Woman devastated after falling prey to 'pull a pig' prank. But what is pigging?

A 24-year-old woman has been left in tears after becoming the unwitting victim of a cruel dating prank.

Sophie Stevenson spent £350 to meet 21-year-old Jesse Mateman in Amsterdam after becoming close on a trip to Barcelona.

When she got there, she was left stranded at the airport, receiving a message from Jesse six hours later, saying: “You were pigged. It was a joke.”

“‘Pulling a pig’ is where a guy tries to pull the fat ugly girl,” Sophie explained. “When I saw that message, I wanted to be sick. I was in a foreign country on my own and the guy that I liked had just abandoned me.”

“I replied and said ‘how could you be so cruel’ and all he did was block me. I just couldn’t believe it. It’s one thing to have a joke, but this goes well beyond banter.”

Unfortunately, pigging games like this aren’t a rare occurrence. Groups of boys will go on a night out with the aim of ‘pulling’ the girl they deem to be the most unattractive. The winner is the person who ‘gets with’ the ugliest girl.

To call this particular incident a ‘prank’ seems to undermine the fact that Sophie travelled 500 miles to see a man she had fallen for.

Luckily, she has received lots of support on social media with a huge backlash ensuing against Jesse.

Although ‘pull a pig’ may have only just come to the media’s attention, it has been ongoing for the past few years – albeit without a recognisable name.

In 2014, ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ contestant Josie Cunningham launched a dating site called ‘pull the pig’.

It was reportedly aimed at ‘average looking women’ (although the site currently contains nothing but a blank slate).

Let’s hope this story encourages young men to treat women with respect.

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