Vincenzo Nibali Gets Pranked on Italian TV, Melts Down

What’s more surprising about Italian TV pranks: that they go all-in and take everything way too far, or that they even still broadcast pranks at all? Come on, guys. It’s not the early 1990s and your presenter in a bikini is no Jeremy Beadle.

Anyway, they pranked Vinny Nibz. We’ll describe/explain it, but first we’ll embed it so you can dive straight in and watch if you want to.

(Link here, in case they realise we figured out how to steal their content.)

Did you watch it? Have you learned a lot of new Italian swear words? Here’s some context:

Nibali’s fellow cyclists Alberto Bettiol, Domenico Pozzovivo, and Diego Ulissi were part of the prank, which was on the comedy show Le Iene (The Hyenas). He rides with Bettiol and Ulissi, thinking he’s part of a publicity video for the region. Pozzovivo texts him saying he’s seen Nibali’s car parked at a hotel down the street. Ulissi mentions Nibali’s wife is working on an investment, and Pozzovivo sends a photo of the meeting. Nibali hauls ass over there like he’s trying a solo break in an early 2010s Italian race.

He finds his wife, who’s signing a contract for a €2M nursing home. He fills his diaper and throws the contract around and so on. Then his agents, also in on the prank, assure him that the contract is legally binding because it’s fully counter signed. He throws his helmet too. So passionate. We’d probably just sigh or something.

The intermediary returns and tells Nibali he’ll tear up the contract for a night with his wife. Nibali says no and that they’ll pay the two million. That reaction was for the best, since he was on camera.

To add insult to injury, the intermediary rides off on Nibali’s bike. Nibali slips and slides through the hotel lobby, grabs Bettiol’s bike, and sets off in pursuit. Then the prank is revealed, and we get to type ‘stronzi’ into Google Translate.

All very funny. We prefer highbrow comedy, like writing scatological jokes about press releases we get sent, but there’s certainly a place for watching Vinny Nibz absolutely shit his pants on TV.

Cipollini Did It Better

We’re biased, of course, but Italian TV pranked Cipollini back in day, and the crew barely survived to tell the tale. This was already on Derailed, so we’ll save it for Thursday. See you then!