Pranks have become incredibly powerful, especially with everyone’s ability to film and upload a video of someone being pranked at the push of a button.
But, some people in the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit questioned, how many people would get hurt by these pranks in the process?
Redditor MatchCharacter3178 walked in on his girlfriend in bed with one of their mutual friends to film his reaction of “catching them in the act” for TikTok.
Even though the incident turned out to be a prank, the Original Poster (OP) couldn’t shake the feeling of the betrayal.
He asked the sub:
“AITAH for breaking up with my girlfriend because of her ‘caught cheating’ prank?”
The OP’s ex-girlfriend pulled a hurtful cheating prank on him.
“I (26 Male) broke up with my girlfriend (25 Female) of two years because of something that happened recently, and now my friends are saying I massively overreacted.”
“A few days ago, my girlfriend and a close mutual friend decided to play a prank on me.”
“The prank was that they filmed a scenario where I ‘caught’ them in bed together, pretending they were hooking up. They set up a hidden camera in the bedroom, and when I walked in, I saw him in just boxers and my girlfriend in a bra and panties, straddling him, acting like they were mid-hookup.”
“To make it more realistic, they even made some noises and tried to act like it was happening for real.”
The OP did not react in the way the girlfriend and friend wanted.
“I was shocked, furious, and immediately confronted them as I thought it was real at first (like an actual betrayal), and then I walked out of the room and started leaving the house.”
“They followed me, screaming that it was just a prank, and then showed me the video they’d been recording.”
“To be honest, I felt completely betrayed not just by the idea of the prank but also because of how they had gotten undressed to film it.”
“I know it’s meant to be funny to some people, but for me, it felt disrespectful, and I was hurt. The whole thing felt like a violation of trust, even though I knew they weren’t actually cheating.”
The OP realized he couldn’t stay in the relationship anymore.
“I told her I couldn’t be in a relationship with someone who would do something like that, and I ended things right there.”
“She’s devastated, and our friends have been telling me I overreacted. They think it was just a harmless prank, and I should’ve taken it better.”
“But I can’t shake the feeling that it crossed a line for me, especially with how intimate and uncomfortable it felt to see them in that situation, even if it wasn’t real.”
“Now I’m left wondering if I made the right decision. I’m starting to doubt myself because everyone else seems to think I blew it out of proportion.”
“AITAH?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some could not believe how insensitive the ex-girlfriend was toward her partner.
“NTA. How does your girlfriend of two years not know you well enough to know what you’d find funny?”
“Like, even if you prank all the time with each other… she should know YOU and what YOU would find funny. If you’re not laughing, it’s not a joke or a prank. It’s just them hurting you and then blaming you for being hurt.” – Infinite-Wish1763
“They thought it would be funny to cause you pain? To cause a break in trust? To make you feel horrible? Yeah, you were right to throw out the trash. NTA.” – GeomEunTulip
“There’s no misinterpretation here. This was an outright cruel thing to do to someone, and I would be re-evaluating my relationships with everyone involved if it happened to me. NTA.” – BananaPalmer
“Any good significant other of two years would know boundaries. My wife would have never done this as she knows how conservative I am in these situations. When we were dating for three months, she knew better.”
“Good on you for walking out. If it were me, some type of lighted car would have been called.” – tzumatzu
“I genuinely think they are just too TikTok-rotted to see how normal people would react to this.”
“I think it’s much more likely that EX and friend are morons who don’t realize those posts are almost all scripted. And they wanted in on the trend.”
“Maybe the guy knew there was a good chance it would end in a breakup, and he could then make his move… but I’m 97% sure they are both just stupid.” – Sunbro_413
“This is my issue with a lot of online ‘pranks.’ Most of them aren’t funny and are actually just mean or horrible. Making someone panic and get angry for a second can be a decent prank in a specific context, but pranks are tricky to do right.”
“Pranks like this practically traumatize people, and it doesn’t go away just because, ‘Ohhh, it was a prank.’ The feeling of that visceral moment sticks around.” – the_thrawn
Others were similarly left cringing over how intimate the ex had allowed the prank to be.
“It’s an extremely intimate thing to be straddling another person CLOTHED. Doing it in her underwear shows an unacceptable level of comfort between her and OP’s friend.”
“At best, this was an extremely insensitive and stupid prank, but I suspect they’re too comfortable with each other. Either they’ve hooked up before, or they want to. Part of me wonders if they were trying to bridge that gap with an impromptu threesome.”
“For me, that would have been an immediate deal breaker. Whether they’re cheating, trying to initiate cheating, want to cheat, or don’t know me well enough to know that’s an unacceptable joke. All of those are good enough reasons to take the trash out.” – DO_NOT_AGREE_WITH_U
“So everyone is talking about it being a prank.”
“But I’m going to focus on the act itself. Straddling someone in one’s underwear is extremely intimate. The amount of fabric between private parts is close to nothing. They were basically grinding on each other in an extremely sexual way for ‘the joke.’ That’s foreplay.”
