Tonight on 20/20 ` # Soaking up the gamma rays and I'm blazed like it's just another Saturday... # NZ's musical misfits, Home Brew. We just didn't want to be anybody's slave. So how did they get to the top of the charts? He's like a true artist ` is that one minute he's really eloquent and well spoken. The next minute he's completely fucking crazy. And can they survive their own success? She told her boyfriend she had cancer... Isn't there a way to get his attention besides saying you're dying? ...and conned a town into paying for her wedding. Some of their benefactors say they were a little surprised to see the bride with just months to live partying like there was no tomorrow. And we meet a couple famous for their prank war. What the <BLEEP>? What the <BLEEP>? What the <BLEEP>? Ow! They don't get even; they go viral with their own YouTube channel. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora, I'm Sonya Wilson. They've been called fearless by some, crazy by others. You could once have also called them underground, but perhaps not any more, not since their first full-length album went to number one on the charts, the first Kiwi hip-hop release to do so since Scribe way back in 2003. Geniuses or misfits, take your pick, but there's no denying it ` Home Brew have struck a chord with the disaffected youth and music critics alike, so who are the Home Brew crew really? Well, you're about to find out, but be warned, this is a story about a controversial hip-hop act. It's full of drink and drug references and a wee bit of swearing. GIRLS LAUGH We saw them like coming in the van, and we were, like, Oh my God.' We saw them like coming in the van, and we were, like, Oh my God.' Yeah. Home Brew are coming to grips with being world famous in NZ. # Gonna live a what... # They're from NZ, and they're so, like` They're from NZ, and they're so, like` They're so cool. Fuck fame and fortune. I just want some fortune, but we ain't got none. # You got the money. Give it up. They're that group your parents don't approve of. # Don't be a picky <BLEEP>. Pick a <BLEEP>. # You could say that Home Brew have done their best, in fact, to get the industry to hate them. Fuck Black Seeds shit. This ain't Wellington. They've refused to bow to record labels,... We can do what the fuck we want to. ...to anyone, in fact, who wanted them to do it any way other than their own. They are a very self-destructive unit. # We only got one. # They've publicly insulted radio stations, created music so full of swearing and drug references that no mainstream commercial station could play it. # White lungs, got some. Sniff it up. # Yet despite all of that, last month their album went straight to number one. CROWD CHEERS Smile for the camera. So, who are these guys, and how the hell did they do it? RAPS: # So suck my... We can't say that on 20/20. # All we doin' is sittin around drinkin beer. I wish I had plen'y hen'y. Ain't goin' anywhere. # We're just tryin' to appear like we more than just some drunk cats drinkin' beer... # Tom Scott, Haz Huavi and Lui Gumaka, better known as Home Brew, make no apologies for themselves. You know, I was lying in bed today. I was thinking I could either get out of it or get out of it. Like... LAUGHTER LAUGHTER You know, like, without music I've got no reason to get up. Like, I just have nothing that I love this much. They're not shy about their lifestyle ` it's plastered all over their videos ` and they make no attempt to hide the beers or the weed when our cameras are around Smoking, not our future. Do you not worry the police are gonna see that kind of thing and`? I hope` I hope it makes a massive scene. I hope that, um, it gets it into the, um, light of the public eye, because marijuana should not be illegal, man. because marijuana should not be illegal, man. It should be decriminalised. But alcohol ` I think I'm more ashamed for promoting alcohol, to be honest. Says the front man of a group called Home Brew. But Home Brew is supposed to represent anti-establishment. RAPS: # We don't even need the bullshit that we see. # 2020's all good if they gonna portray us in the right way. # What is the right way to portray Home Brew? I'm not too sure. There's quite a few ways to portray us. All right, so we're gonna try anyway, starting in Avondale, West Auckland. HOME BREW'S 'BASKETBALL' We used to come to this park every day after school when we were kids, and then we started hanging out. Yeah. Yeah. Been friends ever since. # This basketball court tells my life without no more talk. # Footprints still in the floor for when my... I wanted to be in the NBA. It sounds stupid, but that's what I wanted to be. Like, that's why there's a line in that song ` 'I never would have made the NBA anyway.' Coming to grips with your dreams and that. # And whenever we play, I remember the day... I'd just play ball, muck around. And it kind of, like, gives you time with your thoughts, I think. Yeah, just cos there's nothing on your mind but get it in that hoop. It teaches you a lot about, like, achieving things. # 3ft tall... # Tom Scott is the son of a Kiwi girl and an