Just when you thought you'd have to wait until the debut of STRANGER THINGS Season 4 to get more of the adorkable Gaten Matarazzo, the half-pint from Hawkins, Indiana has unleashed a trailer for his hidden-camera prank show, PRANK ENCOUNTERS. Taking cues from shows like PUNK'D and IMPRACTICAL JOKERS, Matarazzo's new series finds unsuspecting victims applying for one-day jobs that suddenly take a turn toward the supernatural. Matarazzo hosts the show in addition to executive producing with Ben Silverman, Howard Owens and Kevin Healey for Propagate, and Rob Hyde. Serving as director for the show is Anthony Gonzalez, whose past work includes reality-based programs like DANCE MOMS and UNDERCOVER BOSS.
Each episode targets two complete strangers who come to find themselves in a series "gotcha" surprise scenarios. When viewing the new trailer, it would appear as if some plots will involve an axe-wielding murderer, surgery gone wrong, and killer stuffed animals that come to life.
Back when PRANK ENCOUNTERS was first announced, the show experienced quite a bit of backlash on account of it duping people into believing that they'd landed a real job. Netflix then defended the show's concept by saying that all participants had received payment for their time, which by design was only for single-days work to begin with.
While this is a hard pass for me, I'm sure that those who enjoy hidden-camera shows will get a kick out of Matarazzo's deceptive new series. It's not every day that we get a new prank-related show, so be sure to soak it in while you can.
All eight episodes of PRANK ENCOUNTERS will launch on Netflix this October 25th.