Carson Daly had friends, co-workers and TODAY fans freaking out on Wednesday when he posted a picture of his bald scalp shortly after he gave himself a haircut live on television.
The last thing we saw on TV was his son Jackson, 11, taking clippers to his dad's overgrown hair in their home, and the next thing we saw was an Instagram post with Carson's bald pate gleaming. But what really went down?
"Everybody's very, very curious to know what happened here,'' Carson said on TODAY Thursday.
After all, it wasn't that far-fetched considering people across the country are shaving their heads while in quarantine because they can't get haircuts during the coronavirus pandemic.
It turns out Jackson was the mastermind behind a prank.
"He goes, 'It would be funny if you posted a picture of you bald,''' Carson said. "I was like, 'That's a great idea.'
"So we found an app, (and) we doctor up a picture. I showed it to (my wife) Siri and Siri's like 'Oh, that's terrible, no one's gonna believe that.' We post it, and everybody in my life — I've been on TV since 1998 — everybody thought it was real."
That included his TODAY family. Al Roker, who sports the bald look himself, even called him immediately after seeing the Instagram post.
"My home phone hasn't rung in six years, and it rang for a whole hour," Carson said.
Carson posted a side-by-side comparison of the fake bald photo and the real thing on Instagram Thursday.
"Real vs Fake. I jokingly posted the bald pic & got SO MUCH positive reaction, I actually feel bad I never thought anyone would think it’s real," he wrote. "Turns out, literally, everyone did! It was fun to laugh for most of the day...nice break from reality. Thanks everyone!"
Carson also showed off the results of his self haircut on TODAY and received some praise from celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, who talked him through the self haircut on the air a day earlier.
"You didn't let me down,'' Appleton said on TODAY. "Obviously when you posted that picture I was like, 'OK.' I've seen some DIY haircuts going on right now and this was an interesting one, so I was a little disappointed.
"You look great. You did an amazing job."
Carson also mentioned that he would consider shaving it all off for real.
"Now I feel like because of Uncle Al, and I have lots of bald friends, I feel like I've let them down now,'' he said. "I still want to say bald is beautiful."