Josh Pieters
Joshua Pieters (born September 17, 1993)[1] is a South African YouTuber known for pranks on celebrities. Originally from Knysna, he is currently based in London.[2]
Josh Pieters | ||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | Knysna, South Africa | September 17, 1993|||||||||
Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
Genre | Pranks, comedy | |||||||||
Subscribers | 1.43 million | |||||||||
Total views | 141.69 million | |||||||||
Associated acts | Archie Manners | |||||||||
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Updated: 19 June 2020 |
Career
In August 2019, Pieters pranked 40 social media influencers including Louise Thompson into believing they received a piece of Moon rock from the National Space Centre (NSC). Pieters later apologized to the NSC.[3] In September 2019, Pieters and his YouTube partner Archie Manners created a fake restaurant, The Italian Stallion, to sell microwave meals as authentic Italian cuisine via Deliveroo.[4] They followed this up in November 2019 with a prank at the KSI vs. Logan Paul II boxing match, where they managed to convince several YouTubers, influencers, and venue staff at the Staples Center that an Ed Sheeran lookalike was the actual Ed Sheeran. [5]
On 27 January 2020, English far-right political commentator Katie Hopkins was pranked by Pieters into accepting a fake award, titled the "Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy".[6] Pieters flew Hopkins to Prague where she accepted the award and gave a speech, while the initials of the fictitious award were prominently displayed in the background, forming the swear word "cunt". Pieters uploaded the prank to his YouTube channel on the same day that Hopkins was suspended from Twitter for breaking their anti-hate rules.[7]
As of January 2020, he had over 1 million subscribers on YouTube.[8] In May 2020, Pieters and Manners pranked Big Cat Rescue CEO, Carole Baskin, into believing she was giving an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[9] This was followed by a prank in October 2020 in which they posed as peace researchers and successfully nominated Gemma Collins for the Nobel Peace Prize.[10]
References
- "Josh Pieters Draws His Life!". 30 November 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2020 – via YouTube.
- "This is insane, says SA YouTuber as prank video hurtles past a million views". timeslive.co.za. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- "Influencers duped by Moon rock gravel prank". BBC News. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- McCluskey, Megan (9 September 2019). "A YouTuber Successfully Sold Homemade Microwave Meals From the Fake Restaurant 'The Italian Stallion'". Time. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- https://www.insider.com/youtuber-convinced-influencers-ed-sheeran-attended-ksi-logan-paul-lookalike-2019-11
- "YouTuber Josh Pieters tricks Katie Hopkins into accepting fake 'C**T' award". NME Music News. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
- Stolworthy, Jacob (1 February 2020). "YouTube star who tricked Katie Hopkins into accepting fake award has 'no regrets'". The Independent. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- "South African-born YouTuber Josh Pieters pulls off insane prank". East Coast Radio. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- France, Lisa Respers (4 May 2020). "Carole Baskin responds to YouTube pranksters tricking her". CNN. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
- "YouTubers nominate Gemma Collins for Nobel Peace Prize". Insider. 31 October 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.