Ramez Galal: loud criticism with high ratings

CAIRO - 17 May 2017: Prank shows have always been strongly attached to Ramadan. But in recent years, when we talk about such programs, we must then talk about the mastermind behind these shows - the famous actor and TV presenter Ramez Galal.

Whether we agree with him or not, Galal succeeded in the last 6 years to draw the attention to his show, since the launched his first prank show in 2011 named Ramez Qalb El Asad which achieved notably high viewership.

The booming success of his first show pushed the prank show producers to recur their cooperation with Galal for 6 consecutive years. This is normal as Galal prank shows represent a lucrative business deal to its producers, and definitely to Galal himself as his contract increases every year till it reached 8 million EGP in 2016.

At the beginning, particularly in his first two prank shows, Ramez Qalb El Asad (Ramez Lion’s Heart) and Ramez Taa’lab Al-Sahara (Ramez Desert Fox), most of the viewers saw them as amusing and hilarious shows. But is it that funny for Galal’s guests, who in fact think they are simply going to die?

A series of sadistic shows

Starting from his third prank show Ramez Ankh Amun, Galal’s shows began to be subjected to criticism claiming that Galal relies on scaring his guests to gain more success. Year after year the criticism began to increase as Galal’s reliance on horrifying his famous guests increased.

He turned to be a nightmare for most of the celebrities. When they least expect him, and lost in a terrible feeling that they are about to die, he shows up out of nowhere with a provoking smile on his face, and simply asks for their forgiveness! After all this the episode ends with Galal hugging the guest as if nothing happened.

Most of the enraged viewers feel, after watching Galal, that they just want to punch him in his tummy or terrify him even more than he terrifies his guests. But despite this fact they continue to watch him, because Galal and his team play on the human curious nature that pushes the viewers to watch only to know what will happen to the next victim and start criticizing.

Galal previously tricked his guests into believing that they were being eaten by sharks, their lives were threatened by fire, subjected to plane crash and a fierce lion attacks - Galal turned from a prank show presenter to a ways-to-die presenter.

The continuity of the shows and his success year after year made some wonder if the guests actually knew about the prank in advance. It is obvious that some of them were previously informed that it is just a prank show, this was clear from the reactions of some of them after the appearance of Galal at the end of every episode, but the others didn’t know and this is the real disaster.

American model, singer, and businesswoman Paris Hilton was once one of Galal’s guests in 2015.

She emphasized on her Twitter account that she wasn’t previously informed that it was a prank show. "Scariest moment of my life, I really believed that the plane was going to crash and we are all going to die," her tweet read.

Galal is going too far with his shows, to a place that seems to have no limitations. But at the end of the day, none of the celebrities sued Galal after all he has done. This is most probably because of the large amount of cash each one receives.

Galal and his team view the whole issue in terms of profit, loss and more fame. They did not bother themselves to think about the impact of putting people in near-death experiences on both their mental and their physical health. They didn’t consult a psychiatrist or a physician.

What will be Galal’s reaction if one of his guests dies as a result of heart attack? Go on Galal with your shows-which are horror shows more than comedy shows. In wait to see you fall into a terrifying situation yourself.