A Dunblane TikTok sensation has told how he gained thousands of followers in two months by filming prank calls.
John MacDonald, 37, has thousands of followers on TikTok, thanks to his relatable videos about being a dad to two teenagers.
Just two months ago, he launched a new account, @prankster_john, sharing videos of prank calls – and now has over 200,000 followers across his two accounts.
He told The Courier he plans to quit his role in digital marketing to make content creation his full-time job.
John recalled: “I was just sitting bored in my office and thought let’s do a prank call to somewhere I don’t work and pretend to phone in sick.
“I made the call and it seemed to blow up straight away.”
From there, he began receiving hundreds of requests for different prank calls.
These range from telling people their flights have been cancelled to hamsters intimidating neighbours.
Dunblane dad John MacDonald’s TikTok video has nearly three million views
John’s first video to go viral was him pretending to be from a hospital and telling someone their hip needed to be replaced with their ankle.
It now has almost three million views.
He said: “For some weird reason, these people seem to believe it when I’m phoning them.
“I don’t know why because it’s ridiculous.”
Scottish Banter, a social media page with more than a million followers, also started reposting John’s content.
The Dunblane dad-of-two also says he is ‘constantly’ recognised, especially in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
TikTok’s @prankster_john enjoys making people laugh
John says he “can’t wait” for social media to become his full-time job.
He plans to start travelling to make vlogs, do pranks and meet new people.
He said: “I twiddled in my mind with different things to go and do.
“I thought, I’ll do prank calls and set myself a goal to get to 100k [followers] by the end of last month, which I done.
“I’m going to start travelling. I’m going to start going to Spain, maybe Thailand, and doing daily vlogs and crazy stuff like that and aim to do that as a full-time job.”
John, who uses the pseudonym Doug Graveyard in his calls, told The Courier he enjoys entertaining people.
He said: “It’s always good to make people laugh, even when I’m having bad days myself.
“If everyone else is laughing, it’s all good.”
Having worked in social media, John enjoys making his content.
“Doing the prank calls, it’s the best kind of platform where I can actually be myself,” he explained.
“The digital marketing for other companies and other stuff, it’s almost like a kind of false pretence you’re putting on because you’re almost selling yourself.
“The prank calls are all me naturally.”
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