BBC Radio 4 finally came clean and confirmed in this morning's Guardian that its new "phone-in" show Down the Line was indeed a spoof.
But eagle-eared listeners had already worked out something was amiss following the broadcast of the first episode over a week ago.
The station's message boards were flooded by a mix of perplexed listeners bemoaning Radio 4's descent into LBC territory and by others who had seen through the ruse and simply said it was "drivel". A few lone voices said it was great comedy that should be given a chance.
Radio 4 commissioning editor for comedy and entertainment Caroline Raphael admitted in G2 that the station had been undecided as to when to admit the truth about the show. Up until broadcast, all publicity had claimed it was a factual show hosted by a real DJ with real callers. Newspaper previewers also swallowed the line.
But in fact it was made by the team behind TV's The Fast Show, with Catherine Tate and Harry Enfield thrown in for good measure.
Media Guardian first twigged something was up after receiving emails from perplexed listeners. Calls to the BBC's switch-board to speak to the show's producer, as listed in the Radio Times, led no-where as the name didn't exist while there was no listing for the show's presenter, Gary Bellamy, either.
Repeated calls to Radio 4's publicity department also met with little illumination, until it was finally let slip that the show was a spoof and 30 or so calls had been made to the duty log. Hence, our article last Wednesday.
Raphael said it was decided to admit the truth after monitoring the number of calls to the duty log, the number of posts on the message boards and the number of enquiries from journalists. She will appear on Feedback today to explain.
Despite coming clean, there are still some un-answered questions, most noticeably - who is the person pictured as DJ Gary Bellamy? The voice comes from Fast Show comedian Rhys Thomas who is not the same person as this guy Raphael might want to explain that one.
The Down the Line Spoof is the latest in a long-line of media gotchas, the most famous of which was Orson Welles' War of the World's broadcast in 1938 that caused mass panic in the US after he told of Martian landings.
Chris Morris' mock news programme The Day Today on Radio 4 was so outlandish many thought it must be real while BBC1's Ghostwatch, presented by Michael Parkinson and broadcast on Hallowe'en in 1992, was so realistic in its depiction of gouls that it was later reported that two children had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and one teenager had even committed suicide.
More recently, BBC3 tried to fool the nation, but didn't really succeed, with a spoof celebrity wedding between Dale Winton and Nell McANdrew while its High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman series saw comedian Marc Wootan attempt to contact famous dead people with the help of his deceased mutt Sheba.
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