Vault: Her adoption prank lasted years before the truth came out.

Summary

The Bert Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Vault: Her adoption prank lasted years before the truth came out.
Date: May 13, 2026
Main Theme: Sibling pranks, family dynamics, and the emotional fallout of a long-running adoption joke.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on a wild and revealing tale from Intern Reshma, who shares how a seemingly harmless prank on her younger sister—convincing her she was adopted—spiraled into years of secret belief and emotional weight. The segment explores how common this prank is among siblings, the ways it plays into family relationships, and the difference between playful sibling rivalry and emotional cruelty. Listeners and show members chime in with their own stories, making for a confessional and relatable episode peppered with honesty and dark humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Reshma’s Prank: The Birth of an Adoption Secret

• Establishing the Dynamic:

  • Reshma (the older sister) is 16 months older than her sister Rachna; their mother always wanted twins and raised them near-identically.
  • "We grew up practically as twins because my mom always wanted twins... besides, if you took a black and white photo, we look identical." – Reshma [01:40]

• The Prank:

  • At around age 7, Reshma tells her 5-year-old sister she’s adopted because she “looks different” (paler, different hair and eye color).
  • Reshma backs up the claim with "evidence" and emotional manipulation, telling her sister not to tell their mother as it would be too painful.
  • "It was one of those things I heard at school. So I decided to tell her that she was adopted." – Reshma [03:30]
  • "To avoid getting in trouble, I told her that she couldn't tell my mom because it would hurt her feelings that she knew..." – Reshma [04:18]

• On Sibling Pranks:

  • Melissa and other hosts recall similar pranks from their own childhoods, normalizing the experience:
    • "My sister did the exact same thing to me... I'm the only blonde in my family." – Melissa [04:03]

The Shocking Reveal: Lasting Consequences

• Years Later:

  • The adoption lie remains unaddressed for six to seven years, unspoken but affecting Rachna’s sense of self.
  • The secret erupts during an argument between Rachna and their mom, with Rachna finally shouting, “You’re mad at me ‘cause I’m adopted!” [06:15]
  • The realization hits Reshma: “Everything rushes back to me. And I was like, oh my God. And I froze.” [06:16]

• Aftermath:

  • Reshma gets in major trouble, but expresses no remorse.
    • “Knowing my sister thought she was adopted for seven years was completely worth it.” – Reshma [06:47]
  • Hosts and listeners comment on the surprising lack of guilt and the emotional toll on the younger sibling:
    • “This poor child thought she was adopted... probably thought about it every time they went and did something.” – Melissa [06:52]

Listener Calls: Shared Trauma, Sibling Rivalry, and Parent Oversteps

• Caller 1 (Brittany): Shares that her mother, not a sibling, enacted the adoption prank, leading to deep scars and a breach of trust.

  • “My mom actually did... she told her that she was adopted one day because my sister is dark skinned and she was getting in trouble... it went so far that my sister’s teacher ended up finding out because she went to school crying.” [07:12]
  • Melissa draws a line: “Siblings are allowed to taunt each other. Parents aren’t allowed to taunt their kids.” [08:33]

• Caller 2 (Lisa): Recounts the reverse—adopted kids telling the biological child that she’s “not special.”

  • “You’re not adopted. You’re their kid.” [08:57]
  • “We used to torture her with that all the time. They picked us out and you were just what they got. We were hand picked.” [09:24]

• Caller 3 (Lainey): Talks about a non-adoption sibling prank—being convinced her sister bit her finger off as a baby due to a scar.

  • “They said I had to go to the hospital and have it sewed back on. And I believed that until I was probably like fifth grade.” [09:59]

• Caller 4 (Scott): A brother lied that the caller’s real mother was Diane Sawyer, bringing laughs and showing the spectrum of sibling pranks.

