A group of friends hatched an elaborate prank to trick their ladies’ man friend into believing he was travelling to a luxurious hotel in Italy to star on Channel 4’s First Dates.
Singleton Johnpaul Offord thought he was being whisked away for an all expenses paid trip to Lake Como where he hoped he would meet the date of his dreams.
But in reality, the 30-year-old was being stitched up by his football teammates who wanted to teach him a lesson.
Johnpaul Offord excitedly thought he was being invited to take part in First Dates Hotel
Enthusiastic Johnpaul was over the moon to stay at the luxurious five star Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni where rooms start at £500 (above)
The 30-year-old was being stitched up by his football teammates who wanted to teach him a lesson. From back: Dan field, Aaron Spreadbury, Johnpaul, Flávio Cappiello and Nick Stearn
Friends played the joke on Johnpaul to teach him a lesson because of his ‘ego the size of Lake Como’
Pal Daniel Field, also 30, who helped come up with the plan, told MailOnline: ‘He is a real ladies’ man with an ego the size of Lake Como.
‘He kept going on about how he couldn’t wait to appear on TV and get a blue tick on Twitter.’
The next series of the show is being filmed in a romantic location in Southern Italy where smooth maître d’ Fred Siriex and his team will welcome a host of hopefuls looking for love.
The practical joke all started when the former Ibiza bartender told his friends he had applied to be sent out there.
Mr Field said it was then they decided to set up a fake email account and pretend their mate had been accepted to appear on the overseas edition.
He explained: ‘He stupidly told us boys about it and three or four days later, we made up an email address and sent him a message from a fake TV production company.
‘We had him hooked straight away. I went on TripAdvisor to find the best hotel money could buy in Italy and one of our mates who is a graphic designer mocked up a very life-like looking itinerary to send him which included pictures of this hotel.’
Enthusiastic Johnpaul was apparently over the moon to stay at the luxurious five star Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni where rooms start at £500 a night.
Johnpaul was sent a photograph of a woman he thought he would meet while filming the show, with this image appearing as her Whatsapp profile
When Johnpaul checked the WhatsApp profile of his prospective date, he noticed a dramatic difference – the picture of a woman had been replaced with a snap of his teammates, the Chertsey Old Salesians FC. Johnpaul is the goalie in green, Daniel Field is far right
The penny drops: Johnpaul took to Facebook to share his anger after realising he had been the victim of a cruel joke – but his friends say he did later get over it
The 30-year-old fell for his friend’s elaborate hoax, and only realised once he had arrived in Milan
The cunning group of friends asked the full-time floorer which date he would like to fly out for filming and then booked him a flight on budget airline EasyJet for Friday September 29
The group created an account for a producer, who appeared to be asking Johnpaul for dietary requirements while giving him specific details about the trip
Mr Field described his friend, who he had known since they attended Salesian School together, as someone who looked after his appearance and after being single for two years, wanted to meet new people.
‘Down the pub, Johnpaul told us he couldn’t say where he was going in case we sent champagne to the room or something. He was talking about it for weeks, even I started believing it myself,’ Mr Field said.
The cunning group of friends then asked the full-time floorer which date he would like to fly out for filming and then booked him a flight on budget airline EasyJet for Friday September 29.
‘We couldn’t quite believe it, by this point 20 of us knew and we even had a WhatsApp group. The whole of Chertsey was talking about it, it’s staggering he didn’t find out,’ he said.
The scheming pals created a fake brochure and even began messaging him pretending to be his prospective date.
‘He was talking about it for weeks, he was posting to Facebook and said he couldn’t wait to meet Fred the waiter,’ Mr Field said.
‘We didn’t have a plan for how we were going to tell him the truth at this point. I’d been WhatsApping him off my dad’s phone pretending to be the girl he was meeting. It was hilarious, he kept saying, ‘I think she fancies me’.’