English jazz musician, so, perhaps not surprisingly, music won out over basketball. Charlie's house, Falisi's house. Pretty much this was a just like a village to us cos it's a dead-end street, so everyone knows each other. so everyone knows each other. You wrote a song about this street? Uh, something like that. We just to play touch down here, so the song's, like, "'Car coming!' "'Hey, bro, can I play?' Yeah, you can be on our side. The try line's the driveway.'" And that's the driveway there. I didn't want him to be a musician. I didn't want him to be in music, because it's such a tough life. It's, you know` It's, um` They're so poor all the time. HIP-HOP MUSIC So, are you pleased that he stuck with the music? Yeah. I mean, now that he's` he's pretty successful, although he thinks he's a failure because he's now number one. (LAUGHS) Because he wants to be all underground. I don't really get the underground thing. I'm, like, 'Get out there and make money. Do gigs.' RAPS: # I'm sitting round soaking up the gamma rays and I'm blazed like it's just another Saturday. # I don't care. I'm in ecstasy cos I'm sipping on my Texas tea. # I don't really like hearing the drug references and I don't like the swearing, but I do love some of it, and, um, there's some brilliant writing in there. RAPS: # Understand why these days our reason will grow. Slave labour. # Tom spends hours shut away in his room, listening to beats,... I think music always sounds like a particular colour. ...writing lyrics... I think this sounds real like blue. ...and keeping up the constant conversation with fans on Facebook and Twitter. We posted this one clip, and I had to disable the comments cos it was just getting mad, ignorant. And, yes, he lives at home with his mum. Going number one in NZ might mean fame, but it doesn't necessarily mean fortune. Show them the phone. Show them the phone. LAUGHTER Can someone buy Lui a phone, please? Send in your money to this address. We'll get to buy a phone. Yeah. Yeah. What is that, bro? Half a megapixel? I don't want to waste my whole life digging holes and sorting mail. Like, I'd rather be a broke-arse doing what he loves. Like, I'd rather smile all day with no money, you know? That's a dollar! That's a dollar! That's a dollar! That's a dollar! Oh shit! We just fucking found a dollar each! So, what's the wrong way to portray Home Brew? People thinking we wake up to drinking and doing drugs all day and then go to sleep doing the same thing. I get that asked every now and then. 'OK, are you drunk now?' It's, like, 'No. It's 12 o'clock. I'm going to work. Nah.' But can you understand why people might think that? The thing is that we don't write songs only about that. It's that those songs, for some reason, are most popular, so what's it saying about culture? That's the next question you've got to ask. Why is Home Brew so popular? Why are all these kids, like, so keen to go get drunk and get stoned all the time? Why am I so keen to get drunk and stoned all the time? RAPS: 38 degrees Celsius. I'm, like, 'Where the hell's the piss?' # Grab a brew out the fridge cos that's just how it is. # Mai FM, the hottest hip-hop and R & B. Welcome to your lunch break. I'm DJ Sir-Vere. If you are a teenager and don't want to hear what your parents think, don't want to hear what the radio thinks or the TV thinks, and you have these bunch of guys who are very similar to you, that is the beauty of Home Brew. It's got nothing to do with record sales, chart positions, none of that shit. None of it matters. This one is the first track off our album. The critics, though, have been raving. Just weeks after its release, the album's already being called a classic, already been at number one. # Yeah, it's dedicated to all the artists who are struggling through the hardship and punishment # from the heart, for the love of it, motivated by all their partners who are stuck with them # and how to pick it up again when they were thinking, 'Fuck it, then.' # How? Well, they might be news to you, but Home Brew have been building an underground fan club for years,... Are you guys Home Brew? Are you guys Home Brew? Yeah. > Are you guys Home Brew? Yeah. > I recognised you. Neil Finn, baby. Maybe just say, 'Fuck Dave Dobbyn.' ...in a large part thanks to their often controversial but very funny home-made videos. DRONES: # Underneath the shade... We come from a long line of morons who laugh real loud. An ancestry of morons. You want to have a party? I like to party too. They've mobilised their fan base themselves, given their music away for free, employed online guerrilla marketing and never taken themselves too seriously. That's the kinda shit you can do on tour. Keep fit. It was never premeditated. We never had a strategy; we never had a marketing plan. We just didn't want to be anybody's slave. We just wanted to be our own boss, so we just had to adapt and evolve to the climate, you know? No one's buying records any more. Let them have it for free. They're gonna get it for free anyway. How do I know what colour to put in, Tom? How do I know what colour to put in, Tom? Just