Prank Academy Review: Episodes 8-10

Amanda McHugh ’18/ Emertainment Monthly Executive Publisher

Back at it again with master pranksters Jesse and Jeana! With YouTube Red, viewers are able to watch full TV-like episodes of epic, large scale pranks where Jesse and Jeana teach fellow YouTubers how to prank.

Prank Academy Poster
Prank Academy Poster
Photo Credit: YouTube

Haunted Room Prank features Louis Cole pranking other YouTubers by tricking them into thinking he brought back a shrunken demon head that haunts the room. He tells his friends that on a trip to Morocco, a man in the market gave him the shrunken head, told him that it was haunted, and then ran away. Luring the YouTubers into the room making them think they’re shooting a 360 video, he leaves them alone in the room with the “haunted” head. Before their arrival, Jesse and Jeana enlisted a magician to rig the room with different tricks. These include a knocking sound, chimes, a falling frame, and fireballs! After Louis leaves the room, the tricks play out. His first victims are Olga Kay, Taryn Southern, and Timothy DelaGhetto. They all fall easily into his trap, and Taryn and Tim even try to leave the room only to find the door locked! Olga was a little more calm, but admits afterwards that she was pretty freaked out. Louis’ last victim is Kandee Johnson who is immediately intrigued by the shrunken head. With Jeana controlling the tricks, Kandee too freaks out and tries to leave the room. In the end though they all agreed that the prank was a success!

Kandee Johnson's reaction to the shrunken head
Kandee Johnson’s reaction to the shrunken head
Photo Credit: YouTube

A simple concept for these master pranksters, but still very funny! This prank was harmless and fun, just like old-school pranking used to be. Though it wasn’t mentioned if the victims truly believed the room was haunted, they all screamed when that fireball came out nonetheless. On an epic-ness scale of one to five, this prank would get a two. While it was a great old-school prank, it was rather simple in concept without much to it. The grunt of the work was rigging the room with the different magic tricks. Though on a success scale it’s a five, since all four victims wanted out of that room by the end of the prank!

Real Tiger Prank uses a real tiger, named Schika, who is a tiger trained to rip up cars. Before the video starts, a warning sign appears letting viewers know that no animals were harmed in the making of the video, and professional caretakers were on set the entire time making sure everyone, including Schika, was safe. A large-scale prank like this calls for a master prankster himself, Vitaly. Because Vitaly is already a prankster, Jesse, Jeana and Vitaly go against each other to see who can prank people the best. One of them will be on crutches in front of a grocery store, and will ask people to help them to their car with their groceries. When they arrive at the car Schika will be inside the van waiting for them. The reactions to people seeing a tiger in the car are hilarious. Most people drop the bags and walk away, but one woman actually runs away from Vitaly. Another man was barely even interested in the tiger and proceeded to ask Jeana for her number. All three pranksters pull off the prank successfully, except one woman who tried to open the door to the van and Vitaly had to tell her that she couldn’t. She did not seem fazed by the tiger in the car.

Yes, a real Tiger. Photo Credit: YouTube
Yes, a real Tiger.
Photo Credit: YouTube

Overall this prank hit the top of the epic-ness scale, receiving a five out of five. Only with the help of YouTube would Jesse and Jeana be able to get a trained tiger on set like that and be able to use her as a prop in a prank. The prank was also successfully done by all three of the prankster’s acting, luring people around the corner to where the car was waiting with the tiger. Some of their tricks were hysterical, like Jesse saying that his cat was the reason he was on crutches. One woman tells him he should take her to the zoo, and he responds that’s where she came from. This prank was on a whole new level, but is only successful with the help of skilled animal trainers and sponsorship from YouTube. While the morality of keeping wild animals tied up and trained is still a question, the prank was still successful, and Jesse and Jeana did assure viewers that no animals were harmed in the making of the video.

Epic Car Crash Prank features Kandee Johnson pranking Jeana, making her think they’re on a normal taxi drive, but gets attacked by another driver in his car instead. Kandee arrives early to meet Jesse, who tells her Jeana has a phobia of being in fast moving cars. With two professional stunt drivers, they assure Kandee that all will be safe and they both know what they are doing. A warning sign in front of the video also assures viewers that all was under control, and not to recreate or attempt anything performed in the video. Jeana gets into the taxi thinking they’re going to the mall for Kandee’s prank, but the taxi driver, who is one of the stunt drivers, gets road rage at another car and ends up being followed by him. Driven into an empty lot, the car rear ends them, and an epic car chase pursuits including smashing through walls and flying 30 feet in the air off a ramp. Jeana admits afterwards that she had no idea she was being pranked, and even the taxi driver’s acting was perfect to convince her the prank was real!

Tables turning on Jeana Photo Credit: YouTube
Tables turning on Jeana
Photo Credit: YouTube

This prank was again on a whole new level of pranking. Not only was it epic, a definite five out of five, but it required a lot of help from others that Jesse and Jeana would never have been able to do on their own. The bulk of the prank was really pulled off by the two stunt drivers, especially the taxi driver in the car with Jeana. Though Kandee actually being scared out of her mind did help making Jeana believe she was being pranked! In order to prank a prankster, it has to be a large-scale epic prank like this. Though Jeana believes her life was put in danger, as Jesse believed his life was put in danger during his crane prank, they both were assured their safety was put first, and nothing would have happened to either of them.

Photo Credit: YouTube
Photo Credit: YouTube

The past few episodes of Prank Academy were pretty epic and large-scale between the live tiger and the real car crash, so hopefully in the coming weeks Prank Academy will continue to get bigger and better!

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