Presuming that leaked reports of Justin Bieber hosting a new "Punk'd" are not themselves an elaborate Hollywood prank — color us skeptical here — producers of the MTV franchise have already run into a problem.
Everybody now knows the Biebs is doing it, which will make it all the harder to pull off.
Former "Punk'd" host Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg will executive produce through their company Katalyst Media, with the pint-sized teen pop phenom as host, according to Vulture and Deadline.com.
MTV isn't confirming the reports, and a person with knowledge of the project told TheWrap that producers are worrying about being able to execute their pranks now that information about the new "Punk'd" has leaked.
Kutcher and Goldberg created the original version of "Punk'd," which aired on MTV for eight seasons from 2003-2008. The show featured Kutcher staging practical jokes on his fellow celebrities. Kutcher also served as executive producer.
The new "Punk'd" brings together a pair of social media powerhouses for MTV. Between the two of them, Bieber and Kutcher have more than 11 million combined Twitter followers.
But even with everything out in the open, the "Punk'd" team should be well-equipped to deal with the lack of secrecy surrounding the show. "Punk'd" was able to continue for a long amount of time even though Kutcher was featured on air.
