Imagine this – you are out on an errand, it is 38ºC, your throat is dry, you have been sweating all day and all you want is to get back to your car and drink that nice cold soda you had left behind with your husband. When you finally get back you pick up the can, only to realise he had finished the entire cooldrink, not leaving a single drop for you. And then it soon becomes clear, it was all part of an elaborate TikTok prank.
If you have been on South African TikTok long enough you would most likely be familiar with the shriek “Wasim! No man!” It is the voice of Somerset West local Aisha Younas, shouting at her prankster husband who had pulled off a ridiculous prank most divorce lawyers would consider actionable.
Most spouses would be upset for days, weeks even. However, Aisha and Wasim have one of those marriages where the comedy is alive and the love is strong. The Helderberg couple has an admirable relationship clearly centred on understanding worthy of celebration, especially in the month of love.
They met in the early 1990s, when the idea of social media platforms was still an undeveloped concept in somebody else’s mind. Wasim, originally from Pakistan, was making an international call to a friend and dialled the wrong number, and Aisha was on the other end of the line instead. Being the feisty woman she is, she curtly said he had the wrong number and put the phone down.
But there was something in her voice that attracted Wasim to her and he set about looking for her. Contacting the exchange operator to find her number again – quite literally going to the ends of the earth to pursue her – he made it clear once he had found her that he wanted to keep in touch. For the next year and a half their love blossomed over the telephone, not knowing how the other looked, learning and growing in love despite the distance.
One day Wasim proposed over the phone, and she agreed, hopped onto a plane to meet him and his family in his home country, and four hours after landing in Pakistan they were wedded. So how did this astonishing international coupling from the 90s have the sequel it has had, in which the pair have become one of the most sought-after married couples in social media, on one of the biggest platforms to date?
It started in typical pandemic fashion,” Aisha related. “After the birth of my youngest child, lockdown occurred and we were stuck at home. “We baked what we could and ate what we wanted, but I was honestly becoming a little psychotic cooped-up at home; I was so bored. And you know I used to shout to our children for being on TikTok all the time, so one morning I thought, ‘why can’t I?’”
So she suggested to Wasim that they make a TikTok video, but he initially refused. But afterwards, noticing how frustrated Aisha was becoming, he gave in.
“You know what, okay, you are so miserable let’s just do it – let’s make a TikTok!”
But they had no idea where to start or how to record, so they enlisted the help of one of their daughters, and that is how their first TikTok materialised.
“And then the challenge came from the kids,” Wasim recalled.
“They said ‘Let’s see how far you get.’”
They did not think their parents would get very far, but soon enough they were proven wrong.
When the couple started posting their “Prankwars” their fame shot up so much their adult son, who is not even on social media, started receiving videos of his parents from friends, and could not help but be impressed.
Aisha shared that Wasim had always been a prankster and he admitted to thriving on her reaction.
Their TikTok brand is one mostly of a loving couple pranking each other and enjoying making couple comedy, and if anything, their social-media influence extends further than just making their followers laugh.
When on one of their live streams one feels at home and at ease. While Wasim is cooking curry or breyani, with music from his home country playing in the background, Aisha sits and chats with her followers eating an organic granadilla from their own garden.
The two of them will chat with each other and they know every follower of their live feed by name. This is who they are – there is no filter and no make-up.
“The kind of people we are has never changed on camera, because our core values are not about material things,” Aisha pointed out.
They connect with their followers on a one-on-one basis. Aisha reads every comment that pops up on the live, and this is what attracts people to them as a couple. Despite the laughs and pranks they make one feel as if one is part of them.
“There are a lot of lonely people out there,” Wasim pointed out.
Aisha agreed, adding their TikTok helps so many. “We are not just doing this for the likes or followers,” she said. “We found we genuinely can help others with our content by providing them with some comfort and joy.
“You know how many messages we get in our inbox from users thanking us for what we provide for them?”
Aisha and Wasim revealed their pranks are prologues to foreplay.
“I enjoy pranking my wife because I like her fiery reaction,” he said.
Aisha admitted: “There is only one prank that upset me. It is the one where he placed a flower on my towel because I have bad allergies. That was the only prank I could not forgive him for. It took me two weeks to get over.”
Despite the pranks, Aisha said he is a very good father, a great family man and is not afraid to perform duties usually associated with women.
“I am very blessed to have him in my life and the kids are so fortunate,” she added.
They love each other to bits and cannot get enough of each other. They do almost everything together, and hence the elaborate pranks. It can only be a couple that knows each other through and through, who can laugh and love each other so much.
“Pranking aside, Wasim is very romantic. He loves serenading me to sleep with the most beautiful love songs and he has the best voice.”
Asked if they have any Valentine’s Day pranks up their sleeve, Aisha just smiled naughtily and said, “Watch this space.”
