The Melbourne prankster credited with starting a craze known as 'cone-ing' at fast food restaurant drive-throughs has struck again — this time with a Valentine's Day-themed gag.
Alki Stevens visited a number of drive-throughs across Melbourne yesterday to surprise the employees with a series of ridiculous Valentine's Day gifts.
The 25-year-old remained stony-faced as he casually handed over extravagant bunches of balloons, teddy bears, hearts cut out of cardboard and even letters spelling out LOVE to whoever happened to be handing over his meal.
Read more: Melbourne man starts global cone-ing craze
In most cases, he would drive away looking dejected, leaving his food order in the hand of the baffled employee who rejected his request to "be my Valentine".
"I thought it went okay but they didn't really react in the way I expected them to — I thought people would be a bit more thrilled to receive a present," the comedian told ninemsn.
The stunt is similar to his infamous drive-through cone-ing stunt, in which he would order a soft-serve and then grab hold of the ice cream, rather than the cone, when served.
After the cone-ing video went global last June, Mr Stevens quit his job to become a full-time prankster, making a living from YouTube ads.
While viewers get a laugh out of watching his jokes, Mr Stevens takes his pranking quite seriously.
He said it was easy to keep a straight face while playing a trick, as he was focused on the experience from a purely technical perspective.
"I don't find it funny because I'm there concentrating on getting a reaction so I have footage to use," he said.
Since quitting his sales job, Mr Stevens has filmed four or five pranks a week for his
YouTube channel, and is also working on a pilot for a TV show.
The Caroline Springs resident has played jokes his whole life but never expected to be able to make a living out of it.
In fact, he got kicked out of school in Year 10 for being a class clown.
"I used school as a way to test out what made people laugh," he said.
"I once booked a construction worker to come in during class and meet our teacher about extending the classroom."
Both the teacher and the tradie were baffled by the incident, but Mr Stevens was never sprung.
He ended up being expelled for numerous other incidents of mischief.
While Mr Stevens admits to loving making people feel awkward, his intentions are not all sinister.
He told ninemsn he often received emails from people thanking him for cheering them up as they tackled illness, grief, and other difficult situations.
"I know it looks like I'm just being an idiot, but that's really why I do it — I like to make people laugh."
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