Kimmel Hoax: Wolf Stalks U.S. Luger Kate Hansen's “Sochi” Hallway

UPDATE: Comedian and late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel announced late Thursday that he was behind the "wolf" video that appeared in luger Kate Hansen's Twitter feed. This story, posted early Thursday, has been updated to reflect that.

Kate Hansen, the luger who likes to warm up to Beyonce mixes, is the talk of Twitter again after she posted a video of what she identified as a "wolf" wandering in her Sochi hallway -- a video that turned out to be a hoax.

Early Thursday morning, the 21-year-old tweeted "wolf in my hall?!?" followed by the popular hashtags #SochiProblems and #SochiFail, which have been used throughout the Games to call attention to bizarre sightings throughout the host city.

She linked to a 17-second video posted to her YouTube account, that shows a four-legged visitor wandering alone, without a collar indoors. "I'm pretty sure this is a wolf wandering my hall in Sochi," she wrote on the page.

It turned out to be a timberwolf mix named Rugby who not in Sochi, but in Los Angeles where comedian and late night host Jimmy Kimmel and his team were concocting an elaborate prank. 

On his show Thursday night Kimmel revealed that he had a replica of Hansen's hallway built in an L.A. studio in order to pull off the stunt. Hansen, who Skyped in to his show, explained that the prank had gone over so well that even Sochi security believed it.

"I started to hear people talk around the building and security started freaking out cause they thought it was a breach," Hansen said.

Hansen, who placed 10th in the women's luge competition, has had an active presence on Twitter since the Games began, both creating and getting in on some of the Olympics' most viral social media action.

On Twitter and in interviews she shared her obsession with Beyonce and her pre-game ritual of dancing to the pop star's music. Beyonce herself shared an article about Hansen and wished the luger "Good Luck!" 

Hansen also jumped in on Amerian freestyle skier Nick Goepper's Valentine's Day proposal. After Goepper made headlines for opening a contest of sorts to pick a Valentine's date, Hansen, jokingly tweeted a photo of herself and fellow U.S. Olympian Ashley Caldwell and wrote that if he wanted a date to the "village caf you know where to find us."  

Contact Us