“So they can call it a prank, but I am going to call it what it is. CHEATING. She cheated.” – angrymom284710394855
“There’s no way the guy wasn’t getting physically aroused by it as well. There was a half-naked woman straddling and grinding on him while they simulated sexual noises. At that point, it’s an automated bodily function.”
“Making moaning sounds behind a closed door, I could interpret as a (still very s**tty) prank. But that’s not what it was.”
“They somehow thought, ‘Hey, you know what would really sell it? Let’s get in our underwear and dry hump each other in your bed. Oh man, he’s totally gonna fall for it and think we’re actually doing something!'”
“The OP deserves so much better. NTA.” – AShallTownDJ
“The prank itself is stupid enough, but who would think it’s okay for their partner to straddle someone else in their underwear? She was definitely feeling his junk and him hers, both feeling each other’s warmth and have the audacity to call it a prank?”
“They were either property cheating or acting on the desire to with extra steps.”
“What awful people. NTA, OP, NTA.” – Gottabecreative
“You made the right decision.”
“Other people don’t get to decide what sort of prank goes past your line for pranks. If your ex-girlfriend really was devastated, maybe she’ll learn that trying to pull elaborate pranks can backfire on her and she won’t do it to other people in the future.”
“NTA.” – dr_lucia
One Redditor suggested a way for the OP to get back at his ex-girlfriend.
“It’s an absolutely awesome prank. OP should learn to take a joke and take it further:”
“Here are a few ideas:”
“1. False reconciliation prank”
“2. False proposal prank (ex)”
“3. Sleep with that guy’s girlfriend prank”
“4. Play with her sister prank (a cousin she was jealous of is fine, too)”
“5. Bang her best friend prank”
“6. Breakup prank (my favorite!)”
“7. Ghost her prank”
“8. Find a new girlfriend prank”
“9. Propose to new girlfriend prank (with your new girlfriend’s permission, of course)”
“Have a good life prank.”
“Obviously NTA.” – Professional-Use7080
The OP was surprised when his ex-girlfriend also shared her perspective on Reddit.
“Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. I did not expect this many responses. Thank you guys.”
“She posted here earlier and sent me a link to her post.”
“I know she also wants me to watch the video to prove it was all set up and planned, but I feel she still doesn’t get that I am upset about her disregard and disrespect for me and our relationship.”
The OP’s girlfriend asked the AITAH subReddit:
“I think my boyfriend is overreacting for breaking up with me over my ‘caught cheating’ prank. AITAH?”
“My boyfriend posted here a few hours ago and shared the link with me to show me what people thought about what I did and that he is not overreacting. I thought I’d come on here and give my version of events for a more nuanced take.”
“I planned the cheating prank with our close mutual friend several days ago. We were hanging out and scrolling through TikTok videos and came across prank shorts between couples. We went down the rabbit hole and ended up watching YouTube videos of cheating pranks, and I mentioned it would be funny to try a cheating prank on my boyfriend to find out what his reaction would be.”
“He said he would do one with me, and I agreed because it was someone my boyfriend liked and trusted, so I thought it would be harmless.”
“It started out as a hypothetical plan, but over the course of the conversation and while hashing out details, it turned into a real plan, and we agreed to the day we would do it when my boyfriend would be out and come back home to find us ‘together.'”
“We set up the camera and filmed ourselves talking about the prank and set it up on top of the dresser in the bedroom and got into position. We were laughing throughout, and it is all on video. To make it believable, I told him to take off his shirt, and he said I should probably do the same, so we did.”
“Then he thought it would be even more believable and provide that shock factor if we also took off our pants. In hindsight, this was a terrible idea, but I agreed to it.”
“You know how the rest of the story went from his post. But what he didn’t mention is that he refused to watch the video I recorded, showing that it was a planned prank and that we only took off our clothes and got into sex position when we knew he was home.”
“I understand that this prank was over-the-top and hurtful to him, and for that, I am sorry. But I am not cheating on him, and I did not mean to disrespect our relationship.”
“I think his breaking up with me is a massive overreaction because other than this incident, which I now massively regret, our relationship was great. We shared two wonderful years together and moved in together over the summer.”
“I plan on deleting the video and won’t be sharing it on social media, but I will share it with him first for proof of my intentions.”
After receiving feedback, the OP shared an update.
“My ex-girlfriend was really upset with all the hate she received online and blamed me for painting her in a bad light. I told her I did no such thing, she just didn’t like that she got called out on her behavior.”
“The mutual friend who was part of the prank is now also p**sed off at me and saying I went way overboard. I told him them both to f**k off and have blocked their numbers.”
“Our friends have since started taking this more seriously after reading some of the comments on here, with a few taking my side and saying what my girlfriend and the friend did was horrible.”
“Others still think this was all unnecessary, and I should just have laughed it off and moved on.”
Even if this was meant to be a harmless TikTok prank video, many people believe that various TikTok trends are far from harmless, and for good reason.
Even if the OP had come to terms with this prank and believed there was nothing nefarious going on, he’d always have the memory of his girlfriend together in bed with someone else.
Though there were some people who argued against the OP’s reaction to his life, at the end of the day, his relationship should add happiness and peacefulness to his life, and it was clear from this prank that this relationship couldn’t provide that for him anymore.