A father has faked his own death to teach his family members a lesson – before rocking up to his funeral in a helicopter.
David Baerten said he wanted to show relatives about the importance of staying in touch.
His wife and children were in on the elaborate prank and helped him carry it out.
One of his daughters even wrote on social media: “Rest in peace, Daddy. ‘Why is life so unfair? Why you? You were going to be a grandfather, and you still had your whole life ahead of you.
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“I love you! We love you! We will never forget you.”
The TikToker, 45, who is known as Ragnar Le Fou online, staged his fake funeral near the Belgian city of Liège last weekend.
David, who has over 165,000 TikTok followers, said he carried out the prank to see how his extended family would react.
He explained: “What I see in my family often hurts me, I never get invited to anything.
“Nobody sees me. We all grew apart. I felt unappreciated.
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“That’s why I wanted to give them a life lesson and show them that you shouldn’t wait until someone is dead to meet up with them.”
David has yet to release the full video of him arriving at his funeral by helicopter.
A short clip by fellow TikToker and close pal Thomas Faut shows the moment he landed in a field in the helicopter before being greeted by stunned mourners.
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He told them: “Cheers to you all, welcome to my funeral.”
Thomas said afterwards: “I swear I was crying and then I had the shock buddy, we love you very much.”
“You had us. We love you, my friend. We are happy you are still among us.”
David said only half of his family came to the funeral, but other loved ones have since contacted him.
He added: “That proves who really cares about me.
“Those who didn’t come have contacted me to meet up. So in a way, I did win.”
One viewer commented: “Someone could have felt unwell or even suffered a cardiac arrest.”
Another said: “I lost my little sister and my dad, how can you play with death?”
Raquel wrote: “It’s sad that some family members only see you after you’re dead. God bless you.”
Nikita remarked: “It’s all for the cameras and the money. Above all, it’s got you talking!”
After the incident went viral, David told Jam Press: “I’ve been working on this project for over a year and I eventually want to make a film about it.
“So I organised this ‘life lesson’ hoax that was also filmed by a team of cameramen.
“The people who filmed me helped to create a worldwide buzz and this will be used to promote my report, which will also create a buzz and promote my future films if I find a producer.”
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