| Josh Pieters | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born | (1993-09-17)17 September 1993 (age 31) Knysna, South Africa | |||||||||
| Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
| YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Pranks, comedy | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.43 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 141.69 million[1] | |||||||||
| Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: 19 June 2020 | ||||||||||
Joshua Pieters (born 17 September 1993)[2] is a South AfricanYouTuber known forpranks on celebrities. Originally fromKnysna, he is currently based inLondon.[3]
In August 2019, Pieters pranked 40 social mediainfluencers includingLouise Thompson into believing they received a piece ofmoon rock from theNational Space Centre (NSC). Pieters later apologized to the NSC.[4] In September 2019, Pieters and his YouTube partnerArchie Manners created a fake restaurant, The Italian Stallion, to sellmicrowave meals as authenticItalian cuisine viaDeliveroo.[5] They followed this up in November 2019 with a prank at theKSI vs. Logan Paul II boxing match, where they managed to convince several YouTubers, influencers, and venue staff at theStaples Center that anEd Sheeran lookalike was the actual Ed Sheeran.[6]
On 27 January 2020, Englishfar-right political commentatorKatie Hopkins was pranked by Pieters into accepting a fake award, titled the "Campaign to Unify the Nation Trophy".[7] Pieters flew Hopkins toPrague 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 fromTwitter for breaking their anti-hate rules.[8]
As of February 2020[update], he had over 1 million subscribers onYouTube.[9] In May 2020, Pieters and Manners prankedBig Cat Rescue CEO,Carole Baskin, into believing she was giving an interview onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[10] This was followed by a prank in October 2020 in which they posed as peace researchers and successfully nominatedGemma Collins for theNobel Peace Prize.[11]
On 31 July 2021, English anti-vaxxerPiers Corbyn was pranked by Pieters into accepting bribe money to stop spreadingmisinformation aboutAstra-Zeneca where he gave Corbyn "$10,000" inMonopoly cash.[12]
In July 2023, Pieters and Manners disrupted an event held by environmental activist groupJust Stop Oil.[13] In December, Pieters and Manners prankedConservativeMPSuella Braverman into acceptingChannel 4 comedy showThe Last Leg's "Dick Of The Year Award", after viewers of the show voted for her to be that year's recipient.[14]