Poor Johnpaul completely fell for the joke, exchanging excited messages with what he thought was the team behind the show
The practical joke all started when the former Ibiza bartender told his friends he had applied to go on First Dates Hotel – so they took the opportunity to prank him
After arriving in Italy, Johnpaul messaged the ‘producer’ asking where the driver was. His sneaky friends back home made up excuses and told him to go to a different terminal which he did – and then pretended a tyre had blown up on the motorway
Johnpaul’s one way ticket to Milan only coast £58 – but he had to pay some 250 euros to get home the same day – though the pranksters did later reimburse him
Mr Field said 22 of them were in on the prank in total, all coming up with innovative ways to trick their friend.
The night before Johnpaul was due to fly to Milan, the group voted on whether or not they should go through with it.
As Johnpaul posted to Facebook: ‘4am alarm’ in reference to his flight, 20 of his pals voted in favour of continuing with the joke. Two decided against, saying it was ‘harsh’.
Excited about his special day, Johnpaul splashed out on a new outfit and got up at 4am to make the short journey from his home in Chertsey to Gatwick Airport where he flew out to Milan.
The 30-year-old has now officially been invited to appear on the programme First Dates which is due to be recorded later this year
Even after arriving in the Italian city, the television hopeful didn’t still clock on. ‘He messaged the ‘producer’ asking where the driver was,’ Mr Field said.
Sneaky friends back home made up excuses and told him to go to a different terminal which he did – and then pretended a tyre had blown up on the motorway.
But finally at around 1pm, the penny began to drop.
As Johnpaul checked the WhatsApp profile of his prospective date, he noticed a dramatic difference – the picture of an attractive woman had been replaced with a snap of his teammates.
‘He was livid,’ the 30-year-old prankster said. ‘He took it very badly at first and for a couple of days didn’t talk to anyone. He flew back the same day, he moaned a lot about it but I think he’s alright now.
‘His ego has taken a bit of a bashing. I thought he would take it better than he did but he said we took it took far, we should have stopped at Gatwick.
‘The whole of Chertsey has been speaking about it so I’m not surprised he’s a little upset,’ he added.
As Johnpaul posted to Facebook: ‘4am alarm’ in reference to his flight, 20 of his pals voted in favour of continuing with the joke. Two decided against, saying it was ‘harsh’
Excited about his special day, Johnpaul splashed out on a new outfit and got up at 4am to make the short journey from his home in Chertsey to Gatwick Airport where he flew out to Milan
When asked whether he thought it was mean, he said: ‘If we did this prank to someone with not a lot of confidence, it could be mean but he is the sort of person we knew would take it well.
‘He’s a proper ladies’ man.’
Johnpaul’s one-way ticket to Milan only cost £58 but he had to pay some 250 euros to get home the same day – though the pranksters did later reimburse him.
However there is a silver lining for Mr Field’s poor friend, he revealed.
The 30-year-old has now officially been invited to appear on the programme of First Dates which is due to be recorded later this year.
The excited singleton kept his friends updated on his trip on social media
The 30-year-old continued to exchange messages with what he thought was a potential love interest
Johnpaul’s friend Steve Bridgeman told MailOnline: ‘I felt really guilty because he asked to borrow my hand carry the night before and was talking to me for half an hour about the trip!
‘I then waved him off and told him to have a good time knowing full well what was coming! I still haven’t got my bag back.’
Craig Woodley, 31, from Woking, added: ‘A couple of days before the flight we had a group vote on whether we should go through with it, yes won by 18 votes to two!
‘I then messaged Johnpaul and offered to take him to the airport at 3am for his flight.’
Their cohort Richard Frame added: ‘I was the one who nearly let the cat out of the bag about the whole story buy screenshotting a story from Jean Pauls snapchat, unaware it informed that person this had been done.
‘Luckily JP was already on the plane on his way to Milan when this happened otherwise he may have realised sooner!’
Johnpaul has been contacted for comment.