Despite Olivia Dunne being in the midst of her LSU gymnastics season, and her MLB pitching prospect Paul Skenes being in the middle of his first spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dunne still found time to prank Skenes for the world to see.
On Wednesday evening, Dunne posted a TikTok which started with her speaking to the camera, saying, "So right now I'm going to prank call my boyfriend and tell him I'm going on an influencer trip to an oil rig to do underwater welding. I want to see what he says. I keep seeing this trend everywhere and it's so fun."
@livvy Not the answer i expected? supportive king #foryou#oilrig#prank#welding
From there, Dunne proceeded to call Skenes and began explaining her fake trip — all while trying (and failing) to suppress laughs.
"It's a deal and it just came in, but I kinda already agreed to it," Dunne told Skenes. "Have you ever heard of the brand ExxonMobil? Well, after the season there's a two-day trip to Texas to go on an oil rig... to do some underwater welding. I'd have to be in scuba gear welding things."
"You can do it," Skenes replied. "Is it dangerous? You physically can do it. They're not going to ask you to do something you can't do."
While we can't know for sure what Skenes was really thinking in the moment, we've got to give him credit for being supportive of his girlfriend.
Although Skenes' support and confidence was very unfounded, as Dunne could absolutely not moonlight as an underwater welder.
In fact, underwater welding is thought to be arguably the most dangerous job non-military jobs in the country; proven by welders having a 15% fatality rate, which is the highest out of any occupation.
Therefore, perhaps Skenes should have been more rational instead of supportive — although it doesn't ultimately matter, given that Dunne was just messing with him.
Skenes — who was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft — was probably more focused on his Pirates spring training debut, which takes place today against the Orioles in Sarasota, Florida.
If all goes well for Skenes later today, perhaps we'll see him playing a prank on Dunne prior to her next gymnastics match.
