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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Roblin family's prank lands on video laugh-fest

Airs on Feb. 19; results top-secret

By: Jason Bell

Posted: 02/11/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

SUBMITTED PHOTO From left, Gwen Becker, Heather Becker, host Tom Bergeron, Connie Werschler and Elmer Werschler in California last month.

Roblin's funniest home video is about to hit the big time.

An entertaining clip of the Becker family pulling a fast one on poor Auntie Connie will be featured on the hit TV show America's Funniest Home Videos on Sunday, Feb. 19.

Heather Becker sent in the video of the practical joke to AFV in November, and producers of the ABC show were duly impressed -- so much so that they flew Heather and her mom, Gwen, both of Roblin, along with Connie and Elmer Werschler, of Langenburg, Sask., to California last month to tape an upcoming episode.

The video is one of three that qualified for the weekly $10,000 first-place prize, as voted on by the studio audience that watched it on Jan. 7. The second- and third-place clips earn $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.

Asked Thursday how they fared, Heather said she couldn't spill the beans. She said AFV, which has been on the air for more than 20 years and is syndicated in over 50 countries around the world, also forbids providing the video to the Free Press.

If the video did win the weekly top prize, it automatically qualified for the next competition round and $100,000.

Gwen said the experience -- including her first trip to Los Angeles and quick stops on the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard -- was a blast.

"It was really exciting," she said, noting show host Tom Bergeron -- also the host of Dancing with the Stars -- was "really likeable... just so down-to-earth."

The practical joke itself was orchestrated and videotaped more than three years ago during a Thanksgiving celebration in Saskatchewan and had become part of the Becker family folklore long before its most recent fame.

"We've watched (AFV) for a long time, off and on, and we always said, "That thing with Auntie Connie is so funny... it would win.' But we were never serious about it," said Gwen.

Then, on a whim when she was supposed to be studying for exams in November, Heather sent the clip in through the AFV website.

Let's let Gwen, the person behind the video camera, explain the caper:

"My husband (Mark) and son (Trent) were each holding the end of a plank... a big piece of wood strong enough to support someone standing on it," she said. "Connie was blindfolded and then stepped on the board on the floor, then Heather stood in front of the board and Connie put her hands on Heather's head. We told her it was a game of trust and she had to trust us that she wouldn't fall or get hurt.

"(Mark and Trent) start lifting the plank about two inches off the ground, but they are shaking it a bit as if they are struggling to lift her. As this was happening, Heather started to bend her knees and lower herself, so Connie thought she was being lifted higher. Heather then jumped away and Connie was no longer touching her -- and we told her to jump!

"She was screaming like crazy... trying to keep her balance," Gwen recalled, with a laugh. "Then she jumped off the board, expecting a big three-foot drop, but it's just a few inches, so she lost her balance and fell over. She took off the blindfold and she's just laughing."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 11, 2012 A13

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