  • “I went through a lot with my brother and he got my mom involved and I was told that Diane Sawyer was my real mom.” [10:41]

On Sibling Pranks and Remorse

• The conversation addresses the fine line between innocent fun and long-lasting emotional harm.
• Reshma admits she’s never had a real conversation with her sister about the incident’s emotional impact.
  • “We tell it, like, in groups to tell, like, people’s stories, but we’ve never, like, discussed the emotional baggage.” – Reshma [09:36]
  • Melissa’s translation: “She feels no remorse whatsoever and she waits until they’re in public and humiliates her sister again by telling the story and laughing about how she cried.” [09:44]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “To avoid getting in trouble, I told her that she couldn’t tell my mom because it would hurt her feelings that she knew...” – Reshma [04:18]
• “My mom and my sister were fighting about something... and all of a sudden... my sister is bawling, crying, screaming at my mom. And she goes, ‘You’re mad at me ‘cause I’m adopted.’” – Reshma [06:15]
• “I have never been beat so hard in my entire life. But I kid you not, knowing my sister thought she was adopted for seven years was completely worth it.” – Reshma [06:47]
• “Siblings are allowed to taunt each other. Parents aren’t allowed to taunt their kids.” – Melissa [08:33]
• “We used to torture her with that all the time. They picked us out, and you were just what they got. We were hand picked.” – Lisa (caller) [09:24]
• “I went through a lot with my brother and he got my mom involved and I was told that Diane Sawyer was my real mom.” – Scott (caller) [10:41]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:15 – 03:08: Reshma introduces her sisterly relationship and the origin of the adoption prank.
• 03:30 – 04:46: Detailed recounting of how Reshma convinced her sister she was adopted and the methods used.
• 06:15 – 07:10: The prank resurfaces years later, leading to a dramatic family confrontation and lasting repercussions.
• 07:12 – 10:29: Listeners call in with their own sibling prank or adoption stories, ranging from similar pranks to parent-driven emotional manipulation.
• 09:36 – 09:54: Discussion of whether Reshma ever felt guilty or made amends (she has not).

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Tone & Style

The episode artfully balances honesty and humor, sometimes veering into dark territory but always circling back to a sense of camaraderie and shared human experience. The hosts and callers keep the conversation light with self-deprecating jokes and confessions, but also acknowledge the intensity and, at times, borderline cruelty of these family pranks.

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Final Takeaway

Sibling pranks—especially those involving sensitive topics like adoption—can have profound and long-lasting effects. While laughter and teasing are regular components of family dynamics, this episode illustrates the importance of discretion and empathy, as well as the strange, unspoken pacts siblings keep. If nothing else, “The Bert Show” provides a cathartic, relatable space for sharing these formative stories.

Transcript

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[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

It's the vert show. Intern Reshma is up and she's got a hot button here that at least two other Burt show members have the same sort of hot button. And it's the sis, it's the sister relationship. How old is your sister?

[Reshma]

She is 19. She's 16 months younger than me.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Okay, all right.

[Reshma]

Can relate to that.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Wendy has the same kind of sisterly hot button. And Melissa, it comes out from time to time also.

[Reshma]

And we grew up practically as twins because my mom always wanted twins. So I'm Reshma and her name is Rachna. We look identical. Like, besides, like if you took a black and white photo of us, we look identical. Like I'm a dark version with lighter hair, like, you know, lighter eyes. She's pale, like paler than Wendy and has pitch black hair and light brown eyes. Like, besides that, we are identical. So we grow up like twins. She got everything the same time. Rachna. So it's Reshna. Rachna and Reshma it is.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Now, did your parents dress you guys in the identical clothes also?

[Caller/Listener]

They did.

[Reshma]

Absolutely.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

So they're already establishing that there's no individuality here.

[Melissa]

That's a foul with twins.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Agreed.

[Melissa]

So you're not even twins and you had to dress a lot.

[Reshma]

Yeah, because my mom wanted twins, so. So bad Cause I guess she was on fertility drugs for so long, she was like, if I have twins, I can get out of the way and I'll be done. So my little sister's technically an accident, but like a planned accident, whatever.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

I'm sure you bring that up to her all the time.

[Reshma]

All the time. She. A couple weeks or a couple days ago, a friend of mine brought the story back up that I had forgotten about. I hadn't. It was one of those things you kind of repress but just never really thought about. And I remembered it, and it has been, like, on my mind constantly because I've always messed with my sister. I mean, she's my sister, but I never realized how young I started and how intense it was starting with her.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

This could be one of the cruelest things ever that one sister has ever done to another sister.

