How Howie Mandel's Daughter Ended Up Slapping Him in a Hilarious Video
The AGT Judge fell for the oldest trick in the book.
In 2025, father-daughter bonding time means that, sometimes, dad gets smacked in the face.
On January 16, America's Got Talent star Howie Mandel found himself on the wrong end of a viral trend thanks to his daughter, Jackelyn Schultz. The two tackled the social media "string challenge," which involves an imaginary string being pulled through the ears of an unsuspecting victim. (In this case, Mandel himself.)
Long story short, this hilarious video ends with Schultz slapping her dad in the face, and let's face it, there's no way you're not going to watch something like that.
"It was so hard the camera fell. Sorry dad @howiemandel #fatherdaughter #magic #string #stringchallenge," she wrote in a caption.
The stunt started innocently enough, with Mandel getting freaked out by the "sensation" of an invisible string being pulled through his head, but everything quickly turned south.
RELATED: Howie Mandel Looks Exactly Like His 7-Year-Old Grandson Axel in This Throwback Pic
We've seen Mandel in many unique situations during his judging tenure on AGT, but we've never seen him take a slap like that. Jackelyn is 39 years old — how long has she been plotting this? Years? Decades?
All jokes aside, there's nothing more endearing than seeing stars get caught up in the latest social media trends. In this case, however, we don't think Mandel will be awarding any Golden Buzzers to Acts that incorporate imaginary anything moving forward.
Howie Mandel talks Golden Buzzer strategy
In a 2024 interview with Decider, Mandel answered the question, "Which judge hits the Golden Buzzer fastest?" and turned it into a fascinating glimpse into his red-button mindset.
"I don't know who's the quickest to hit the Golden Buzzer, but I would think that I'm the quickest to hit the red buzzer because I have ADHD," he admitted. "If the act's not happening for me, then I want to move on. The Golden Buzzer is the most emotional buzzer because you don't know when you're going to push it. This feeling of 'Wow, I've never seen this before' just rains over you."
For the longtime judge, it's often not a question of if he'll use his Golden Buzzer — it's a matter of when.
"Still, you have to wonder whether to use up half or all of your Golden Buzzer right now," he explains. "There might be something even better, more exciting to come."
