The '90s and early 2000s were a wild time for reality TV, especially when it came to MTV programming. The infamous music-video-turned-chaos channel has housed everything from celebrities showing off their mansions on Cribs to people looking through the bedrooms of potential dates in Room Raiders.
An especially wild 2003 MTV show was Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd, where he would pull practical jokes on different celebrities. It was really interesting getting to see the stars out of the context of red carpets or interviews, and the show proved that celebrities get pranked just like everyone else -- with some amazing results.
When Taylor Swift Thought She Blew Up A Wedding
Justin Bieber headed a prank against his friend, Taylor Swift, when he invited her to an oceanside beach house to hang out. He and his friends showed her some "Japanese fireworks" that set off an explosion in the air. In the distance, they caused a boat to catch on fire and the wedding party on board had to swim to shore.
Swift's reactions are what make this prank one of the best. She may be a pop star who transitioned to Hollywood, but she didn't recognize the blatant acting. Swift immediately wanted to call the police and was horrified at the idea of someone's big day getting ruined, hugging and comforting the bride. When JB revealed that she had been punk'd, she laughed "You're the worst!" and hugged him as well.
When Zach Braff Was Going To Fight A Kid
Zach Braff thought he was just grabbing some gas station drinks with his real-life friend and TV series BFF, Donald Faison. But, Kutcher and Faison had something else up their sleeves. When a group of young kids asks Braff and Faison to buy them beer, the stars say no and get into a mild cussing match with the kids. While in the gas station, the kids spray paint Braff's car.
The highlight of this prank is Braff's sarcastic comments to the parking lot security officer that they're doing "a dynamite job of watching the lot," and his confused laughter as a delivery guy caught in the middle says his clipboard got wet. He adorably tackles Faison when the prank is revealed, exclaiming, "I can't believe I almost beat up a five-year-old on national television!"
When Kanye Made A Run For It
Kutcher got a workout in trying to tell Kanye West that he had been Punk'd in this iconic prank. He set up a fake security man to tell Kanye that his music video shoot needed an extra permit and was going to have to be shut down. Kanye, at first, looks utterly heartbroken.
Then, a fire lit somewhere inside of Yeezy and he becomes livid when the security guy demands the tapes of whatever they'd already shot. Kanye lunges for the tapes and makes a run for it with them, even hopping into a van for a quick getaway. The whole thing plays like a hilarious episode of Cops and the image of Kutcher sprinting alongside Kanye's van is unforgettable.
When Zoe Saldana Had Her Friend's Back
Zoe Saldana tapped into the many badass roles she's played for this prank. When Saldana thinks that she's walked in on her friend Kelly's boyfriend cheating on her, she doesn't skip a beat to tell him the truth: that he's messing up big time. The BF tells Saldana not to say anything to Kelly, but she immediately spills the beans the moment Kelly walks through the door and tells her that someone else is in the home.
They try to play it off and Saldana sticks to her friend's side, telling her exactly what she saw. This prank proved that the Guardians of the Galaxy star has true character. She tells the BF, "I'm not your friend, I'm hers."
When Brittany Snow Knocks Over A Porta-Potty
Knowing that driving is not Brittany Snow's forté, Kutcher orchestrated a complicated parallel park for the actress rigged with a hydraulic press that would knock over a porta-potty that was set up behind her.
As a guy emerged, covered in fake toilet goo, Snow stuttered through an apology. Unlike other stars, she didn't get defensive -- she just profusely apologized over and over again, looking distraught. The poor girl even starts doing her own funky version of a sobriety test when she's accused of being drunk. That is, until her friend tells her she's stepping in pee from the porta-potty and she screams.
When Justin Bieber Prankception-ed Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus had the perfect pranked planned out for her friend, Justin Bieber. Unfortunately, Bieber was aware of the prank the entire time, making this a rare instance of Punk'd prank-ception. Cyrus had planted some actor skateboarders to tell Bieber that he was parked too close to them and make a scene.
What she didn't account for was Bieber getting into a physical fight with the actors and even kicking one repeatedly on the ground. Thinking her prank went horribly wrong, Cyrus ran out from the trailer and searched for Bieber, who emerged triumphantly from behind the scenes yelling, "You cant prank me! I'm un-prankable!" It was a really fun twist on the usual formula of the show.
When Zac Efron Is Framed For Robbing A Store
Ashley Tisdale helped prank friend Zac Efron shortly after the two starred in High School Musical, one of Efron's best movies on Rotten Tomatoes. The pair went shopping and saw two men mysteriously leave with the cash box. When the owner returns and sees it's missing, the heat is put on Efron. The guys who took the box are brought back to the store and one of them is pepper-sprayed in a scuffle.
The teen heartthrob is dumbfounded the whole time, hilariously repeating over and over that the security guy was out getting a hot dog. The shop owner reveals it's a prank with a design on a shirt and poor Efron still doesn't know what's happening. His confusion and then eventual relief makes the whole interaction the best.
When Elijah Wood Promised To Never Smoke And Drive
Wood's friend Ray pulls a PSA-themed prank on the Lord Of The Rings star, and things got off to a cute start when Wood exclaims, "But that's for recycling!" when Ray asks him to throw a cup containing a lit cigarette into a dumpster. They pull away and the whole thing goes up in flames. Wood quickly urges Ray to keep driving, but they're stopped by a witness and the very distraught car owner who got hit by the blast.
Wood nails Frodo-like innocence while crying, "Oh no!" and "We just thought it was a trash bin!" He should have realized something was up when the cop made him promise to "never, ever, ever again smoke in the car" about 10 times. When the cameras came out, he was instantly relieved and laughing.
When Jason Bateman Was Ride Or Die For His Friend
Everyone could use a "die with the lie" friend like Jason Bateman. When his friend pranks him into thinking they scuffed a car trying to park, Bateman makes a few comments over lunch about how his friend should come clean after the car owner accuses someone else of the mark.
But, when approached by cops, Bateman says they didn't see anything -- totally letting the innocent guy take the fall for his friend. It takes them getting stopped and questioned by the police a second time for Bateman to finally admit that his friend hit the car. He gives the film crew a big smiley round of applause when they tell him the prank.
When Salma Hayek Got Accused Of A Giant Poop
Good friends and amazing Latinx movie-leading actors, Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, went to dinner, but Cruz had a prank planned. She brought Hayek down to show her a giant (fake) dump that the crew had planted in the bathroom. When the girls try to flush it, the toilet overflows and they're blamed for the mess.
Hayek stuck to her guns shouting, "It wasn't us, are you crazy?" The women having to repeatedly describe the huge poop is enough to incite giggles and to make things even funnier, the worker charged with cleaning it comes back saying, "You can send me home. I'm not cleaning up a bunch of doo-doo!"