Controversial prankster and TV personality Ramez Galal had a rare moment of grace yesterday.
Responding to an ad for 57357 Hospital, Galal went to visit Faridah, a young cancer patient who had expressed a desire to see him. He posted selfies of himself with Faridah on Facebook, saying he would “visit her at the end of the world” if needed.
“I hope you become the doctor you aspire to be,” he said in a video.
The star made a name for himself on his MBC TV show, which changes title year by year; 2017’s iteration is called Ramez Underground (“Ramez Taht al-Ard”). The show has the host play horrific “pranks” on unsuspecting celebrities: namely, he makes people think they’re about to die, and then laughs about it.
Ramez Plays with Fire, for example, brought celebrities to a skyscraper which is then seemingly set ablaze. The celebrity is rushed to the roof of a building,where a helicopter—a snickering Galal inside—awaits. (A kind reminder: Grenfell Tower, in London, UK, burned this week, killing at least 17 people, with numbers possibly rising to 100.) Victim Steven Seagal was so angry he beat Galal unconscious.
In this year’s iteration, Galal brings-out the funny by making people think they’re about to drown in quicksand; to add an extra HAHA to the horror, he also has the celebrity’s driver pretend he’s died. And then, as the celebrity begins sinking into the sand, they're treated to a human-sized lizard appearing on a rock (Ramez in a suit, but arguably, this is only his true form).
The show, despite being subject to wide condemnation, is popular in the Middle East.
