History Main / PrankDate

* Nick Cave's "Where the Wild Roses Grow."

* Peter is set up by [[JerkJock Flash]] and some classmates this way in an issue of ''MarvelAdventures {{Franchise/Spider-Man}}'', where they trick him into believing he has a date with Liz Allan. This ends up being subverted where, whilst it was still a prank, when Liz learns she's less than amused and decides to go on a date with Peter anyway.

** And the American remake, ''Film/DinnerForSchmucks'', starring SteveCarell.

** Note that both Tommy and his girlfriend Sue were completely innocent in regards to the prank, and Tommy had actually started to grow fond of Carrie herself. Not that it mattered in the end: [[spoiler: Tommy was one of the victims of Carrie's rampage, and Sue was the SoleSurvivor.]]

** [[spoiler: She only traded places with Peppino at the last meeting, she was a she for the entire Carnival leading up to the kidnapping, where they switched her out so she'd not be any danger if Albert proved to be troublesome.]]
* In addition to the ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' example above, there is another, more violent, version later in the story. [[spoiler: Robb Stark, having broken his pledge to marry a Frey woman, tries to arrange a marriage between his Uncle and a different Frey to broker peace. Walder Frey accepts... and then uses the wedding to ambush the Starks, murdering Robb and Catelyn, desecrating their bodies, and capturing their Uncle to deliver to the Lannisters. The "Red Wedding" is an InUniverse MoralEventHorizon for the Freys.]]

* Tyrion underwent a particularly tragic version of this in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': when he was young, his big brother paid a whore and two thugs to stage an AttemptedRape that the two of them could foil and the girl could fling herself at Tyrion in gratitude. Tyrion ended up marrying the prostitute in secret, and when his father found out, he had her gang-raped by a barracks full of soldiers and paid in full "for her services".
** [[spoiler: Later subverted when Jamie reveals that his father had forced him to lie about the incident: The girl was not a whore, and genuinely loved him.]]
* In ''{{Carrie}}'', the [[NaiveEverygirl titular character]] is asked out by a popular football player named Tommy Ross (whose [[TheAtoner girlfriend]] talked him into it as her way of atoning for her part in the shower incident). Chris Hargensen, resident AlphaBitch and Carrie's chief tormentor, catches wind of it and together with Billy Nolan turn it into this as a way of humiliating her as revenge for being kicked out of the prom for the shower incident. When Carrie gets to the prom, the ballot box is rigged so that Carrie will be voted prom queen, and Chris and Billy dump pig blood on her. [[FromBadToWorse It does not end well...]]
** Note that both Tommy and his girlfriend were completely innocent in regards to the prank. Not that it mattered in the end.

* The protagonists do this to SteveBuscemi's character in ''GhostWorld''.

* A ''{{Series/CSI}}'' episode had a plot that involved luring a boy into a trap of all of the three examples (the bait lured him to a construction site with the prospect of having sex, then her friends proceeded to beat him to death with hammers before taking his wallet and split the money four ways.) The boy had originally been friends with the rest of the teenagers, who were all emo punks, but when he stopped hanging out with them, got a job and started doing better in school, the other teenagers were angry at him for "ditching" them, figuring that he thought he was better than them.

* ''{{Carrie}}'', or so she thought. (The date itself was benign, but the two antagonists made sure it went ''very'' wrong. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge So she responded.]])

* The movie ''Dogfight'', in which HollywoodHomely Lily Taylor is the victim.

# '''Embarrassing Location''' - The supposed date location is dangerous or embarrassing for Alan, because, for example, Bonnie wants to meet Alan in a [[GayBarReveal Gay Bar]], Gay Bar, [[WhereEveryBodyKnowsYourFlame Gay Bar]].

** [[spoiler: Later subverted when Jamie reveals that his father had forced him to lie about the incident: The girl really had loved him.]]

* This happens to [[CircleOfMagic Tris]] sometime between ''Shatterglass'' and ''Will of the Empress'', recounted as she discusses how she's never had a successful relationship. The incident involved luring her out for a date and dumping a jar of honey on her, because she's overweight. Tris being probably the most powerful weather mage alive, this is a case of BullyingADragon, and it highlights the self-control Tris has had to build.

# '''Malicious Trap''' - The "date" is actually a way of [[LuredIntoATrap luring Alan to an isolated location for the purpose of robbery, murder, or rape]] (this last one is more likely to happen to Alanna than Alan). This type is rarely ever meant to be a "prank", actually, and not done with humor in mind; there is actual intent to do the victim harm.

* Kyle does this to Kendra in ''{{Beastly}}''. [[FromBadToWorse She doesn't take it well.]]

