AITA for pretending to be an “Appletarian” (eating only apple derived foods/drinks) for 3 weeks as a prank, causing my friends to have an intervention for me?

A man pulled an elaborate prank by pretending to be an “Appletarian” — someone who only eats apple-derived foods — for three weeks, convincing his friends and even his girlfriend that he was serious. His commitment led them to stage an intervention out of concern for his health. When he revealed it was all a joke, he expected laughter, but instead faced anger and even a breakup. Was it a clever prank taken too far, or are his friends overreacting? Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for pretending to be an “Appletarian” (eating only apple derived foods/drinks) for 3 weeks as a prank, causing my friends to have an intervention for me?’

I got the idea a few weeks ago to prank my friends my pretending to be an “Appletarian”, meaning somebody who only eats food products that are derived from apples and would only drink apple juice or apple cider.

I told them them all that I had read on the internet that eating only apples was the healthiest thing for you. When I first told them they thought I was joking, but they underestimated how committed I would be to a joke. So, whenever in the presence of one of my friends (or friend-of-friends/coworkers/etc who knew them) I was very careful to only be seen eating apples or drinking apple juice/cider.

Apples whole, apples diced, apple sauce, the inside of an apple pie, baked apples, candy apples with the chocolate shaved off, etc. Finally after about a week they bought that I had become an Appletarian. They started giving me information about how unhealthy it was to only eat apples, and growing increasingly exasperated by it. Some of them even got angry.

But I wanted to stick with the joke. Finally, after the end of 3 weeks, I walked into what I was told was a movie night but was actually an intervention for me. They were all super concerned about my well being and had all sorts of information or whatever. Finally I started laughing hysterically.

They were confused as hell so I told them I had been faking it the whole time and had been eating real meals outside their knowledge. I even took out some beef jerky from my pant pocket to prove it and munched it.

I thought they’d appreciate the joke but they were actually really annoyed. My girlfriend even broke up with me over this because a few days ago I had ruined our date night when I told the waiter I only wanted apples because I was an Appletarian and had “embarrassed her for a dumb joke”. In my opinion the joke was solid and they should appreciate my commitment to the prank.. But, did I go too far?

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

[Reddit User] −  NAH. I may be in a minority, but I think this is f**king funny as hell. I feel like your girlfriend over-reacted but maybe in the future, include girlfriend in said prank.

Edit: because I don’t want to reply to this several times. When I mention including girlfriend in the prank, I mean either his now ex if they get back together or any future girlfriends.

Not_Mt_Everest −  NTA absolute legend. That level of commitment is on par with the method acting of Daniel Day Lewis. Thanks for the late night laugh.

Kerlysis −  NAH, but the date thing is really pushing it

[Reddit User] −  YTA. Probably. Seems like you must have gone too far, since people got genuinely worried for you, and your gf broke up with you. Personally, I admire your commitment to the joke.

Then again, I once made a friend cry because she never knew when to worry and when not to because another friend and I would always make stuff up. Turns out it is probably better to be kind to others and consider their feelings than to feel awesome about the pranking.

CatsGambit −  YTA. Look, I get a good joke. I get a long running prank. But no matter how good you think the prank is, ignoring how everyone else feels with the assumption that they’ll come around is a terrible idea.

You did this joke for WEEKS. That means you had weeks to recognise them getting worried. To recognise them getting annoyed with you. To recognise how you were hurting your girlfriend. FFS, they staged an intervention for you! Do you have any idea how serious that is?

They were genuinely worried for you; worried enough that they risked you getting angry with them, you storming out, permanent damage to their relationships with you… and your reaction to their genuine concern and love was to “laugh hysterically”.

Again. Your reaction to their show of love and concern was to laugh hysterically. You may have had good intentions, but somewhere along the way, you lost the thread and went too far. Apologize.

Viselli −  NTA. Your gf is an a**hole for breaking up with you after embarrassing her once. I’m sure that if you asked people I have dated they would say I embarrassed them on a weekly basis in one way or another

Planeswalking101 −  I’m going to say that YTA because you drew it out so long. If it took your friends literally having to set up an intervention, than there’s an issue (although, props to your friends for being so concerned about your wellbeing).

Lenethren −  YTA You knew they were getting worried but kept it going. A joke should be fun for everyone. Pushing it til they did an intervention was definitely wrong. And tbh, I’m thinking this is likely a troll post, cause seriously how can you not see that causing worry (which means you caused them stress too) isn’t a joke.

Cerebella −  YTA. Your prank was to convince people who care deeply about you that you are mentally ill, because let’s be honest, only someone going through an eating disorder or a psychotic break would eat only apples for three weeks straight. You may as well have pretended to be an a**oholic, or pretended to be having chronic daily migraines.

Perhaps some of the people you fooled have (or had) eating disorders themselves, or watched another loved one go through one. Try putting yourself in their shoes: imagine that someone you loved started displaying bizarre, unhealthy beliefs and behaviours, out of the blue, for three solid weeks, despite how much it worried or angered the people around them.

And when you finally muster the courage to confront your loved one to try and get them help, they laugh at you for trusting them and caring for them. Would that leave a sour taste in your mouth?

logictoinsanity −  YTA. Look man I get a good joke, but keeping something going for weeks when it’s clearly upsetting people, and ruining a date night all for a stupid joke? that’s messed up. They were worried about you, they thought you were hurting yourself, and you were f**king with them. You took it to far, you need to apologize.

Pranks can be funny, but sometimes the line between humor and harm gets blurred. Was this a harmless joke that required commitment, or did he cross into disrespectful territory? Share your thoughts below!