What are the 'fake news' stories planted by Joe Lycett?

Comedian Joe Lycett has confessed to planting various "silly" fake news stories over the last month that have made it into mainstream news.

In a social media post, Lycett announced his latest stunt and has racked up almost 5 million views in the process and thousands more speculative responses.

In the clip, he said: "For the last month, me and my team have been planting stupid, silly fake news stories, about things that never actually happened in the hope that they would take up space that more hateful or polarising fake news might otherwise have used."

Lycett confirmed that his stories have made it to national news publications including BBC News, The Mail, The Sun, ITV News, Sky News and The Independent.

While he did not share the exact stories, he told fans that all will be revealed on his new series of Late Night Lycett on 12 April.

In a separate clip, Lycett hints at one of the suspected stories that saw artwork of Paul McCartney supposedly banned from auction for being "unflattering".

"I do love the funny stories on Have I Got News For You," he joked with the hashtag 'IsThisJoe?'

Over on X/Twitter, users soon shared their theories on other articles they believed to be entirely made up.

"A heads up next time would be handy, mate. We did 6 minutes on that hedgehog story," Paper Cuts Podcast hit back.

Another suggested the story of Iceland selling hot cross buns with ticks instead of crosses was a strong contender.

One person wrote: "Oh, please tell me that the Willy Wonka experience was one of them!? That and the bobble hedgehog?"

Many more called the stunt "brilliant," and have started counting down the days until the full reveal on Friday.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.