SAN DIEGO — Happy April Fools’ Day!
The annual day for pranksters made its mark on FOX 5 back in 2011 when Raoul Martinez pulled a fast one on his co-anchor Shally Zomorodi live on the air.
Martinez began reporting on a fake story about an app called “Virtual Sip” that would supposedly allow you to smell or taste things on your iPhone or iPad.
The faux app claims to emit odors and flavors straight from a device by using “piezoelectric” technology that transforms mechanical energy into usable energy that is recognizable to human sense.
Martinez reads the news story with a straight face and then pulls out his phone and opens up the Virtual Sip app and begins to smell his phone.
A member of the FOX 5 crew then brings an iPad to Zomorodi and tells her to read the instructions from the app.
“You want me to lick this?” Zomorodi says skeptically. She then proceeds to smell the iPad, but is unable to smell anything.
Martinez then says that his co-anchor should try out the taste function.
“I’m not licking an iPad,” Zomorodi says seconds before licking the iPad.
That’s when the iPad starts playing a laughing sound and displaying a “Happy April Fools’ Day!” message.
Learning she had been pranked, Zomorodi leaves Martinez to anchor on his own for a bit while he and weather anchor Brad Wills revel in the successful prank.
There were no hard feelings from the prank, as the pair are still co-anchoring the FOX Morning News together 12 years later.
You never know when someone will try an April Fools’ Day Prank on you, even if you are live on the air.