This April Fools’ Day, no one is safe — not even our hosts.

During TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle on April 1, Jenna Bush Hager gave guest co-host Willie Geist — and, consequently, herself — the surprise of a lifetime.

During the segment, the pair was joined by TODAY digital executive editor Arianna Davis, who shared the latest topics trending on the internet. After talking about Lamar Odom’s upcoming documentary and Raye’s new single, they all moved on to dessert.

“We’ve got to talk about this viral cake that’s being walked in,” Geist said as TODAY culinary producer Katie Stilo slowly walked out with a delectable, intricately decorated two-layer cake speckled with gold flakes and topped with caviar. “Very carefully, I note.”

“This is a $20,000 cake,” Davis said. “It is all the rage right now on the internet, because they only make one of these every single day.”

As Davis spoke, Stilo motioned for Jenna to lend her a hand because of the cake’s apparent weight — but that’s when tragedy struck.

“Oh my…” Jenna exclaimed as she dropped the pricey cake, slipped on the spilled icing and fell to the ground. Uproarious laughter echoed from behind the camera, and cake went everywhere.

There’s only one thing to keep in mind at this point: the bakery was imaginary, and TODAY’s sneaky food team was behind the cake.

“Well, there goes the one cake,” Davis said with a laugh. “$20,000, Jenna.”

Geist was too wily to be bamboozled, however, saying to Jenna, “April Fools!”

“You knew it?” she replied.

“Only after you went down,” he noted.

“Well, I did get it all over my shoes. I really committed,” Jenna said, adding that the slip was not supposed to be part of the bit. “The fall was real. We tried to trick Willie.”

Geist, perhaps, was primed for April tomfoolery: Jenna mentioned at the top of the show that she and her daughter generated an AI image of an adorable puppy in the backseat of their car and sent it to the family group chat.

That trick fooled her husband, Henry Hager, who frantically texted her that the kids would never walk the dog and he would have to do it himself.

“The commitment from Jenna Bush Hager to take this spill for the cause,” Willie said, asking for a second time to see a slow motion replay. “Can we see that one more time?” 


“Upstairs, I was like, ‘You know, it’s a crazy world out there, someone’s going to buy that for their wedding,” he continued. “Maybe it’s real. I was locked in until you went down,” Geist said.

“I’m sorry, everyone,” Jenna said, noting the show’s next guest, Sharon Stone, watched the whole prank from the wings.

“I’m so embarrassed. You want some caviar?” Jenna joked to Stone. “Sharon, please don’t judge us.”