So far in its first season, Who is America? has shown the extraordinary things people will do under the ostensible legitimacy of a documentary TV series.
We’ve seen Trump voters try and repel ‘Islamist terrorists’ by brandishing pork and a luxury yacht salesman take business from a supposed stooge for Assad, but episode 6 of the Showtime series saw perhaps the most stunning prank yet.
In the regular ‘Ex-Con Second Chance’ segment, Sacha Baron Cohen’s reformed criminal character Rick Sherman showed off the culinary skills he developed while behind bars.
It culminated in him preparing a tasting menu for Bill Jilla, the editor of dinnerreviews.com (though it should be noted that the site is now defunct and Jilla is not a widely-recognised food critic) that started with a “beans on toast medley”, took in “anally-aged veal in a strawberry prophylactic” (inspired by how veal was smuggled into Rick’s prison) and finished with “filet of vegetarian-fed Chinese dissident and cauliflower purée”.
Jilla initially looked shocked by the prospect of “ethically-sourced human”, but ultimately grabbed a fork and got stuck into what he appeared to genuinely believe was the loin of a Chinese man.
“Mmmmm. Butter; it’s like butter soft,” he enthused. “Who needs a knife? It’s melting on my palette. I don’t even need to chew it.”
Jilla seemed unfazed when Rick said that the meat was so fatty because the dissident had been kept in a confined space, and the prank concluded with Jilla doing a piece to camera thanking the dead man’s family for allowing him to sample their son. “It’s truly an honour and a pleasure,” he summarised, “superb.”
Who is America?’s final episode airs Sunday night on Showtime in the US and Monday night on Channel 4 in the UK.
