Celebrity pranks are a risky endeavour.

Nowhere was this more evident than in this week’s horrendous plane crash prank played on reality star and hotel heiress Paris Hilton.

While the Egyptian show behind the prank may have planned on nothing more than some lighthearted fun, it backfired horribly as audiences watched a teary and traumatised Hilton coming to terms with impending death.

• Arnie frightens children in Terminator prank
• Paris Hilton fears for her life in ‘cruel’ plane prank

It wasn’t funny, it was plain cruel.

While most pranks are nowhere near as elaborate or risky as Hilton’s terrifying stunt, they have repercussions – some of them hilarious, some of them humiliating.

Here are several of the most memorable:

The unPunkable Jonas brother

Ashton Kutcher’s MTV series Punk’d could be singlehandedly responsible for popularising the idea of pranks as television content.

After Kutcher left as host in 2007, the show went on hiatus and then returned in 2012, from which point it went downhill.

Featuring a new celebrity host each week, the show lacked the prank expertise of Kutcher – and it showed.

Particularly in an episode hosted by Glee star Heather Morris, in which an attempted prank on Joe Jonas failed miserably.

When Morris had fake thieves frame Jonas for stealing televisions, he refused to play along, admitting he spotted a hidden camera at the very beginning.

Awkward.

Joaquin Phoenix: rap icon

Joaquin Phoenix is the original troll.

In fact, he trolled all of America when he went on the Late Show with David Letterman show in 2009 posing as a very serious, very weird wannabe rapper.

Phoenix was bearded, moody and mumbling as he claimed he was retiring from acting to pursue hip hop to a bemused Letterman.

The audience may have laughed in his face but, a year later, the joke was on them when Phoenix dropped the guise completely.

It was all part of his 2010 mockumentary I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin in which he depicted a faux emotional breakdown through a series of bizarre public appearances.

It was perhaps the world’s longest, and weirdest, prank.

Jennifer Aniston’s Friends fight

Being a great actor is both a blessing and a curse.

During a 2014 interview with Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel “surprised” the actress with a reunion of her former Friends castmates Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.

He then demanded she re-enact a scene with him, Cox and Kudrow.

As part of the act, Aniston pretended to be seriously miffed about seeing her old friends. Many viewers missed the joke and believed Aniston really was angry about being forced to revisit her past.

A lot of the comments accused her of bullying her former castmates and being a diva.

Seems Aniston is a little too convincing as a grouch.

‘The Bieber’

Number one prank killer: when people are too good at their jobs.

During an interview with Ryan Seacrest in 2011, Justin Bieber was asked to prank call a hair salon and ask if they do “the Bieber blow wave”.

Unfortunately, rather than being confused, an employee at the salon said it wouldn’t be a problem and let the booking go ahead.

Bieber was forced to reveal his identity in an attempt to rescue the sub-par stunt and even then the woman on the phone was noticeably unimpressed.

Better luck next time, Biebs.

Emma Stone’s emotional Spice Girls moment

Now this one was just plain mean.

Emma Stone, actress and diehard Spice Girls fan, had the misfortune of meeting serial jokester Graham Norton during an episode of his talk show last year.

Stone, who had given several interviews about her love for the British girl band, freaked out when Norton suggested the entire group might be backstage waiting to meet her.

Fanning herself and nearly in tears, she fell in a heap when Norton revealed he was kidding, while her boyfriend Andrew Garfield laughed hysterically.

Taylor takes a fall

Ellen DeGeneres may give off a “wouldn’t hurt a fly” vibe, but she pulls no punches when it comes to her pranks.

The talk show host is known for her scare tactics, but there are moments the innocent spooks come with significant health risks.

Taylor Swift experienced this firsthand when DeGeneres jumped out at her in a dressing room back in 2010.

Swift was so freaked out by the surprise that she slipped and fell, her head barely missing a nearby toilet.

On a later episode of the show, Swift joked she “could have died” during the prank.