whatever colour we got. So with this model, the gigs and the merchandise become key. You can't download a sweatshirt. And if you don't want to rely on the shops selling your stuff, then open your own. Here we are in Ponsonby. We are about to occupy this store because the land should be for the people, so we're about to break in, occupy the store and we're gonna sell merch. Is that OK with you? Fucking-A, it's OK with you. And this is the result ` the fans come. And perhaps not surprisingly for where Home Brew are concerned, eventually so did the cops. So, did any of you guys get`? So, did any of you guys get`? Arrested? So, did any of you guys get`? Arrested? < Arrested? No, no, no. No, no, no. I got a good photo with a cop with a 'listen to Home Brew' T-shirt. Just come down to the protest. Just come down to the protest. ALL CHANT Jokes aside, this uni graduate has a lot to say, and these days he's saying it a bit more publicly. Fuck working in a factory till you're 94. Of course, we resort to crime, but all you get to crime is caught. Just cos I don't know where the Minister of Education sits in the Beehive doesn't mean we're not political, though. Fucking Prime Minister don't even got the time to talk, cuttin' off the dole, tryin' to justify why we're poor. I think if you're anti-establishment, that makes you political. As long as you have an agenda, and we do have an agenda, and it's to make sure that there's some kind of equality, you know? Like, not that our music does anything. Um, you can't play a song and, boom, poverty wiped out. But, like, we've got on national TV now and we can say something, so I think, like, that's` that's when you start to mature and realise that your so-called fame can put you places where you can say something important. And that's a fucked-up system where justice is just some juxtaposition between the police and the judge's decision, and even if you scream, who the fuck's gonna listen to us? CROWD CHEERS I think all you can do, like, is realise that music is a more powerful tool than a` ...megaphone. ...megaphone. Than` Yeah, than a megaphone, yeah, because it` it travels further. So that's what I'm trying to do. RAPS: # It's dedicated to the skater kids chucking rocks, taggers cutting locks, stolen stuff for NOS. # Fuck the cops and the rugby jocks. Fuck my boss and the goody-goody prefects sucking cocks. # He's like a true artist` is that one minute he's really eloquent and well spoken, the next minute he's completely fucking crazy. You know what I mean? That's the beauty of Tom ` is that somehow he manages to keep that all together in one cohesive piece and make a record. I think it's actually pretty spectacular. Do you agree with Phil about that? And do you worry that the lunacy will win out over the clarity? I think that times my sophistication can really broaden the listener's, but... RECORD SCRATCHES RECORD SCRATCHES ...Phil's a dick! LAUGHTER Nah, I don't agree with that, eh. Nah, I don't know. Everyone's like that, right? Everyone has a, you know` Everyone's bipolar. You know, life's bipolar, you know? Cos` I don't know if everyone can get as crazy as you guys can get. We all have a little craziness in us. Yeah. Yeah. Everyone does. MELLOW MUSIC First of all, congratulations on being in JB Hi-Fi magazine. That's` First of all, congratulations on being in JB Hi-Fi magazine. That's` ALL: Where? Ah-ha! This is Glen's house. He's their manager, and today there are plans afoot for Australia. And that's what it is ` a hundy K Australian initial investment. If he can keep his team focused. This is basically giving you guys your own no-limit, your own boutique rapper label. So, you know, where you can do shadow puppets all you want. Uh... So, you know, where you can do shadow puppets all you want. Uh... MAN BARKS Oh, yeah, that's the sales targets ` 15,000 units for Home Brew for Australia. If they put their album out there and they tour hard for a year, they will be huge. I just can't see how it can't be. The only way they could piss people off is get on stage in Sydney in front of 10,000 people and go,... '(CLICKS) Australia,' which is the sort of thing Tom does, but it's quite possible. If it did, it might not go so well. # ...for the unsigned drunk guy who never let the funk die. Working like he's... # For a band to get so far with no commercial aspirations, it's hard not to imagine what they could achieve if they did. But this is Home Brew, and that would almost be missing the point. Bottom line is if Home Brew music was no good, this would not be working. If they sucked, this would not be working, but it is and it is. It's not that we don't want to be successful; we have a different definition of success. I just want to keep making music, really. All of that other stuff, like making it in Australia or the States will just be a bonus. Yeah. What do you wanna do? Uh, have the rent paid so that I can make music too. I just want to... move out of my mum's house. RAPS: # ...poor bum living on the benefit. RAPS: # ...poor bum living on the benefit. # This one goes out to you. You. You gotta forgive me. We just wrote