Denmark: 149 people, including his friends, deceive comedian for four months

A Danish television program has sparked public outrage after comedian Rasmus Walbridge spent four months believing he was making the film he had long dreamed of. In reality, he was part of a deception involving around 150 people, including his closest friends.

Walbridge had accepted a job offer that seemed like a rare career opportunity. Convinced he had been chosen for a major film project, he devoted four months to it and spent long periods away from his partner and children.

The project the comedian believed was a genuine film production was, in fact, a deception staged by Danish broadcaster TV 2 for the program “Everyone Loves Rasmus”.

According to the British newspaper the Mirror, a total of 149 people took part in the hidden-camera production: friends, acquaintances, actors and television professionals. Each kept the secret and played their part so Walbridge would have no reason to suspect anything.

The incident drew comparisons with the 1998 film “The Truman Show”. In that film, the character played by Jim Carrey does not know he lives in an artificially created world where his family, friends and neighbors are actors, while every moment of his life is broadcast to the public.

After the program began airing, many viewers saw it as going beyond the bounds of a television prank. They pointed out that the deception had lasted for months and had directly affected the comedian’s personal and family life.

On social media, many users called for the program to be taken off the air immediately. Some described it as harassment and psychological manipulation.

Criticism intensified because Walbridge had a newborn child and had set aside part of his family life for a project he believed was real.

The program’s director initially defended the concept in the face of the backlash. He said measures had been taken to prevent psychological harm to the comedian: according to him, a psychologist had monitored the project throughout the four months, and Walbridge had received support after learning the truth.

Production executives, for their part, claimed that after the deception was revealed, the comedian had been given the option of preventing the footage from being released.

These explanations did not ease public anger. According to the British media outlet, Walbridge did not take the truth well and later withdrew from public attention.

Following the wave of criticism, TV 2 removed “Everyone Loves Rasmus” both from broadcast and from its online platform.

On October 31, 2026, the broadcaster’s executives formally apologized to Rasmus Walbridge and those involved. They acknowledged that the production had not done enough to protect the comedian and that the situation should never have gone that far.