For more than a decade Ramez Galal has been putting celebrities on edge with his comedy prank television show.
Each Ramadan the Egyptian comic returns to the small screen with a new season of his popular show, where famous Arab cultural and sporting personalities are unknowingly roped into pranks designed to elicit a memorable reaction. This year, the series is called Ramez Never Ends and is broadcast nightly on MBC during Ramadan. It features the likes of Egyptian rapper Mohamed Ramadan, actors Ahmed El Sakka and Yasmine Ezz, footballer Mahmoud Kahraba, and former Miss Egypt Amina Shelbaya.
Judging by the first 10 episodes, we can confirm the series is full of prized money shots, with subjects hurling furniture in rage, threatening Galal with violence or simply shaking their head when the penny drops that it was all for a laugh.
While the show is a perennial ratings success, there have been seasons when Galal's pranks have veered towards the nasty and the premise falls flat.
Perhaps in an attempt to cut any losses this year, Ramez Never Ends tries something new, featuring the same two hair-raising scenarios alternatively each night, with different subjects each time.
The set-up
Shooting in Riyadh for the third season running, the two scenarios have a culinary theme with celebrities either invited for a fancy meal up in the air or on the ground.
The former is a dinner-in-the-sky concept, in which the subjects of the pranks indulge in a set menu on a floating platform 150 metres above the ground.
Serving the dishes is Galal, disguised as a stern sushi chef.
Things go awry during the second course when the platform begins to swing precariously from side to side.
Cue the screams from Galal and staff, also in on the joke, which leave the subject fearing they just had their final meal.
In the second scenario the high-profile guest is invited to the launch of a Salt Bae-style Turkish restaurant.
Their meal is interrupted by a rampaging cow — yes, you read it right — that crashes through the windows.
Harried security staff escort the celebrity and Galal — this time disguised as a neurotic chef — into a safe room, which begins to spin around with both occupants literally bouncing off the walls.
The prank pay-off
The biggest problem in Ramez Never Ends is the lack of tension leading up to the action sequences.
In both scenarios, viewers have to sit through the celebrity and hostess interacting with, frankly, meaningless conversation before the spectacle begins.
This is in contrast to previous seasons, when the show dropped sly hints that stirred concern from the guests.
However, if you don't want to sit through the preamble, MBC’s streaming platform Shahid comes in handy, and viewers can simply skip half of the show to get to the good bits, which is always the guests’s reactions when finding out they have been had.
Execution-wise, the safe room is a device that has celebrities like rapper Ramadan and singer Mohamed Fouad genuinely terrified as they careen off the walls, dodging the odd flying piece of furniture.
The normally cool Ramadan didn't see the funny side and chased Galal before hurling a chair at him, and Egyptian actress Ezz was a picture of rage, while Fouad was simply glad to escape the room in one piece.
As always, it is Galal’s endearing pleas for forgiveness and copious amounts of forced hugs that ultimately disarm the guests.
The fact their names often trend regionally on Twitter after each episode is probably another reason why they are, more often than not, OK with being the butt of the joke.
However, while Ramez Never Ends serves up what the audience wants, it ultimately feels like a stale effort.
Ramez Never Ends can be streamed online at shahid.mbc.net