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* In an early issue of ''Ultimate X-Men'', Hank McCoy admits to Storm that when he was younger, a pretty classmate asked him out, then arranged for all of their other classmates to be waiting to laugh at him, when he showed up for their date. As a result, the thought that the gorgeous Storm is into him takes a bit of time to sink in.

** [[spoiler: Later subverted when Jamie reveals that his father had forced him to lie about the incident: The girl wasn't actually a whore.]]

* In ''MyNameIsEarl'', one person on Earl's list is a lonely, depressed man with NoSocialSkills named Philo, who has attempted suicide multiple times. It turns out, though, that Philo has a crush on Joy (even though she's already married to Darnell) and [[StalkerWithACrush watches her hang her underwear on the clothesline]]. Earl goes to talk to her about this, reasoning that if she can give him ''one'' nice date, it'll build up Philo's confidence enough that he'll be able to find a woman who's actually available. Joy agrees to this, especially as she wants to try OperationJealousy on Darnell after he claimed that he doesn't get jealous when other guys check her out. [[spoiler: She ends up having sex with Darnell in the men's bathroom. But while Earl worries that Philo will attempt suicide again, it turns out that Philo is OK now that he has Earl and Randy to hang out with...even if they do view him as the FriendThatNobodyLikes.]]

* In ''MyNameIsEarl'', one person on Earl's list is a lonely, depressed man with NoSocialSkills named Philo, who has attempted suicide multiple times. It turns out, though, that Philo has a crush on Joy (even though she's already married to Darnell) and [[StalkerWithACrush watches her hang her underwear on the clothesline]]. Earl goes to talk to her about this, reasoning that if she can give him ''one'' nice date, it'll build up Philo's confidence enough that he'll be able to find a woman who's actually available. Joy agrees to this, especially as she wants to try OperationJealousy on Darnell after he claimed that he doesn't get jealous when other guys check her out. [[spoiler: She ends up having sex with Darnell in the men's bathroom. But while Earl worries that Philo will attempt suicide again, it turns out that Philo is OK now that he has Earl and Randy to hang out with...even if they do view him as TheFriendThatNobodyLikes.]]

* In ''MyNameIsEarl'', one person on Earl's list is a lonely, depressed man with NoSocialSkills named Philo, who has attempted suicide multiple times. It turns out, though, that Philo has a crush on Joy (even though she's already married to Darnell) and [[StalkerWithACrush watches her hang her underwear on the clothesline]]. Earl goes to talk to her about this, reasoning that if she can give him ''one'' nice date, it'll build up Philo's confidence enough that he'll be able to find a woman who's actually available. Joy agrees to this, especially as she wants to try OperationJealousy on Darnell after he claimed that he doesn't get jealous when other guys check her out. [[spoiler: She ends up having sex with Darnell in the men's bathroom. But while Earl worries that Philo will attempt suicide again, it turns out that Philo is OK now that he has Earl and Randy to hang out with...even if they do view him as TheFriendThatNoOneLikes.]]

* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Yusuke helps a girl who literally died waiting because her boyfriend [[KickTheDog wanted to see how long she would wait and then forgot about her]].

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In his blog, Strong Sad describes getting "joke invitations to online singles sites (which, of course, I don't discover are 'joke' invitations until after waiting around the proposed meeting location for 4-8 hours. but hey! you never know when one might turn out to be legit!)."

* In one ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic, the AlphaBitch of Jonathan Crane's school once suckered him in to one of these so that her JerkJock boyfriend could ritually humiliate him. Of course, since Jonathan Crane later grew up to be [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGallery the Scarecrow]], this came back to bite them both on the ass very, ''very'' badly.

* Internet version: An episode of ''{{Series/NCIS}}'' has as its B-plot the saga of [=McGee=]'s new online girlfriend--who is actually Tony using a fake screenname. The idea was to get [=McGee=] good and attached, then suddenly turn sour and eventually break up with him, so that Tony could have a good laugh at [=McGee=] being heartbroken. Only [[ASimplePlan it goes wrong]]; when Tony turns on the shrew, [=McGee=] loves her more than ever, baffling the hell out of Tony. It eventually turned out that [=McGee=] wasn't fooled, but figured he could wind Tony up by playing along.

* Used twice in the same episode in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. Ulrich sends a text to Sissi, asking to meet her at the garden shed, where she is instead jumped on and licked by Kiwi (a dog) while Ulrich and Odd taunt her. In revenge, Sissi reports Kiwi to the school authorities. Post-RTTP, having learned not to put Odd's dog in danger, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Yumi prank-date and humiliate Sissi AND Herb, who is an unlucky enough geek as it is. [[MoralDissonance These are the heroes of the story doing this.]]