A Swindon TikTok user has gone viral after his mum fell for his cruel prank.
Shaun Perrett, 25, tricked Tracey Stebbing into thinking there was a nuclear bomb threat in the UK.
He used a YouTube video showing a convincing national warning, complete with BBC and government logos.
It warned evacuations were currently taking place in the London area after a threat of a nuclear strike.
The video was cast to his TV as his mum was watching it, convincing her it was a legitimate broadcast. At one point Tracey says she’s scared and is visibly worried.
Shaun said: “I’m a TikTok influencer, I just post content of me winding my mum up.
“The video was streamed to the telly. Mum wasn’t really paying attention when I cast it so she was wondering what it was and she fell for the whole thing.
“I filmed it, uploaded it, and it got more than four million views on the app as well as 10,000 shares and grew from there.”
Because of the prank, Shaun’s video made it across the pond and was featured in the New York Times.
He added: “The video’s now been copyright claimed but it was doing very well.
“I just stumbled across the video one night when on YouTube and the creator of the video even saw the video and found it funny it was still being used after so many years of it being out there.
“At first mum’s reaction was scared but she found it funny in the end.”
Tracey, 57, admitted she did think the report was real at first but is now more sceptical whenever something strange happens.
She added: “It just flashed up on the telly from nowhere and everyone in the house was acting like it was real.
“I did actually say at one point that it was a wind-up but because of how the world’s been for the last year, I was thinking 'well maybe this has happened'.
“Everyone’s more vulnerable because of what’s going on so it wasn’t unrealistic.
“I was really relieved when Shaun said it was a prank and I just thought ‘I can’t take any more with this guy’.
“He’s always winding me up, it’s a bit of fun and all of them I take pretty well but that one was a bit over the top.
“Shaun’s got a good heart and we get on well doing them when he catches me out. We’ve both got a good sense of humour.”
Tracey has featured in a few of Shaun’s other TikToks and he believes a lot of people like her.
“Mum’s become really popular,” He said. “A lot of people like her, I think it’s just her personality, she comes across as a really funny, bubbly person and that’s what people like.”
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