One of the biggest YouTube stars on the planet has got more than he bargained for on a trip to Australia after he fell victim to an epic prank in Sydney.
IShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr, is a 19-year-old American YouTuber and live streamer from Ohio, widely known as Speed, who is currently on tour in Australia.
With over 33 million subscribers on YouTube, he built much of his career around his humorous rivalry with Lionel Messi and admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Speed is also recognised for his high-energy challenges against famous athletes, including racing Paris Olympics 100m champion Noah Lyles in a 50m sprint, and for his daring stunts, such as jumping over a speeding Lamborghini.
In recent months, he has appeared on WWE, met Cristiano Ronaldo, and even held a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Speed live-streamed his first day in Sydney, visiting a host of iconic local spots including the Taronga Zoo and Bondi Beach.
YouTube star Ishowspeed has touched down in Australia and is visiting a host of iconic Sydney attractions which he is live streaming to his audience
Speed was stunned when this mobile billboard appeared in front of him outside Taronga Zoo
As Speed was leaving Taronga Zoo, a car horn beeping could be heard to attract his attention.
He looked over and saw a mobile billboard with an image on it that immediately made him angry.
The billboard featured a photoshopped image of Speed appearing to kiss Messi while saying ‘Messi is better than Ronaldo’
It also included the message ‘If Speed sub to YT: @StanYM I remove’.
That handle belongs to another prolific YouTuber Stanley Chen, who has built his enormous audience on pranking celebrities – now including Speed.
When Speed saw the mobile billboard, he lost his mind.
‘Yo, yo, yo, what the hell is that?’ he demanded.
‘What the f***? Come back, come back,’ he continued to yell as the mobile billboard drove away.
Speed was not happy at the prank and demanded to know who was behind it from the driver
‘What the hell is this? Who is in this car? Stop the car.’
Things then started to heat up as he pushed one of his assistants out of the way to get to the cab of the mobile billboard.
‘What the hell is this?’ he demanded again at the stunned driver who was just getting paid to do his job.
The plot thickened as the “assistant” that Speed pushed revealed himself to be Chen. The YouTuber later taunted Speed even further over the stunt.
‘I don’t know why @ishowspeedsui didn’t like my billboard pic,’ he posted to social media.
The prank put a sour note on the visit to the iconic Sydney view, where Speed got o meet a kangaroo for the first time.
‘Damn, they look big in person,’ he said as the red kangaroo ambled up.
‘You should see the males, this is the female,’ the wildlife carer said.
‘Oh s*** look at those legs,’ Speed said in awe.
‘Powerful legs, absolutely,’ the wildlife career assured him.
‘Chat, this is a kangaroo. Oh my god you’re so cute,’ he said.
Speed met a kangaroo for the first time on a trip to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo – and it wasn’t long before he told the keeper he wanted to race against the marsupial
Speed then asked what was the difference between the red kangaroo and the pademelons [another type of Australian marsupial] behind him.
After seeing the footage, Speed’s enormous following started to egg him on, challenging him to race the Aussie marsupial.
‘Speed vs kangaroo,’ one commented.
‘Can I race him? Somebody said kangaroos are fast, I want to race him,’ Speed asked the wildlife carer.
That suggestion was quickly shot down, but the zoo worker did tell Speed ‘I think they would win’ which he disagreed with heavily.
‘Yo, you want to race?’ he asked the kangaroo.
Sadly, the kangaroo declined.