Real estate agent Adriel Hsu thought he’d been cast in a luxury property show. Instead, he spent nearly four hours giving Sacha Baron Cohen a mansion tour, mediating a fake lovers’ quarrel and trying to keep a straight face. He says he didn’t find out what he’d actually filmed until he saw the trailer.
A camera crew following a real estate agent around a Bel-Air mansion hardly sounds unusual. That was the detail that made the whole thing work.
Hsu knew he was being filmed. He’d filled in a casting questionnaire, sat through a Zoom interview and turned up expecting to show a luxury home to prospective buyers. According to his account to the California Post, he believed the footage was for a reality competition called Realtor Swap.
Instead, the showing ended up in Ali G: Who Iz I?, Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2026 mockumentary. Cohen reprises Ali G alongside Morgana Robinson, who plays his pregnant girlfriend, Julie.
The mansion showing started like any other
Julie arrived first. Hsu recalled a polite, professional exchange as he showed her around the property. It was about 40 minutes before Ali G turned up.
A producer had already warned him that one of the buyers was eccentric. That gave Hsu a perfectly plausible explanation for the yellow glasses, the oversized outfit and the unusual questions.
Hsu told the California Post he hadn’t seen Cohen’s earlier Ali G work or Borat. He didn’t recognise Cohen or Robinson. And after years in luxury property, he wasn’t about to write off a potential buyer based on what they wore.
Then Ali G mistook the baby grand piano for a badly levelled table.
An aerial view shows mansions and a golf course in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, April 29, 2012.Getty Images
The agent asked if it was a prank. The crew said no
The piano remark didn’t give the game away. But by the time the group reached the kitchen, Hsu was starting to wonder what sort of showing he was giving.
About two hours in, Cohen and Robinson stepped away. Hsu used the break to ask the camera crew directly whether it was scripted or a prank. According to Hsu, they kept straight faces and denied it.
Think about it from his side of the camera. He’d gone through casting, been warned to expect an unusual buyer and now had the crew telling him everything was above board. Walking out would have meant abandoning what still might have been a legitimate showing.
So he kept going.
California realtor Adriel Hsu speaks out about his experience appearing in Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Ali G: Who Iz I?”Facebook/@Adriel Hsu
From selling a luxury home to mediating a lovers’ quarrel
The tour took a turn when Ali G privately told Hsu that an HBO deal had fallen through. Soon the agent was carrying messages between the couple and trying to stay neutral as their dispute played out around the house.
The most absurd exchange came in the main bathroom. Ali G continued talking from the toilet, accompanied by loud sound effects, before reaching out for a fist bump.
Hsu’s instinct at that point was simple: deliver the message and get out of the bathroom.
For anyone who has ever hosted an awkward showing, there’s something familiar about his response. Hsu kept the appointment moving, even after it had long since stopped looking like a conversation about buying a house.
Morgana Robinson, left, as Julie and Sacha Baron Cohen as Ali G perform in “Ali G: Who Iz I?”Amazon MGM Studios
The trailer was the first time he saw the joke
There was no big reveal at the end of the shoot, Hsu said. Cohen and Robinson stayed in character, and the producers told him they would have to reschedule with the next client. He left still carrying the house keys.
Only when the trailer came out did he discover he’d been part of an Ali G movie.
That’s what makes this more than a funny celebrity cameo. For viewers, the setup is obvious the moment Cohen appears. Hsu had to make sense of it in real time, without the benefit of a title card or anyone willing to tell him the truth.
Looking back, Hsu told the California Post he appreciated the effort that went into the prank and enjoyed seeing it from the audience’s side.
Sacha Baron Cohen stars in “Ali G: Who Iz I?”©MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
How long would you have kept showing the house?
The funniest part of the scene might be the agent’s refusal to make things worse. Ali G is doing everything he can to derail the showing, and Hsu keeps trying to get everyone through the next room.
Luxury property has plenty of unexpected turns. In another story, Property Noise covered why Culture Kings founder Simon Beard reset his price expectations for a Gold Coast penthouse. That was a real seller adjusting to the market. Hsu’s problem was figuring out whether he had a real buyer at all.
So where would you have called time: the piano, the argument or the fist bump from the toilet?
Source: Adriel Hsu’s account was first reported by Georgia Clelland for the California Post.