Ellen DeGeneres sparks debate after spider prank on Kim Kardashian

Queen of pranks, Ellen DeGeneres, made an attempt to scare Kim Kardashian with her biggest fear - but viewers did not find the scare as funny as the host intended.

Kardashian, 41, made a guest appearance on Ellen this week where she and DeGeneres reminisced over years of interviews and skits. Kardashian explained her favorite memory is when DeGeneres scared her mother, Kris Jenner, so badly she fell over.

"You got her so bad, I've always dreamed of being scared like that," Kardashian said before quickly looking over her shoulder. "Don't try anything," she added.

DeGeneres, 64, assured her she was not going to but the host is known to not keep her word when it comes to pranks. "I'm not going to scare you, but I do what to help you get over something," DeGeneres said.

Before the host could unveil her prank- a fake spider in a cage - Kardashian interjected, "No, no, no, no, no we're not. We're absolutely not. You're not doing this to me."

Kardashian is notoriously afraid of spiders.

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The reality TV star quickly got out of her seat as DeGeneres unveiled the cage saying "it's not a loose spider" indicating there was a real spider in the cage.

"No, we've been through this before. I don't care to get over my fear," Kardashian said as she ran toward the back of the studio. DeGeneres insisted Kardashian watch her hold the spider before throwing the fake spider at her.

Audience members laughed as Kardashian ran off the set. DeGeneres laughed along and declared "it's not real," but Kardashian continued to walk off set, waving "goodbye everyone."

Commenters expressed their disapproval in DeGeneres' attempt at scaring Kardashian.

"Wow, way to completely ignore someone's boundaries," a commenter said on the YouTube video.

"That’s so mean. Not funny at all," a person said on an Instagram video of the interaction.

Over the years, DeGeneres has pulled pranks on her celebrity guest stars to generate laughs and views. But some of those have aged poorly- like the time she pranked Mariah Carey to drink champagne in an attempt to get the musician to reveal her pregnancy.

Additional allegations of staff mistreatment in 2020 landed DeGeneres in the pile of 'canceled' celebrities. Since then, every interview or prank the host conducts is watched under a microscope and picked apart - including the spider prank on Kardashian.

This season of Ellen is the final season.

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