that shit. I don't know it off by heart. Very nice blokes, they are too. Um, Home Brew will be on tour next month. Have a look on our Facebook page if you want more info. And also if you want to check out more of that gorgeous live studio footage that you saw in that story, go to nzherald.co.nz/sundaesessions. Next up ` she conned her boyfriend into marrying her and a town into paying for her wedding. In hindsight, some of their benefactors say they were a little surprised to see the bride with just months to live partying like there was no tomorrow. But Jessica says her big lie had actually been eating away at her. Jessica says she began to believe the only way out was to actually die. 1 Welcome back. A community rallies around a bride-to-be bravely facing terminal cancer by throwing her a wedding to remember. But the cancer story turns out to be a fraud ` a sick hoax by a woman in perfect health. And she's not the only cancer faker. Elizabeth Vargas has the first TV interview with the blushing bride and also exposes other cases of cancer liars. JARRING MUSIC Something borrowed, something blue, but something at this wedding was not quite true. This is the crazy love story of Jessica Vega and Mike O'Connell ` two kids from upstate New York in their early 20s. They fell hard for each other ` irresistibly attracted. And something magnetic when we actually met happened. We couldn't get enough of each other. It was perfect. The two talked about marriage, but then there was trouble in paradise ` money problems, the pressure of a new baby ` and for a while, they broke up. A lot of things made us butt heads, cos our personalities are pretty strong regardless. In her first television interview, Jessica tells 20/20 she was so desperate to keep her man, she made a decision that would make headlines. Oh, I felt like if I didn't have some way to get his attention momentarily, that's it. So she told a big lie... about the big C. She told Mike she was dying of cancer. The diagnosis ` acute myeloid leukaemia. She said she had just months to live. Is there no other way to get his attention than tell him you're dying? I'm the mother of his children, and he wouldn't call me. Jessica showed him a letter from a doctor. It said she was dying. Did the ruse work? Did he come back? He insisted that I move in with him right away. He insisted that I move in with him right away. So it worked ` the lie? Mm-hm. Jessica says she expected Mike would keep her terrible news private, but he didn't. So how many people did you tell you had cancer? Michael and the immediate family only. And friends. And friends. Yeah. What are we talking ` five, 10, 15 people? We had a lot of friends. We had a lot of friends. So? 30? A hundred. A hundred. A hundred people? A hundred. A hundred people? A hundred-plus, yeah. Soon the lie had taken on a life of its own, and Jessica says she was starting to regret it. I could've told Michael the truth any day, but I was a coward. Did you think any of this through? What did you expect would happen? Did you think any of this through? What did you expect would happen? No. It was not premeditated. I know, but you must've thought, 'OK, at some point...' I know, but you must've thought, 'OK, at some point...' No. Well, she was doing everything she could to keep up the charade. She cut off her hair and wore a wig at her wedding to make it look like she'd had chemotherapy. And get this ` Did you pretend to go to cancer treatment? Um, maybe, what, like, three or four times at max. Um, maybe, what, like, three or four times at max. Yeah. She would have her mother drop her off at the doctor's office. What would you go do? What would you go do? Nothing. Just sit there. When people began donating things for the wedding, Mike was touched and called the newspaper, suggesting they do a story about the community's generosity. He goes, 'Hey, guess what. There's gonna be an article about our wedding.' And I was, like` to myself, my inner monologue, I'm, like, 'Oh my God, I cannot get out of this now. 'I have to choose. What am I gonna do? Live a lie?' Doyle Murphy reported her heartbreaking story in a local paper ` the doomed bride-to-be getting fitted for a dress; the brave couple kissing as they got a marriage licence. The article prompted even more donations. People were coming out of the woodwork. Amazing. Soon family, friends and complete strangers, many who had lost loved ones to cancer themselves, were beating down her door, bearing gifts, including some who were so determined, Jessica and Mike said they wouldn't take 'no, thank you' for an answer. I went into that wedding shop with the full intention of paying for the dress myself. They wouldn't allow me to. I tried very hard to tell them, 'I have the money for it. I will pay for this myself.' But you still took it? But you still took it? She could've said, 'Yeah, you know what? I gotta stop this.' A hotel manager who lost her husband to cancer gave them the best room, the Jacuzzi suite, and sent up flowers, chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. A jeweller whose son was a survivor of cancer