[Reshma]

Yeah. And it's a pretty generic thing that

[Melissa]

an older sister has ever done to a younger sister.

[Reshma]

Yeah. And it's a generic thing. It's just. I took it a step further, and I told my sister when I believe I was seven, she was five. She might have been. She was five or six. And I told her she was adopted because she does look different than the rest of my family. She's extremely pale. We're all like, you know, tan skin. Like, you know, she did not look identical to any of us.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Do you remember having that conversation with her and explaining what adopted was?

[Reshma]

I do. No, she knew what adopted was. I do remember that. But I remember her telling. Telling her that because she was irritating me. And she was talking. She was, like, being irritating for some reason. And I think she was like. I was telling her why she was doing something different than I was for some reason. And I just decided to, like. It was one of those things I heard at school. So I decided to tell her that she was adopted.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

You're really not part of this family. You're not blood.

[Reshma]

No. I was like, you're not adopted. And I started backing it up, being like, you don't look like us. You don't act like us. Like, you know, backing it up with little facts and everything, which is Melissa

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

with her empathetic eyes right now.

[Melissa]

Because my sister did the exact same thing to me, about the exact same age. Because I'm the only blonde in my. My father was blonde, but he had turned gray early. So when I was little, I was the only blonde in my family. And so Melanie let me know, look at you. She said, look in the mirror. Look at you. You don't look like us. Yeah.

[Reshma]

And luckily, I mean, it works really well. But at the end of it, my mom and my, like, you know, she's the younger one, so she always runs to my mom every time I. But to avoid getting in trouble, I told her that she couldn't tell my mom because it would hurt her feelings that she knew because my mom didn't want to tell her yet. So she was like, are you sure? And I. I mean, we had a long conversation about this. I told her that she couldn't tell my mom. It would really, like, you know, affect her because it's a really sensitive topic. And my mom loves her a lot. But, I mean, end of the day, she's adopted.

[Melissa]

I think this is fantastic. Yeah, you do? To younger siblings, of course. Y'.

[Caller/Listener]

All.

[Melissa]

Y' all think it's fantastic.

[Reshma]

Funny.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

And again, she's five at this time.

[Caller/Listener]

Y.

[Reshma]

And I'm seven.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

You're seven. Okay.

[Melissa]

Just to let the little sibling know, look, we were wanted more than. You see what Hayden's telling Hollis right now?

[Reshma]

It's that age.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Hayden is not that mean, not that cruel.

[Reshma]

Oh, come on. I mean, that's what he said.

[Caller/Listener]

But Hollis is saying that to Hayden right now.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

He's probably buying it.

[Reshma]

But I probably forgot about it the next day. I mean, it was one of those things that you kind of say, like, you know, you have such a, like, short attention span. And I never brought it up again, and we never talked about it. It wasn't like one of those things I taunted my sister with. It was just something I told her once. It was funny that day. And I never brought it up again. Years later. Like, years Later, I was 13 and she was 11, and we had moved to Georgia from California. Like, I told her this when we lived in California. And we are. It's like after school one day, and my mom, like, I'm sitting on the table doing my homework. I remember this so I can tell you what I was wearing. I was sitting at the dining table doing my homework, and my mom and my sister were fighting about something. And I was ignoring them. Cause it had nothing to do with me, so I wasn't gonna get involved. Oh, no. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, like, nowhere, my sister is, like, bawling, crying, screaming at my mom. And she goes, you're mad at me cause I'm adopted. And my mom was like, what? And all of a sudden, I, like, freeze. I.

[Melissa]

All of a sudden, like, six years later.

[Reshma]

Oh, yeah. Six or seven years later. And everything rushes back to me. And I was like, oh my God. Oh my God. And I froze. Like I got chills in my. Like I'm getting chills now thinking about how scared. So my mom was like, what did you say? And my sister was like, it's cause I'm adopted and runs off to her room. My mom literally, I can remember the look on her face like 360swooshes over to me and goes, what did you do? And I have never been beat so hard in my entire life. But I kid you, not knowing my sister thought she was adopted for seven years. Was completely worth it. Completely worth it.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

No remorse at all.

