Following the announcement earlier today that comedians Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont are to divorce there has been speculation on social media that this is all part of an elaborate prank.
The announcement was made by the couple on simultaneous joint statements on Instagram and also through the Press Association.
There was considerable shock and disbelief when the story broke - the fifth series of Meet The Richardsons (pictured) in which they play fictional versions of themselves has only just started on Dave and the announcement of the split came out of the blue.
It is not surprising that there are people who found the break-up hard to believe, as the duo have such a growing profile, both individually and as a couple. Beaumont has just extended her tour due to demand and has a new podcast with Sam Campbell. Both Richardson and Beaumont (and Campbell) have been contestants on C4's Taskmaster.
Online conspiracy theorists started to speculate, particularly when it was noted that the announcement coincided with the return of Late Night Lycett on C4. Joe Lycett is famous for elaborate pranks such as pretending to shred £10,000 and launching a podcast about shit to highlight the sewage problem.
In fact Lycett began his show on Friday night by revealing a series of fake news reports where he had planted unlikely stories – such as someone having a bruise on their leg that looked like Prince Harry – that had been picked up by the mainstream press as if they were genuine.
Viewers wondered if the Richardson/Beaumont statement would also turn out to be an elaborate hoax.
@thatKevinGuy, for example, asked on X, formerly Twitter: "PLEASE tell me the lucy beaumont and jon richardson divorce announcement is the last minute inclusion for Joe Lycett's "fake news plants" show. I am STUNNED. especially with the timing of the new MEET THE RICHARDSONS (which I guess means is definitely the last series). this feels like martin freeman and amanda abbington all over again"
While on Tiktok Mark D2022 wrote: "Fake news courtesy of Joe."
On the Taskmaster fan page on Facebook, however, Jemma Bell wrote: "I was really hoping this had something to do with all the fake news Joe Lycett has been doing but I don’t think it is sadly"
In the end Lycett's programme did not mention Richardson and Beaumont. The news happening on the day Lycett returned to TV and talked about fake news seems to have been a coincidence.
Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont have made no comment since the original statement.
Meet the Richardsons is on Mondays at 9pm on Dave
Picture: UKTV
