Sometimes the willingness of people to believe everything they see on the internet makes me sad, but then I remember that humans voted in George W. Bush and Jacob Zuma for second terms and it all makes sense.

The video of a snowboarder rocking out to Rihanna whilst a bear chased her spread like wildfire on social media these past few days – sorry to all those who gobbled it up because you’ve been had.

First up let’s see what the boarder, Kelly Murphy, had to say to the Telegraph:

“I’m here [Hakuba, Japan] with my girlfriends but they were doing lessons and I went off by myself.

“I’ve been snowboarding since I was a kid so I felt safe.

“I didn’t realise until I looked at the video today! I was freaking out when I saw it and showed my friends who told me to put it on YouTube.

“I’ve heard rumours that there can be bears, but that it is really, really rare!”

Sure thing girl, but Mashable really aren’t having it:

Looking a little deeper, the bear is clearly digitally added — it just has that pristine shine to it. That, in addition to the laughable audio track and the outpouring of comments claiming the video is fake is enough to convince us.

I suppose this one is real too? Hint – it’s been proven to be a fake:

Or this one, which actually managed to catch some people out despite the shadow of a man reeling the fake snake in:

‘Tis the internet folks, best you don your big person hat and use that grey matter between the ears.

[sources:telegraph&mashable]