provided the rings. If we could, we would've done more. You got a free wedding dress, you got free rings,... Those were` Those were` ...you got a free honeymoon, you got free airfare to Aruba for the honeymoon,... Well, it wasn't free. Well, it wasn't free. ...flowers, hair and make-up for you and seven bridal attendants. Right. Their perfect day came in May of 2010 ` CHEERING a raucous outdoor wedding in Wallkill, New York. But even as she sobbed her vows, Jessica was still lying. As I become your wife, I want you to know the day I'm no longer physically here, I will always kiss you goodnight. Even during this lovely wedding, you're still lying. Mm-hm. During the vows, yeah, because that was part of` We decided to write quite personal vows, and I had to mention that. In hindsight, some of their benefactors say they were a little surprised to see the bride with just months to live partying like there was no tomorrow. But Jessica says her big lie had actually been eating away at her. I was miserable every day, cos I knew I was living a lie. Every day that I woke up, I'm, like, 'I gotta figure out a way to make this lie a reality.' Jessica says she began to believe the only way out was to actually die. I didn't want to be alive any more at that point. Did you actually wish you really did have cancer? I didn't wish I had cancer. I wished that I could figure out a way to just be gone so that way at least I didn't have to face the reality of how many people I hurt. People are gonna have a hard time believing that, Jessica, when they look at you on that wedding video yukking it up at your wedding,... DANCE MUSIC PUMPS ...dirty dancing with Michael, getting` That's one thing` You don't look like a woman who's, you know, struggling with suicidal regret over the lie she told. One thing I have to say about that is I regret what I did to people, but I don't know any female in the earth that would be depressed on their wedding day when they were doing that kind of wedding. Some of Mike's friends had been whispering their doubts. They would be, like, 'Dude, something's not right.' And I would flip out on them. But not long after their donated honeymoon to Aruba, O'Connell says he too began to have a nagging suspicion that his wife was healthier than she claimed. He pulled out that doctor's letter she had shown him ` the one that said she was dying. Called the doctor and gave them her name and her social security, and they asked for the letter, so I scanned it and emailed it. And they said, 'What is this?' I said, 'Oh boy.' The good news ` his new bride wasn't dying of cancer. The bad news ` she never had been. The whole thing was a hoax, part of an epidemic of cancer fakes across the country. A Valley woman accused of lying about having breast cancer... ...turned herself in this morning. ...and used that money for a breast augmentation. ...said she was diagnosed with stage II brain stem glioma. ...faking cancer to scam thousands of dollars in favours and money. So what do you feel at that point? Anger? So what do you feel at that point? Anger? I was enraged. Word quickly spread that Jessica's imminent death had been greatly exaggerated. I said, 'How the hell did this happen?' I was just floored. I mean, I couldn't` I didn't believe it. Once he knew his wife would live, Mike dumped her and made another call to the newspaper. The public punishment began immediately. REPORTER: She's perfectly healthy, and now she's been indicted for duping the community. Tabloids, television and internet scorning her as a shameful sicko, a gold-digging bridezilla. And the sentence, a bit of a surprise. Jessica traded her white dress for an orange jumpsuit when she was arrested and spent 50 days in jail. She says the nights away from her two children were the worst. I miss my kids a lot. I'm never gonna be away from them ever again. That's the only thing that I've accomplished. I know I` I know I messed up really bad, but I'm a good mom. She paid back more than $13,000. I have to deal with this for the rest of my life, because I did it, and it's not something that's just gonna go away. and it's not something that's just gonna go away. No, you're a felon. I'm a convicted felon. I have probation for five years. But things are looking up for her now. Her husband, Mike, has taken her back. I tried to hate her. Just... It was an` It was` It was an act. You can't help who you love. She does understand it will be many anniversaries before some people are ready to forgive. So how many of those people we see at your wedding dancing and drinking and celebrating... how many of those people do you still speak to? > how many of those people do you still speak to? > None. Fortunately, since she's cancer-free, she has the rest of her life to make amends. Next on 20/20 ` the race to be famous and the lies people will tell to get there. I spent 14 years in-in the military. And in 2009, I-I had got hit by-by a grenade in Afghanistan, and it-it broke` broke my back and gave me a brain injury. # Would she ever doubt... # But look closely. You might see Tim's nose growing. That wounded-in-combat story, along