Lucy in the sky with cruel pranksters

An Egyptian “prankster” subjected a middle-aged Egyptian actress to an elaborate TV hoax in the skies over Dubai, convincing her that the small plane in which they were flying had lost its engine and was crashing, and that she would die if she did not parachute out.

The elaborate hoax, which was described by Israel’s Channel 2 on Sunday night as the “cruelest of all pranks,” was screened by the MBC network on the weekend, having been set up to coincide with the current Muslim Ramadan festivities.

The prankster, Ramez Galal, arranged for the Egyptian actress, named Lucy, to be flown to Dubai, where she was told she had been invited to inaugurate a new hotel. Once in the Gulf state, she was offered a sightseeing flight in a small plane.

High in the sky over Dubai, the pilot cut the engine and the plane began plummeting toward earth. All the other passengers, who were in on the prank, began screaming in professed horror.

Galal himself, disguised as a silver-haired gentleman and seated next to Lucy, wailed in horror at their ostensible plight.

Lucy, understandably, appeared utterly terrified as the plane plunged downwards, alternately closing her eyes and clutching her chest in fear for her life.

As the plane’s descent accelerated, the camera showed passengers apparently being forced to jump out with parachutes. When Galal was told it was his turn to jump, he wailed “No, no, please!,” refused to leave his seat, and leaned heavily into Lucy, who hit him and screamed at him.

Apparently fearing that she would be forced to jump next, she shouted, “Stop, you’re killing me, you’re making me crazy.”

Eventually, the plane stabilized and landed.

Lucy was the last to emerge, and was filmed being helped shakily out of the plane and onto the tarmac.

Galal began taking off his makeup to reveal that it was a prank, and started by removing his teeth and handing them to Lucy. “You were terrified!” he told her, laughing, and went on to remove his wig and rubber facial disguise.

Everybody in the vicinity applauded, but Lucy, realizing the “joke,” was horrified and began hitting him, calling him “scum” and “You dog.”

“Madam Lucy, enough, calm down,” he said, as she tried to knee him in the midriff.

Lucy later seemed to faint on the tarmac, and water was brought to revive her. Galal then sought to calm her, and apologized, at which point she grabbed him again. “What a dog you are,” she shouted.

Galal’s Ramadan pranks are an annual tradition, and Lucy was not the only celebrity subjected to the airborne prank for this year’s show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtmOsY1g6sA