Skip to main content

Epic ‘twerk girl fail’ video was just a Jimmy Kimmel lie

worst twerk fail video jimmy kimmel girl hoax
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This is why we can’t have nice things, Internet. Here we are, thinking the most amazing “twerk fail” video is real, that the girl in the video was idiotic enough to try an inverted twerk against her front door, that she accidentally smashed her booze-and-fire-covered table when someone opened the door against her, that she really did catch her yoga pants ablaze – only to find out that the whole thing was just a ploy by troll extraordinaire, Jimmy Kimmel.

That’s right, Jimmy Kimmel tricked us by posting the video to YouTube, and not telling a soul that it was produced by his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” a sad fact that he revealed last night.

“To the conspiracy theorists on the Internet who thought the video was fake: You were right, it was fake,” said Kimmel during the show, while sitting along side the video’s star, “Caitlin Heller” – whose name, of course, isn’t even Caitlin. Her real name is Daphne Avalon. And she is a professional stuntwoman.

Fun fact: The other girl in the video, who knocks Avalon into the table, really is named Caitlin. She’s a dancer and choreographer from Los Angeles. Also, if you want to see more of Avalon, she can be seen riding a horse in this Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 trailer. And more of her stunt work appears in the upcoming b-horror films The Hunted, as well as Nightmare Code, which is set for release next year. But considering how betrayed you might feel known that one of the Web’s greatest mishaps was just one giant lie, we wouldn’t blame you for holding a grudge.

Of course, we all should have seen this coming, as Kimmel is known for pulling fast ones where the Internet is concerned. For example, you know Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment? Well, at least some of those tweets were apparently faked

Original “Worst Twerk Fail EVER – Girl Catches Fire!”

Jimmy Kimmel’s lie revealed

Topics
Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more