Epic April Fools Prank Played on New England Native Tom Bergeron

New England Celebrities

New England has produced (and is home to) a bunch of successful celebrities -- Patrick Dempsey, Anna Kendrick, John Cena -- just to quickly name a few (and in no particular order.)

However, one of the most successful to come out of the area has to without a doubt be Tom Bergeron.

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Tom Bergeron

Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, according to his IMDb page, Tom was actually a local radio host in New Hampshire before hitting it big in Hollywood, hosting multiple shows like Breakfast Time, America's Funniest Home Videos, and probably the show he's more recognized for hosting (and missed most on) -- Dancing With the Stars.

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Another show that some many forget Tom hosted in the early 2000s -- a reboot of Hollywood Squares, which is where an epic prank was played on Tom during the taping of a show that would air on April Fools Day.

Hollywood Squares April Fools Joke

Just over 20 years ago in 2003 while Tom was hosting Hollywood Squares (which was produced by iconic actor Henry Winkler), Henry and some of the other producer staff had the idea to not only prank Tom, but all of the celebrities on the panel, while taping the show that would air on April 1.

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So, the staff hired two professional actors to portray the contestants for that day's show, and what happened next was a bunch of uncomfortable facial reactions from Tom and some of the celebrities, insults flung from one contestant, random crying from the other, and just a job well done.

Here are quick highlights of what went down:

Honestly, considering the actor who played the contestant Ed was clearly leaning into the role of being an absolute rude jerk, props to Tom for keeping his composure while also sneaking in some verbal middle finger jabs, but in a playful way so he didn't come out of the situation looking bad.

Watch the full episode below to see a lot of the behind the scenes moments that were captured as well not shown in the quick sample above that make the whole prank even funnier.