with the photo of him in fatigues, the military says it's a big lie. 1 Welcome back. It seems these days some people will do anything to be famous, even lie on national television. With the race to find the next best model, voice or idol, talent just isn't enough. You need a great back story to go with it. Here's a tip, though ` it helps if its true. # If tomorrow never comes... It was an all-American tear-jerker ` stuttering guitar strummer Tim Poe on America's Got Talent. # And I try in every way... I-I spent 14 years in-in the military, and in 2009, I-I had got hit by-by a grenade in Afghanistan, and` and it-it br-broke my back and gave me a brain injury. # Would she ever doubt...? # But look closely. You might see Tim's nose growing. That wounded-in-combat story along with the photo of him in fatigues ` the military says it's a big lie. Why not just sing and just call it a day? Because, uh, it's a singing show. Everybody can sing. You need to have a compelling story to stand out. What better way than to have this patriotic story and be a hero? In reality TV, casting director Sarah Monson says actual reality can get in the way of a show's strategy. Everyone's got a role to play. They fit into this puzzle we're looking for. They're a stereotype. We say we don't stereotype, but we do ` you know, a hero, a villain, an underdog. We want them to play a certain role as themselves and hope that they fulfil that on the show. Poe is just the latest entry in the reality TV rogues gallery, joining 'survivor' Brian Heidik, the buff blonde identified on the show as a used-car salesman. What he didn't say was that he'd actually been selling porn. How is it that the shows don't catch people? Background checks are very expensive, and not all shows do them ` just depending on the show. If you think about it, fraud on these shows kind of benefits everyone. The producers want ratings, the audience wants to be entertained, and contestants want fame ` I love being infamous. I've done 70 television shows. I` I'm on Rolex number two. so badly, they can spend their lives auditioning. People have gone to great extremes to get on these shows. On Apprentice, we would have people fly from city to city to try out. We'd see them over and over and over. 'What are you doing?' Well, come on, reality can be pretty dull, which might explain what happened this season with American Idol's Jermaine Jones, the 6'8" baritone dubbed The Gentle Giant. # And words from my heart... # He said his dad abandoned him, and then Dad was, like, 'What are you talking about?' I'm gonna sing Superstar. Turns out the gentle part wasn't true either. Jones had an arrest record and some outstanding warrants ` an embarrassing sour note for the hit show. We discovered information that left us with no choice but to eliminate one of our finalists from the competition. Girls, meet my millionaires. Some liars fabricate success stories, not sob stories. Michael Prozer III claimed to be a wealthy internet tycoon when appearing on the Millionaire Matchmaker. I would estimate modestly my network to be about $400 million. The women were turned on and so were prosecutors. Turns out Prozer's a scam artist who just pleaded guilty to fraud. What do you think those women think of him now? They're probably pretty grossed out by him, I imagine. (LAUGHS) Seems we're willing to accept plenty of fibbing and faking, especially on those dating shows. I mean, does anyone really believe these couples are in love? The minute you walk in the room, I know it's me. Still, there's a firm, if invisible, border of baloney contestants cross at their peril. # If I never wake... # Which brings us back to Tim Poe. The National Guard confirmed his records do not show he was injured by a grenade in Afghanistan, where he served for just one month. And that photo? Not him. That's US Staff Sergeant Norman Bone. I did serve my country the b-best that I knew how. Here's the song Poe's singing today. It's the truth that I... (SOBS) truly... think is real. That's horrible, because I don't know what... So the moral of this story of Tim Poe? Be honest. Don't lie. Be who you are. Goodness. Next on 20/20 ` have you ever wanted to go back to high school? Well, we meet a mystery man who did just that. 6'5" of mystery delivered by a Greyhound bus from who knows where. He said, 'I'm Jerry Joseph. I'm 15 years old. I'm an orphan from Haiti. Truth is, Jerry isn't 15. In fact, Jerry isn't Jerry. Are you an imposter? No, I'm not an imposter. 