Townsville radio duo duped by rocket launch prank on Castle Hill

Star106.3 Breakfast hosts Archie and Donny have been fooled by their own team in a rocket launch prank that’s become the talk of Townsville.

The elaborate stunt was the brainchild of Star FM Promo Manager Jake Lacey, who saw an opportunity after the boys expressed their frustration when yet another test flight from Bowen Space Station was called off.

“Archie and Donny were genuinely bummed that the launch was scrubbed,” Jake said. “So I told them I’d organised a ‘back up plan’ – a Townsville launch of our own.”

And the boys bought it, hook, line…  and rocket.

At exactly 8:19am last Friday, July 4, a crowd gathered at Castle Hill for what had been teased as a high-altitude rocket launch.

The moment had been hyped on-air all morning. But when Jake dramatically unveiled the launch vehicle … it turned out to be not a rocket, but two plastic toy rockets from Rebel Sport.

To cheers and laughter, the toy rockets soared briefly before tumbling back to Earth, with one even bouncing harmlessly off a moving vehicle below.

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Thankfully, no people, cars or animals were injured during the execution of this prank.

Despite being the punchline of the joke, Archie and Donny took it all in their stride.

“We honestly thought Jake had scored something with NASA,” said Donny. “Turns out, he scored something from the kids’ section at Rebel.”

“I haven’t felt this betrayed since Maccas stopped doing all-day breakfast,” Archie added.

Townsville residents who witnessed the ‘launch’ embraced the moment, chanting and cheering as the toy rockets descended over the city.

Star 106.3 thanks all attendees for being such good sports and reminds listeners: When the real rockets fail, we’ve still got Jake.

Catch Archie and Donny weekday mornings from 5.30am on STAR 106.3