Fake accident - YouTuber jailed: BBC News Review

Jailed for crashing a plane just for views and social media fame.

This is news review from BBC

Learning English where we teach you how to understand news headlines in English.

I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn all the vocabulary

you need to understand this news story.

Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel

and try the quiz on our website. Now, the story.

A social media influencer has gone to jail

after crashing a plane on purpose for a Youtube video.

Trevor Jacob, an experienced pilot and skydiver jumped out of the plane

while filming himself on a selfie stick.

He'd pretended there were engine problems

and later tried to cover up the crash.

You have been looking at the headlines, Beth.

What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this story in English?

We have staging, gain and stunt.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This is from the Guardian. YouTuber jailed after staging plane crash

in California to make video.

So the headline is about the YouTuber who staged a plane crash and was jailed for it.

We are looking at the word staging. A stage as a noun is that place

in the theatre where the actors stand and perform.

Is there a connection between that stage and this stage in the headline.

Yes. So, stage in the headline is a verb

and it does mean to put on a performance like you do in the theatre,

but it doesn't just have to be related to the theatre. Stage

can also mean to generally organise and do something.

Yeah. So in this story,

This YouTuber planned to and then actually crashed his plane.

He staged it, though.

It was not an accident.

It was a performance.

He did it deliberately for his followers,

his fans. Now,

Can we have some other examples of stage?

Yeah. So you can stage a walkout, or a protest for example.

This means a group of people organise and then actually do it.

So they actually walk out or protest,

usually because they're unhappy about something, they want to see a change.

And a related but slightly different meaning. Stage

can mean pretend.

So we do something fake to trick people into believing it's true.

For example, you can stage an argument, like this:

You are so annoying!

Don't be so mean to me, Beth.

Well, you should be better.

Hmm. There we are staging an argument.

It wasn't real. Let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from LBC.

Youtuber Trevor

Jacob jailed after crashing plane and sky diving to safety for video views

and financial gain. So, the headline

is saying that this influencer crashed his plane for financial gain.

Gain is the word that we are looking at and you probably already know this

as a verb which means to get something useful or positive.

But here as a noun,

what's the sense? Well, gain as a noun

means an increase in something,

such as size or amount.

Now, here the Youtuber wants to increase his video views and money.

That's why he crashed the plane and that's why the headline says

'financial gain'.

Yes, financial gain is a common expression.

It means an increase in money, which is seen as a positive thing.

Other common adjectives which go with gain are

net gain and weight gain

and it's also possible to use gains in the plural.

This could refer to a reward, like money

or maybe an increase in productivity. Yeah, and we even hear gains

used about going to the gym.

It means bigger muscles.

Let's look at that again.

Let's look at our next headline.

This is from the Los Angeles Times.

Olympian snowboarder

sentenced in Youtube airplane crash stunt.

So this Youtuber has been sentenced

and that means punished by law often as in this case going to jail.

But we're looking at the word stunt.

Now, Beth. When I was a kid,

I wanted to be a stunt artist. Jumping off cliffs,

driving fast cars. Well, a

stunt can be an action like that usually seen in a film or TV show and

it's something that looks dangerous.

That's why it has to be done by a stunt artist.

But here in the headline, stunt has a slightly different meaning.

Oh, yes. Stunt here can also mean

that something is done for attention and we see stunt in this headline

meaning both the first definition and this one about attention.

So the snowboarder crashed his aeroplane

just to get attention. Now, we often use adjectives

before the word stunt. Very often that adjective is publicity

and a publicity stunt is something that is done

to get the attention from the public.

Yes. Often something a bit strange or even dangerous.

So, Beth. I am going to perform a publicity stunt

now, with this glass.

I'm going to eat it.

What?! You can't eat the glass! It's not a good stunt.

No. Let's look at that again.

We've had: staging - planning and doing, gain - something useful

or positive for you

and stunt - something done for attention.

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