A young Scottish man with autism has come up with a clever trick to avoid birthday embarrassment.
Ross Connolly, from South Queensferry, went viral after deciding he didn’t want to be the centre of attention on his 27th birthday last week.
The TikTok prankster hates loud noises, as he struggles to process them, so came up with a plan to get out of being sung happy birthday.
When his dad Kevin, 57, brought out his cake, he decided to blow the candles out immediately to stop his family singing.
His sisters Nicola, 29, and Natalie, 32, as well as their mum Evelyn, 58, were left in stitches at the anti-climatic moment, reports the Daily Record.
In the clip, shared by big sister Nicola, Kevin pulls an exasperated face before laughing himself after Ross quickly blows out the candles.
He then says: "You are too late, I have just blown them out, haha!" leaving his family in hysterics.
Nicola told the Daily Record: “Dad wasn’t too pleased, as you can see by the video, but mum, me and my sister were just in hysterics, crying with laughter.
“I’ve probably watched it on repeat a good 10 times over.
“Ross loves a good prank, but he got us all good in that one.
“He’s pretty smart, he knows if the candles are out we don’t sing. He doesn’t enjoy being the centre of attention especially on his birthday.
“He prefers a quick hello and goodbye, candles out and a slice of cake then back up to watch his DVDs in peace.
“He hates loud noises and of course with singing it’s too much for him to process so a quick out is what he wanted, and he got it.
“We did relight the candles, but he refused to blow them out on camera so my sister done it.
The video has now has over 2 million views on Tiktok, leaving his Nicola ‘mind blown’.
Nicola’s follower count soared overnight as users loved Ross’s hilarious quick thinking.
She said: “I only shared it on TikTok for family to see who don’t have Facebook where it was first posted and literally within hours it had thousands of views.
“Then to woke up and sawt had past two million it was crazy.
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“I only had about 20 followers on TikTok yesterday morning. And tonight I have nearly 8k.
“It’s mind blowing. You never expect anything to go big, ever, and here we are 24 hours later.
“Ross wouldn’t understand.
“He doesn’t know about social media and with some of the troll comments that we got, I’m glad, but most of the comments have been brilliant.”
