HOAXERS BATTLE TO A DRAW

December 17, 2005 -- KIDS can be so silly sometimes. Well-known media prankster Joey Skaggs, who has duped countless TV shows, newspapers and magazines, is having a heated hoax-off with would-be scammer Danny Wallace, a British TV host and author. Wallace, who's producing a 90-minute TV special called "Danny Wallace's Hoax Files," to air Monday in the United Kingdom, set up an interview with master manipulator Skaggs. Wallace presumably wanted to get the inside scoop on Skaggs' shenanigans, which have included Cat Houses for Dogs (pet brothels), the Fat Squad (commandos hired to enforce diets) and Port-o-fess (a confessional booth attached to a bicycle). But Wallace sent a ringer in his place to show up Skaggs, not knowing Skaggs had done the same. The resulting interview featured two unsuspecting impostors discussing the art of the hoax. It was only after the smoke had cleared that both Wallace and Skaggs discovered the duplicitous deed. Skaggs claims he got the upper hand, while Wallace declared victory. We think the joke's on both of them — unless, of course, the hoax is on us.