[Reshma]

Seven years.

[Melissa]

This poor child thought she adopted.

[Reshma]

Yeah, seven years.

[Melissa]

And I thought about it when she went to bed. Probably thought about it every time they went and did something.

[Reshma]

Every time we argued, every time she looked in the mirror. Like I was thinking about that and I was like, really?

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Every time your parents made a decision between the two of you and they sided with you for seven years, she's blood.

[Reshma]

Yeah, I never thought about that though.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Hey, Brittany, good Morning. You're on Q100.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, I was just calling to tell you that my sister went through the same situation, except I didn't, like, I didn't start it. My mom actually did and she told her that she was adopted one day because my sister is like dark skinned and she was getting in trouble and stuff. And my mom actually went with this, like this scheme and she made me play along with. Went so far that my sister's teacher ended up finding out because my sister went to school crying one day and it was just supposed to be like a joke because she was misbehaving. She was like, well, none of my kids do this because they're so good. It must have been your real mom. You got it from your real mom. And she also told her that she was a twin and that she was a bad twin when she adopted. So I mean, it was pretty intensive. My sister has scarred her life. Like she thinks about it now, she still gets angry about it.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

How old was she? How old was she when your mom had this conversation?

[Caller/Listener]

She was like in second grade.

[Reshma]

Oh, God.

[Melissa]

Oh, that's so cruel. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but your, your mom's kind of.

[Caller/Listener]

I don't even have a relationship with her anymore. But that's. I mean she, she's like, she was. It was intense. So my sister like, if anybody brings up like Zada, where's your tornad? Or something, she just like, she'll just start crying or she'll just get really pissed.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

As a mom, you can't do that.

[Melissa]

That's mean. That's just downright mean.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

That turns it from fun to me.

[Melissa]

Yeah, that's not funny. Siblings are allowed to taunt each other. Parents aren't allowed to taunt their kids.

[Reshma]

No, my mom would have never now.

[Melissa]

But see, mine didn't last that long. I just remember I went to Millie Pete and I said, show me the papers. And she goes, what are you talking about? And I said, show me the papers.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Oh, really?

[Melissa]

And she said, what are you talking about? The adoption papers. Show me the adoption papers. And she's like, melan.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Hey, Lisa. Good morning to you on Q100.

[Caller/Listener]

Hi. Hi. I just wanted to say that in my family, I'm adopted and my brother's adopted, but my youngest sister is actually theirs. So we used to do the opposite to her. And we used to go, well, you're not adopted. You're their kid. And she used to cry because she did not feel special at all.

[Melissa]

She was just like, I want to be adopted, too.

[Caller/Listener]

So we used to torture her with that all the time. They picked us out, and you were just what they got. We were hand picked.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

And there's not one ounce of you that has any kind of remorse about it at all?

[Reshma]

No, I mean, to this day, we've never talked about it. We tell it, like, in groups to tell, like, people's stories, but we've never, like, discussed the emotional baggage. No, let me.

[Melissa]

Let me translate that. She feels no remorse whatsoever and she waits until they're in public and humiliates her sister again by telling the story and laughing about how she cried? Pretty much, yes.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

This is going to trump yours. Good morning, lyn. You're on Q100.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, it's Lainey.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Lainey, hi.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey. You guys are awesome. I just wanted to tell you I have two sisters that are 13 months apart. And since I was very, very little, they had told me that my oldest sister had bit my finger off because I've thrown up on her when I was a baby and I had a scar on the finger that they said. And they said I had to go to the hospital and have it sewed back on. And I believed that until I was probably like fifth grade.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

That you had a sewed on finger?

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah. I mean, I was really gullible. It was probably stupid on my part.

[Melissa]

No, it's not gullible. It's called you trust your older siblings to take care of you and protect you. I'M the baby of the family. I empathize with all the younger siblings out there that get picked on.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

Scott, Good morning. You're on Q100.

[Caller/Listener]

I went through a lot with my brother and he got my mom involved and I was told that Diane Sawyer was my real mom.

[Show Host (possibly Burt)]

You're on the Burch Show.

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