Siobhan Leadbetter is many things: a presenter, TV producer, and marathon runner. Still, her cousin, unimpressed with all of those titles, decided to convince everyone aboard a flight that she was an Olympian. And a silver medalist one at that.
Readers might recognize Leadbetter from red-carpet interviews at British movie premieres and events, but she will soon become best known for the viral TikTok video she shared, where her cousin – a pilot on an easyJet flight – lies through his teeth to the passengers, all for the sake of embarrassing his relative. Now, that’s how you do family banter.
The presenter was recording her cousin’s announcement to catch his “pilot voice” for trolling purposes (as cousins do) when she got a taste of her own medicine and ended up being the one on the receiving end of the trolling.
“I’ve got a special shout-out, down at seat 8 is my cousin Siobhan. The first family member in five years of flying who’s managed to get a flight with me, so thanks Siobhan for coming,” the unnamed cousin’s seemingly wholesome announcement rang through the plane speakers.
“Everyone else on board should know that she’s also a world-class Olympic polo player with a silver medal at the Olympics,” he continued, before asking everyone aboard to give her a round of applause. This is the moment I let you all know that not only has polo not been an Olympic sport since 1936, but Leadbetter doesn’t even play it — not professionally, at least.
Mr. Pilot didn’t stop there, because you should either go big or go home. He told listeners that his cousin carries her medal everywhere with her and that they should ask her to see it if they want. The broadcast, of course, made the woman the center of attention and the target of multiple surprised gasps and questions from fellow passengers.
Those who’ve followed Leadbetter for a while were instantly in on the joke, but a lot of the comments came from souls that were just as easy to trick as the people on that plane. “Aw this made me cry, he’s genuinely proud and happy for you,”… Who’s going to tell her?
“Pilot and Olympian what a family,” one netizen offered, with another retorting “I was thinking this! grandparents must be so proud.” That’s got to sting for the Sky TV presenter… But would an Olympian get a chance to interview the likes of Adam Driver, Patrick Dempsey, and Penélope Cruz? I know which one of those jobs I would rather have.
All we know is that they should make a series out of this epic video and see how many people on how many planes they can trick, with the only rule being that the fake achievements must escalate in scale with each new attempt. Challenge set.
