John Cena is partnering up with “celebrity hypnotist” Chris Jones on new Facebook Watch prank series, “Double Take.” The Loud TV show premieres on Sept. 5.
In addition to Cena, who will appear in Episode 1, other stars to be featured over the first six episodes include Adam Rippon, Steve-O, NeNe Leakes, Gabriel Iglesias and Pamela Anderson.
The WWE Superstar will executive produce the series via his Hard Nocks South banner. For ITV America’s Loud TV, Nick Rigg, David George, Simon Thomas and Adam Dolgins are executive producers. Ken Schwab is executive producer for Ken Schwab Media, and David Bulhack also serves as executive producer.
Here is the show’s (lengthy) official description:
In each 12 to 15-minute episode of “Double Take,” hypnotist and prankster extraordinaire Chris Jones conspires with a different celebrity to give one adoring fan the surprise of a lifetime: meeting and interacting with their idol in a range of everyday circumstances, though – under hypnosis – unable to recognize them.
At the beginning of each installment, one unwitting superfan will meet with Jones, who poses as a “producer” sent to help orchestrate a meeting with the fan’s favorite celebrity. Briefing them on the day’s events, Jones also offers quick “relaxation tips and techniques” for the upcoming meeting – though, in reality, he is actually hypnotizing the unsuspecting fan.
Once in that state, participants are assigned a task related to the upcoming meeting, along with an “associate” who offers assistance. However, unbeknownst to the fan, their helper is, in fact, the star they’ve been dying to meet!
Without any disguise, each celebrity appears as just another person to the hypnotized fan, and as they interact, Jones continues to serve as puppet master, giving the fan ongoing and hilarious direction via an earpiece. When he finally brings them out of hypnosis, Jones reveals on a playback monitor that the celebrity encounter they’ve been anticipating has already occurred. Fueling the shock and surprise, the celebrity reemerges to properly meet and thank their devoted fan.
Watch a teaser for the series above.
“Loud is always looking for exciting new avenues into established genres and formats, and ‘Double Take’ is our opportunity to put a major spin on the celebrity-fan encounter,” Loud TV president Nick Rigg said in a statement. “We’re ecstatic to have John and Chris as our creative partners, as well as the ultimate platform, Facebook, for sharing this unprecedented content.”
Here is how the debut episode, “John Cena Gives His Superfan the Surprise of a Lifetime,” will go down:
Kristin – a die-hard John Cena fan who has used his “never give up” mantra to better her life, and is even planning her Cena-themed wedding — has been told she’ll have the opportunity to decorate and then present a birthday cake to her hero. What she doesn’t realize while under hypnosis is that the “expert baker” she’s working with is actually Cena; and while he is a master of many disciplines, cake decorating is not one of them! Kristin’s frustrations rise as the baker (Cena) crafts a disastrous cake, until, in a heartfelt moment, she is brought out of hypnosis and officially introduced to the source of her inspiration.