The BBC showed the hoax on a television programme called "Panorama". A reporter named Charles de Jaeger made the hoax. He remembered how his teachers said his classmates would think spaghetti grew on trees. He got a budget of £100 to make the hoax. The hoax was reported by a trusted reporter named Richard Dimbleby. In 2010, CNN said it is the biggest hoax ever made by a trusted news organisation. It is also one of the first hoaxes on television.