Look, none of us is above pettiness, especially when it comes to family arguments. But one man’s sisters took things to a whole new level, as he revealed in a radio call-in. The brother, named Callum, told New Zealand’s ZM show that his siblings once convinced his parents he was dead. And his poor mum and dad only learned the truth when he called them for a catch-up... six months later. Hosts Carl Fletcher, Vaughan Smith and Hayley Sproull listened to the story with dropped jaws, branding it the “best” they’d ever heard. The trio were quick to probe Callum on the details of the crazy deception, and he duly obliged. "My sisters were in a bit of a tiff with my parents at the time and they weren't really getting along,” he explained. "I was living in Wellington while they were in Christchurch. And my older sister actually called my parents up and told them that I’d died." His sisters then apparently claimed that the funeral had already taken place and their parents hadn’t been invited because his ex-girlfriend’s mum and dad “didn’t want them there”. (Makes sense.) At this point, a stunned Smith interjected: ”I'm going to say this, and in the nicest possible way – your sister sounds like a crazy b**h. "No offence. Your sister sounds like a top-level, red flag, crazy b***h!" @fvhzm Callum wins the award for the greatest sentence ever said on-air in ZM history ? The hosts then posed the million-dollar question: how had Callum not spoken to his parents for half a year? He responded matter-of-factly: "I was just busy with life and work and then I was like, wait, I haven't heard from my parents in a while. I wonder what's going on?” He then revealed that he “gave them a call up” and, shocked, they responded: “You're alive?” Asked how they reacted upon hearing the voice of their presumed late son, Callum admitted they were “beside themselves”. “My mum was absolutely in tears and my dad was kind of just gobsmacked – he was just like 'what the f**k is going on?'” he recounted. But, he later said that they were “over the moon” when he went down to visit them that same weekend to “reassure them” that he was, indeed, alive. Naturally, the presenters asked how it was possible that his parents just accepted the news of his death without trying to verify it. "They were kind of like just running around, calling up all our other family – seeing if they had heard anything, from what I was told," he explained. "And then they didn't really know anything to go off so my parents kind of just presumed 'yeah he died'." The presenters then debated whether you would call someone up if you’d heard they’d died. “If somebody said that your friend is dead, you’re not going to pick up the phone and call them, are you? You’re just going to be like, oh, well, yeah, they’re dead,” Fletcher said. But Smith insisted that he would get drunk and call their voicemail just to hear their voice. After the personal reflections, the hosts asked Callum how he’d “died” according to his sisters – whether it had been a car accident or some other unfortunate event. But no, they apparently told his parents that he’d been stabbed. "Wait wait wait. So you are murdered?” Smith laughed delightedly. "You're not dead by your own hand or dead in an accident, someone murdered you?” He then asked Callum if he was “the sort of person who would have been stabbed?", to which he replied: "I was not in some gangs but I will say, at the point in time, it wouldn't have been unpeculiar for me to get stabbed." The caller went on to insist that he didn’t know why his sisters “hate” him, and he also revealed that his parents no longer speak to them. “We've nearly been doing this for 20 years,” Smith said. “This is the wildest phone call I've ever had.” ZM Radio shared the excerpt from the episode to TikTok and it racked up more than 1.5 million views and 167,000 likes in a week. However, the plot thickened when a commentator claiming to be Callum’s sister wrote: “I can confirm I never told my parents he was dead.” She said there had been a stabbing in the city of Porirua at the time, and no one had heard from Callum “for a few months” and so she contacted him to check he was ok. And when she found out he was, “she was happy”. She then suggested her family had a number of issues and that she “tried to stay away” from them. Urged to call into the radio show and “get this straightened out”, she replied: “Is it really even worth it? In order to do that I would need to air everyone's dirty laundry. It would turn from comical to sad very quickly.” Besides, she said, she didn’t really “mind” his on-air account, conceding: “The story was a good laugh.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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Arsenal sit at the top of the Premier League, but with Liverpool and Manchester City hot on their heels, trying to decide on a Fantasy Premier League captain has become a more complicated task than simply giving it to Erling Haaland every week. With multiple teams contending with seemingly ever-increasing injury lists, the pool of available players has also taken a hit, and if available, a wildcard could come into contention. Here are five players we think could impress in gameweek 14, and perhaps even into the festive period, with managers needing to decide how big their injury lists can be, and perhaps hold a couple of transfers over before the matches start coming thick and fast. Bukayo Saka, Arsenal (8.7) The Arsenal man has four assists in the last five gameweeks, and remains the Gunners’ first-choice penalty taker. When it comes to assured points, Saka is also a safe bet having played 90 minutes in three of the last five games. The next few weeks starts with a seemingly easy home match against Wolves before trophy to Luton and Aston Villa come up, which could be slightly more problematic, but neither suggest Arteta might consider rotating his side, especially after Liverpool were held to a draw at Kenilworth Road before the international break. Pedro Porro, Tottenham (5.3) Porro is an attacking, relatively cheap defender who has the added bonus of being on all set pieces in the absence of James Maddison. However, it might be a solid rotation option, with Spurs due to travel to Manchester City on Sunday, but then there are matches at home to West Ham and Newcastle, before a trip to Nottingham Forest is followed by the visit of Everton. Bryan Mbeumo, Brentford (7.0) He has consistently been a part of Brentford’s team and is likely to get at least two points, when taking into account Brentford’s upcoming fixtures of Luton, an injury-hit Brighton and Sheffield United, he looks certain to have an impact. It is time to look past the fact that his last club goal came in October against Brentford, and embrace that he has six club goals already this season, and with the fixtures coming up, is likely to add to that tally. Antony Gordon, Newcastle United (5.9) Who could resist selecting Gordon, especially with a match against his former club Everton to come, although admittedly in between Manchester United at home and Tottenham away. But Eddie Howe’s team remain solid picks and at the very least, with their mounting injury concerns that threaten to leave them unable to fill the bench, Gordon will be involved. Kostas Tsimikas, Liverpool (4.7) With Andy Robertson injured, is it time to go for an unconventional Liverpool defender? The Scotland left-back could be out until the new year, giving the still relatively cheap Tsimikas a solid run of games, including the festive period. Taking the draw at Luton aside, and the difficulty of playing in Europe and the Premier League, Jurgen Klopp’s side are in for an easy run. Home to Fulham, a trip to Sheffield United and then another one to Palace are up next. Read More Gabriel Jesus responds to Arsenal rumours of signing new striker Arteta praises ‘really convincing’ Arsenal after Champions League rout Mikel Arteta hails Aaron Ramsdale despite errors in Arsenal’s win over Brentford Declan Rice urges England to finish 2023 with a ‘bang’ in North Macedonia Talking points ahead of England’s clash with North Macedonia I always want more for myself – Phil Foden targets England goals and assists

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