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Tiger King star Carole Baskin tricked into first interview since show aired

Sanctuary owner has avoided the media after revealing she was unhappy with how she was portrayed on the show

Roisin O'Connor
Monday 04 May 2020 07:21 BST
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Gogglebox viewers in hysterics as stars watch 'bonkers' Tiger King

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Tiger King star Carole Baskin was apparently tricked into a fake interview after being led to believe she was appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show.

Unlike other stars of the hit Netflix documentary, Baskin had not given interviews until now because she was unhappy with how the series presented her.

However, pranksters Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, who have more than a million YouTube subscribers, reached out to Baskin under the guise of producers booking interviews for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The pair made the most of the fact that the majority of late-night hosts are running virtual broadcasts of their shows from home.

A video shows emails between them and Baskin, who only agrees to appear on the show in order to discuss her animal sanctuary, and not the events detailed in Tiger King.

Pieters and Manners convinced Baskin by playing saved audio clips of Fallon talking about cats, to make it seem like a real conversation was taking place. They also pretended to talk to the crew off-camera, explaining that Baskin would be unable to see Fallon on-screen.

The pair may have been disappointed, however, as Baskin stuck resolutely to her topics of caring for the animals in her sanctuary while in quarantine, and her hope that people will support it.

Tiger King is available to watch on Netflix now.

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