1 He was the basketball phenomenon destined to lead his new high-school team to glory. But the mystery kid who showed up in Odessa, Texas claiming to be a 15-year-old Haitian refugee was actually a 21-year-old drifter looking for a new start and a whole new life. Tonight we have the first television interview with the hoop dreamer who was really an imposter. TWANGY MUSIC Odessa, Texas. Famous for oil, gas and Friday Night Lights high-school football. That is, until the day in February 2009, when a new legend came to town. The unbelievable tale of Jerry Joseph ` 6'5" of mystery delivered by a Greyhound bus from who knows where. He said, 'I'm Jerry Joseph. I'm 15 years old. I am an orphan from Haiti.' What brought you there? What brought you there? It was... an escape, really. Just from a lot of troubles. Taking time off from, you know, the life I was just living was just pretty fast, street life and all that. And he was just looking for somewhere to go to school and he wanted to play basketball. The good people of Odessa embraced Jerry. They welcomed the teenaged orphan into their schools and into their struggling basketball programme. Coach Danny Wright, who is the coach of the Permian boys team, brought him into his house and more or less adopted him. He was oddly big for 15 ` 6'5. And he had tattoos. And listen to his voice. AMERICAN ACCENT: I got to Odessa and realised that I was able to relax here, so I decided to stay. Does he sound like someone who just got here from Haiti? You don't have any kind of Haitian accent at all. Well, I didn't just start speaking English. Joseph produced a Haitian birth certificate and was admitted into school. We all know high school can be awkward and difficult, but on the basketball court and in the classroom, Jerry acted like it was old hat. CROWD CHEERS He was the talk of the town. He was a big kid. He was going to take Permian to the playoffs. But Jerry wasn't just about sport. He was also about the spirit. He joined a church and got baptised. When you came out of that water, who came out of the water? (LAUGHS) I mean, the new Jerry. I mean, everything from before was gone off me. I just felt brand new. Maybe he felt brand new because he was brand new. Truth is, Jerry isn't 15. In fact, Jerry isn't Jerry. Who he is is a guy from Florida who figured out how to live the plot of the Zac Efron movie 17 Again. I'm going back to high school, man! I'm going back to high school, man! LAUGHS: No, no, no. No way. It's about something we'd all love to do ` travel back in time for a second chance to fix the mistakes of the past. Gosh, we are all in such great shape. The movie has a happy ending. Jerry Joseph's story does not. His past catches up with him at a basketball tournament. He is spotted by old friends from Florida, who know him by a different name. 'Guerd, we see you, Guerd. We see you, Guerd. Guerd, you know you see us.' But he didn't acknowledge them. Coach Lu Vivas and his players recognised Jerry as a guy they went to high school with in Florida years ago ` a guy who is now a college dropout and 21 years old. A guy named ` ready for this ` Guerdwich Montimere. He knew you, this coach? He knew you, this coach? He thought he knew me. I'd be lined before him to shake his hand. And I say to him, 'Guerd, what's up? What's going on?' I just keep walking, cos I'm like, 'Who is he talking to?' He gave me a funny look and, 'Sir, I don't know you.' When he saw those kids walk in, when he saw that coach walk in, he said to himself, 'I'm busted.' But Joseph denied he was this other guy and kept right on denying it. But at that point, the cat was out of the bag. Photos and fingerprints are compared, then a passport and social security card are discovered among Jerry Joseph's belongings. That's the smoking gun. 15-year-old Odessa sophomore Jerry Joseph is in fact 21-year-old Guerdwich Montimere, who graduated from Dillard High School in Florida, five years ago. To this day, Montimere refuses to acknowledge his true identity. What should I call you? What should I call you? Jerry. What should I call you? Jerry. < Jerry. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Did you go to Dillard High School? Yes, sir. Did you go to Dillard High School? No. You never went there? You never went there? No. Never been there. Odessa might have just forgiven, or at least forgotten, Joseph, if it hadn't been for the girl ` a 15-year-old girl who thought her boyfriend Jerry was 15 too. She says she had sex with him. Jerry denies it. That's when it really turned into something from a funny and kind of ridiculous story into a story of a real serious criminal. Montimere got three years in prison for his crime, but he still says it is Jerry Joseph who's doing the time. But do you believe that you are Guerdwich Montimere? No. No. Could anybody prove to you that you're Guerdwich Montimere? No one has proven it yet. No one has proven it yet. Are you an imposter? No, I'm not an imposter. No, I'm not an imposter. What are you? No, I'm not an imposter. What are you? I'm just me. I know who I am, and that's all that really matters to me. That's the only way you can live with yourself, to know who you are. Ooh, I don't know. He doesn't look much like a 15-year-old to me. Next on 20/20 ` Prank vs Prank ` the couple who have become famous for their online prank war. What do you do when your boyfriend puts a lobster in the shower? (SCREAMS) (SCREAMS) What do you do? You don't get mad; you get viral. What if Brancott Estate Reserve had a fresh, new look? Our label has changed, but it's the same reserve-quality wine you know and love. From the creators of the original Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Brancott Estate. 