Jimmy Kimmel admits 'Worst Twerk Fail Ever' video which fooled 9m is fake

The American comedian and Jimmy Kimmel Live! host unveils his latest high profile prank

A video of a young woman whose haphazard twerking resulted in accidentally setting herself on fire was watched more than 9 million times last week.

But now the American comedian and high profile prankster Jimmy Kimmel - host of an ABC latenight show - has admitted the viral was set up by his television show.

The footage, quietly posted on YouTube under the title “Worst Twerk Fail EVER – Girl Catches Fire!”, shows a girl performing the controversial bum wiggling dance move known as “twerking” upside-down against a door, before falling into a candle and setting her trousers alight.

Kimmel, who says the aim of the fake video was “to end twerking forever”, interviewed the star of the video, stuntwoman Daphne Avalon, on his TV show before featuring an extended version of the footage which includes himself wearing a pink T-shirt squirting Avalon with a fire extinguisher - an admittance that he had fooled 9 million watchers.

The video was launched without fanfare (or link to Jimmy Kimmel) but gathered momentum on YouTube as it was shared, turned into animated Gifs and marvelled at as a lesson in how not to twerk following Miley Cyrus’ infamous attempt at the dance move at last week’s MTV Video Music Awards.

"We didn't send it to any TV station, we didn't tweet it," Kimmel said. "We just put it on YouTube and let the magic happen."

Watch the original viral (above) and the extended version featuring Kimmel’s admission (below).