How FaZe Jarvis tricked the internet with his ‘return’ to Fortnite

FaZe Clan’s Jarvis ‘Jarvis’ Khattri set the internet ablaze with his return to Fortnite on Twitch, though the historic stream that resulted in yet another ‘ban’ from Epic Games wasn’t quite as it seemed.

Jarvis catapulted even further into stardom in November 2019 upon being hit with a permanent Fortnite ban. Since then, he’s been unable to broadcast the game or create any form of content involving the battle royale.

When he announced his return through a simple tweet 10 months later, it came as no surprise when it blew up. All of the biggest Fortnite professionals and streamers couldn’t quite believe that Jarvis was about to play again. It seemed too good to be true, and that’s because it was.

A video uploaded after the fact revealed how the entire event was a massive troll. Jarvis never actually played Fortnite on stream. He bamboozled everyone on the internet, even us. Here’s how he pulled it off.

On the day of the shocking stream, Jarvis sent out a simple tweet to announce his ‘return.’ In just 25 minutes, the post was met with more than 12,000 likes as engagement was through the roof. From benjyfishy to Mongraal and plenty others, it came as shock to other players that Jarvis would go against the permanent ban from Epic Games.

Before the stream went live, the FaZe crew had set things up perfectly. As it turns out, Jarvis was never actually playing Fortnite while live on Twitch that day. A streamer by the name of ‘SlaterKodish’ was just out of frame playing with a controller instead. Every build, every shot, every movement was all executed by him off-screen while Jarvis mimicked with his own controller.

“If Jarvis was to lift his hand once, it would have been game over,” other members in the FaZe Clan house explained. If he slipped up for even a split second, the illusion would have been ruined and the troll would have been exposed.

• Read more: How to get your own superhero skin in Fortnite: Wanderlust, more

Over 50,000 unique viewers tuned in live for what was an extremely short-lived broadcast. The Epic ID for the account used was flashed briefly during the stream, leading to a fresh ban from the developers before SlaterKodish could even finish the first game for Jarvis.

Shortly after the ban came through, the stream came to an abrupt end to give off the impression that FaZe management wasn’t happy with Jarvis. “We did it,” he yelled just seconds after the broadcast was cut off. “We just trolled the f***ing world.”

• Read More: How to get Fortnite Wildcat Pack with Nintendo Switch exclusive

So while thousands were duped into believing that they watched Jarvis play Fortnite for the first time in almost a year, it came with a hefty cost. Epic’s latest ban wasn’t just for that account. An IP ban was issued, meaning that no one in the FaZe house will be able to play Fortnite again. Well, until they change their IP.