1 Welcome back. What do you do when your significant other pranks you on camera and uploads the video to YouTube? In this day and age, you don't get mad; you get viral. That's exactly what the internet couple known only as Jess and Jeana have been doing to each other for the last six years in an epic prank war that has racked up over 150 million clicks on their YouTube page alone. Here's an inside look at their crazy take on love. OMINOUS MUSIC What do you do when your boyfriend puts a lobster in the shower? (SCREAMS) (YELLS) What do you do? You don't get mad; you get viral. FIREWORK CRACKLES LOUDLY < Is this how nice people behave? Yes. (LAUGHS) Yes. (LAUGHS) It's how` It's how crazy people behave. Yes, love in the age of payback. Payback in the age of the internet. SMOKE ALARM BEEPS The internet couple known only as Jess and Jeana have been together for six years. Six wonderful years of Jess booby-trapping Jeana's car. Oh my God! What the f...? Six wonderful years of Jeana smacking Jess on the head with pans. CLANG! CLANG! (GIGGLES) < You like each other? < You like each other? Yes. Of course. < For real? < For real? Oh yeah. For real and for everyone to see. I like this part right here. Because for six years, Jess and Jeana have been posting their payback videos online. Their YouTube channel Prank versus Prank has entertained people to the tune of more than 150 million views and turned WTF into the new I love you. What the <BLEEP>? What the <BLEEP>? What the <BLEEP>? What the <BLEEP>? Ow! Ow! (GIGGLES) This is overwhelming. Like, for something` Like, for something so crazy that we did together just for fun, like turned into entertainment for millions of people. You guys swear these are all real? Mm-hm. > Mm-hm. > Oh yeah. I'm the worst actor ever. I couldn't do that. You don't scream extra loud cos you know the cameras are there? No. I wouldn't want to, because I wouldn't want the neighbours to hear me screaming. It's embarrassing. It started when Jess dared Jeana to eat a spoonful of cinnamon. He didn't tell her he was going to post the video online or probably that her reaction would be like this. Swallow, swallow, swallow. (GIGGLES) I was mad because so many people saw the video and I was, like, really mad about it. And then, like, one day I was, like, 'Well, he put me on the internet. 'And it was embarrassing, so I'm gonna do it to him and I'm gonna film it.' Thus began the vicious viral cycle of one-upmanship, from paintball ambushes... Ow! (SCREAMS) Oh, <BLEEP>! Oh God! Such soft hair. Such soft hair. You better not mess it up. Such soft hair. You better not mess it up. Oh <BLEEP>! That was an accident. Did you just cut my hair, Jessie? Are you...?! They've pranked each other on film more than 100 times ` a relationship built on trust. You're so dead! Trust of something. That's not your real hair. It's a window into an inside joke, and when they're executed really really well, everybody really gets a kick out of it. Mitch Rotter is the general manager of Break.com, a site that stockpiles the best in pranking. He says tit-for-tat pranks have become an internet sensation. Really they work well when everybody is surprised, everyone laughs it off and you just felt like you saw something that was a moment in time. And that you really can see is very spontaneous. Like when a girlfriend cooks hair into her boyfriend's pizza. (GIGGLES) Oh! (GURGLES) His revenge? An elaborate powder attack. Here's a guy that's drilling holes in his own wall behind the medicine cabinet to get back at the person who pranked him. Jess and Jeana know a little something about elaborate. He once used a fake severed head to give Jeana a rude awakening. (GROANS, SCREAMS) What the <BLEEP>? Jess! Her revenge? Using the same head in a multilayered set-up to make Jess think she was with another man. So I went to the mall. I bought an entire outfit. I even went into a different store and took the shirt out and sprayed it with tons of cologne that wouldn't be familiar to him and I hung it up at the front door so he would smell it when he walks in. I put brand new shoes that weren't his at the front door. Well, I saw the shoes right away, cos they were so noticeable, and I smelled the cologne. What the <BLEEP>? Hey! Then I saw the sweatshirt and the style reminded me of a friend of mine, I'm, like, 'Wait a minute.' Like I thought for a split second that somebody that I knew was here. So then I'm like, 'What the F?' And I'm, like, 'Where she at?' So I stormed in there, and the door's closed. Take a look for yourself. (GASPS) > (GASPS) > What the <BLEEP>? I'm gonna whip your ass, bro. (SCREAMS, GIGGLES) What the hell? What the hell? (GIGGLES) You're, like, whip my... Jess swears they laughed about it eventually. What else could he do? I was gonna murder whoever was in that bed. What's your advice to people about pranking? Find their weakness. Like, the thing that they hate or are scared of the most and just exploit that. (LAUGHS) Heart-warming, right (?) But maybe through all this, they've shown us something ` that the couple who pranks together stays together. We know that we do pranks on each other,