musician. She co-starred in the Disney XD sitcom '' I'm in the Band''. She was the voice of White Tiger/Ava Ayala in the Disney XD animated series ''Ultimate Spider-Man' ...

Dax Shepard Dax Randall Shepard (born January 2, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker and podcaster. Since 2018, he has hosted '' Armchair Expert'', a podcast in which he interviews celebrities, journalists, and academics about their lives. Shepa ...

, and a then-unknown

Bill Hader William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 20 ...

were accomplices in the pranks. But when the next celebrity targets who saw the show would recognize the members of ''Punk'd'' and realized what was happening to them, the show would get new field agents every season. The series finale aired on MTV on May 29, 2007, and culminated in early June with the Punk'd Awards.

Revival

In October 2010, ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

'' revealed that ''Punk'd'' was being revived with

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

replacing Kutcher as the host; however, it stated that Kutcher would remain as executive producer. After a five-year hiatus, the program was revived with a March 2012 premiere. The first episode of the ninth season, featuring Bieber as a guest host, was filmed in late August 2011. On December 31, 2011, MTV confirmed that the program would be revived in 2012, and that a different celebrity guest host would be featured each episode, the guests included:

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has been cited as an influential figure in alternative hip-hop during the 2010s. Tyler beca ...

Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV Reality tel ...

Hayden Panettiere Hayden Lesley Panettiere ( ; born August 21, 1989) is an American actress and singer. She has starred as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010), Kirby Reed in the slasher film, slasher Ho ...

Lucy Hale Karen Lucille Hale (born June 14, 1989) is an American actress and singer. She has received various accolades, including seven Teen Choice Awards (the most for any actress in a single series), a Gracie Awards, Gracie Award, a People's Choice Aw ...

Nick Cannon Nicholas Scott Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American comedian, television presenter, actor, and rapper. In television, he began his career as a teenager on Nickelodeon's '' All That'' before going on to host '' The Nick Cannon Show'', '' ...

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles on-screen and in theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatric ...

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne "Demi" Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), she starred in the Disney Channel short series ...

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

Heather Morris Heather Elizabeth Morris is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She played the role of Brittany S. Pierce in the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee''. Early life Morris was born in Thousand Oaks, California, and raised in Scottsdale, ...

Kellan Lutz Kellan Christopher Lutz (born March 15, 1985) is an American actor, martial artist and model. He made his film debut in '' Stick It'' (2006), and is best known for playing Emmett Cullen in ''The Twilight Saga'' film series (2008–2012). He has ...

Daniel Tosh Daniel Dwight Tosh (born May 29, 1975) is an American comedian, writer, and producer. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in marketing, Tosh moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. His career accelera ...

, and

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known by the stage name Mac Miller, was an American rapper. He began his career in Pittsburgh's local hip hop music, hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of 15. In 2010, he signed ...

made a returning appearance on an episode where he got to punk again. The ninth season ended on June 7, 2012.

BET reboot

On May 25, 2013,

Katalyst Media Katalyst Network was a company founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, based in Los Angeles, California. It was the company behind television series such as '' Beauty and the Geek'' and ''Punk'd''. Founding history The company was launc ...

stated that a tenth season was in development. At their 2015 upfronts,

announced that they would be rebooting the program for their network. Although Katalyst had closed by then Goldberg returned as executive producer with a revival of the Katalyst banner without Kutcher. Ryan Good also executive produced. The reboot is tailored for the network's audience and goes behind the scenes of many pranks. The reboot premiered on August 18, 2015. To promote the program, BET announced the return of '' BET: Uncut'', a block for uncut music videos, on August 11, 2015. In reality, after a revelation and introduction from new hosts,

and DeStorm Power, BET aired highlights from past segments of the program as well as previews for their program.

Quibi reboot

In 2020, it was announced that a new ''Punk'd'' reboot would air on the mobile video platform

hosted by

. After Quibi was shut down in December 2020, on January 8, 2021, Roku bought the rights to Quibi's content library, including ''Punk'd'' for seven years. Season 2 premiered on

on December 10, 2021.

Syndication

Punk'd began in off-network syndication in 2008 and in the fall of that year,

Trifecta Entertainment & Media Trifecta Entertainment & Media is an American entertainment company founded in 2006. The company's founders previously held jobs as executives at MGM Television. Trifecta is primarily a distribution company and also handles advertising sales in ex ...

put it into barter syndication and aired on affiliates of

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

, and

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

stations. However, as of fall 2012, the show has left local syndication along with '' The Hills'' and ''

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic coves, and environ ...

'' due to lack of ratings.

References

External links