Autumn Allen, 13, was appearing on Cambodia’s MyTV variety show Penh Chet Ort (which translates as Like It Or Not) when the young girl was told she was going to be reunited with the mother she has not seen for years.
The teenager had previously told members of the audience of how she had not seen her mother since her father brought her back from the US to Cambodia, where her mum still lives.
Recalling the emotional moment when she said a devastating goodbye to her mum, Autumn was visibly upset as she said: “She held me and kissed me and told me that she would always love me.”
While producers went on to tell viewers that they were going to make Autumn’s dream of meeting her mum come true, they in fact had a horrible prank set up for the young girl.
After a lengthy build-up, Autumn and the audience were presented with the teenager’s ‘mum’ – a cross-dressing comedian and game show judge who was part of a cruel ‘joke’ played on the unsuspecting teenager.
One of the show’s presenters went on to ask Autumn: “What are you thinking? Did you think it was real?” A visibly shaken Autumn then responded that she ‘didn’t know’, with a nervous laugh.
Predictably, the show and its producers have come in for serious criticism since the show aired, with outraged viewers taking to social media to condemn the cruel move. Among them was one of the country’s leading political analysts, Ou Virak, who said: “The producer was stupid and brainless and heartless by playing around with the mind and heart of a 13-year-old girl in this way.”
Responding to the criticism, the show’s producer said the team had made a ‘mistake’ by organising the ‘prank’ on the young girl.
“We wanted to send [Autumn] a message that although she has no mother, our team loves her as a family so that we play with her to make her smile,” he said.
What a disgraceful move. We hope that this young girl will be given the support she needs after this cruel and very public humiliation.
