The “incredible prank” involved dozens of actors, a pair of military jets, the footballer’s best mate and pet dog. It reportedly cost £200,00 and left the player quite upset
There are few things worse than a bad flight.
You know, the ones where the food is grim, babies on board are yelling and (checks notes) a pair of scientists sitting next to you manage to break Einstein’s second rule of thermodynamics and time travel the plane two years into the future.
Sound ridiculous? Well yeah, of course it does, but that didn’t stop former Arsenal, Everton and Sweden cult hero Anders Limpar from believing he’d undergone exactly that while onboard a flight back in 1997.
To be fair to Anders, he didn’t fall for it entirely by his own volition. In fact, Swedish hidden camera show Blåsningen spent an awful lot of money and time on tricking the then Everton player into thinking he’d lost two years of his life, in an elaborate prank that involved dozens of actors, a pair of military jets, and even Limpar’s best mate.
The prank begins at the airport, with Limpar and his pal Dan (who is very much in on the gag) saying goodbye to Dan’s wife and new pet puppy. Once on board, Limpar finds himself next to a pair of excited scientists, who tell him they believe they may have discovered a method for travelling through time, even pulling out a doctored newspaper article to convince the footballer.
Once the aircraft takes off, the scientists begin tinkering on a computer, before suddenly announcing that they have managed to travel two years into the future.
Immediately, the plane begins to dip and shake about, before two military jets are spotted flying close by. Meanwhile, the frantic pilot (making sure to stay in earshot of Limpar) begins speaking to air traffic control, who let him know that the whole flight has been missing for two years.
“Something strange has happened”, Limpar can be heard remarking, which to be honest is a very fair assessment of his situation.
Upon landing, Limpar and the other passengers are greeted by a senior army officer, who tells them their statues have been erected outside City Hall in honour of their “heroic” achievement.
The officer also claims that Norway, fierce rivals of Sweden, had gone on to become unlikely winners of the 1998 World Cup, much to Limpar’s total disbelief.
In a cruel twist, the ex-Arsenal man is also told that, due to his unexplained disappearance, his family have also already held a funeral for him, thinking the plane must have crashed.
To further add to the prank, Limpar and Dan are reunited with Dan’s wife and pet dog, who has apparently grown from a small puppy into a fully developed hound. “The dog is bloody enormous,” Limpar exclaims.
In the final twist, the officer announces the arrival of the King of Norway. “His Majesty”, after indulging in a little more make-believe, finally reveals himself to be Lennart Swahn, the host of the prank show and mastermind behind the whole ruse. “Now it’s time to turn time back! Anders, welcome to the best prank of 1997!”, he declares.
Incredibly, Limpar has since revealed that the prank took place over several days, and that he was at the airport for more than 24 hours.
Speaking to Ladbrokes, he described how meticulous every stage of the ruse was. He said: “This prank went on for two days, by the way. It wasn’t just a quick joke. We landed the plane and they took us straight into a hanger…The whole production was so cleverly done. I felt it was all real. It was absolutely crazy.”
“I was later told that – back in the day – their normal production budget per stunt was £10,000; this one was £200,000.”
While mostly seeming light-hearted, Limpar’s description of some aspects of the prank makes for difficult reading.
“It was such a horrible feeling. We thought we were dead. When we landed, we were told they’d had funerals for us and everything, because apparently the assumption was that we’d died.”
“Apparently they’d done something similar with a Canadian guy two years before me, and he actually had to have psychological help afterwards because he was in such a bad state.”
Unsurprisingly, the Sweden international wasn’t too happy in the aftermath of the show airing.
“I was angry with it all, because it made me a laughing stock in Sweden. They asked me if they could sell the whole thing as a DVD, I said no.
“Look, it was an incredible prank, so funny when I look back now, and I felt so many emotions at the time. I was happy when it all ended, but when everyone in the country laughed at me for years afterwards… that was hard to deal with.
“It affected my personality, my profile, whatever you want to call it, because I was just seen as this laughing stock.”
