While some may have seen it coming from a mile away with it being … managed to convince many viewers that disaster had struck live on TV.
Today of all days, everyone should know to be particularly wary of any news they see on TV on social media.
However, that doesn’t stop some from falling for pranks in the moment, with Friday’s GMB being shown an extremely rare plant, described as being one-of-a-kind.
While speaking to Matthew Pottage, a curator from RHS Gardens Wisley (yes, that is his real name), he explained to her that the ‘unique’ anemone nemorosa was going to be named after her, and would be sold a couple of years after being bred.
However, as he handed it over to Laura so that she could take a closer look, the plant dropped on the floor, with the pot breaking into numerous pieces across the ground.
Both Matthew and Laura screamed in shock, as the curator stormed off in apparent fury over what had occurred.
‘Matt, we can save this, right? Is there really only one of these? I think we can save it, I think it will be ok,’ Laura said frantically as the camera continued filming her.
Back in the ITV studio, Ben Shephard was seen grinning in amusement, while Kate Garraway looked gobsmacked as she watched the scenes unfold.
Laura then went off to check that Matthew was ok as the segment came to an end.
While some GMB viewers expressed their sympathies towards Laura for being involved in such an unfortunate situation… others immediately sussed that it was obviously a hoax for April Fools’ Day.
‘Well April fool didn’t cross my mind at first because I had forgotten what day it was. I was too busy doing the school morning ritual in between watching telly. I fell for it and was open mouthed in front of my tv feeling sorry for poor Laura. 5 minutes later the penny dropped,’ one person tweeted.
‘Hilarious but don’t think anyone fell for it lol,’ someone else remarked, while another admitted: ‘Ha, got me at first.’
One viewer said that they had been on tenterhooks ‘waiting for you guys to fool me’, but then despite promising themselves that they weren’t going to fall for a trick, their ‘heart is still racing from that plant drop’.
‘Why do I still believe it is real? April fool did not even cross my mind,’ another confessed.
‘If that was an April fool, I totally fell for it. I was genuinely upset about that dropped plant,’ someone else reacted.
One viewer said that they knew it was a ‘wind up’ the minute they saw ‘Matthew Pottage’ shown on screen – despite the fact that is his name, albeit a very apt one for his profession.
Did you fall for it?
