Willie Geist Apologizes for Not Helping Jenna Bush Hager Off the Ground in April Fools' Day Prank Gone Wrong: 'I Thought It Was Part of the Bit'

Willie Geist has some regrets about not helping Jenna Bush Hager after her April Fools’ Day prank went awry.

During the Thursday, April 2, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, the guest co-host, 50, apologized for not coming to his friend’s aid after she fell on the floor.

On Wednesday, April 1, Bush Hager, 44, planned on bringing out a fake $20,000 cake to trick her costar. She purposely dropped the dessert on the ground, but she did not intend to slip on the icing.

Geist credited the host for her clever joke.

“That was amazing. I heard about it all day. That broke away from even the Today Show world. I was hearing about it from people who just picked it up on their phones…” he praised Bush Hager. “I will say you and your staff sold me on the story.”

“I was like, ‘We have to do something. Willie’s a good sport. He will think it’s funny if we prank him somehow,’” the mom-of-three recalled. “It was April Fools’ Day. So in the morning, I’m calling [producer] Gavin, I’m like, ‘Gavin, what are we doing?’ We workshopped some things. We ended up with, and this was his idea, creating this viral $20,000 cake.”

Bush Hager admitted her producer initially intended on lying about the treat being $1 million.

“I was like, ‘Gavin, that don’t work,’” she quipped.

“It was a smart play because I’m unaware of all viral trends, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll go along with that. A $20,000 cake. Must be a big thing,’” Geist explained. “I bought it in the meeting and everything. I bought it when it was waiting over there. You said there was caviar in it. I was like, ‘You know what? It’s a crazy world. There are people with a lot of money who could get that for their wedding.’”

He only realized Bush Hager was fooling him after she “dumped” the cake “so quickly.”

“I want to be clear. I looked very dismissive. I look away from you. Look, I don’t even help you,” Geist recalled. “I thought the slip was part of the bit, but it was real, and I’m so sorry I didn’t help you up.”

“That was real. The cake was fake. The spilling of the cake was fake…you were shocked for a minute…you don’t even look [at me],” Bush Hager noted.

Geist acknowledged how he “didn’t even move to help” his costar and he’s “really sorry.”

Bush Hager forgave her friend and credited him for “eventually” standing up.

“Some of you were worried about my body parts. At this old age, you should…my knee, in particular. I caught myself, so no harm. I don’t even have a bruise,” she continued. “But the fall was real. It’s a good time to tell you that if you accidentally put cake on the ground, icing is quite slippery.”

When Bush Hager showed the viral moment to her kids, they did not feel sorry for her.

“That’s karma, bro,” her three children reportedly told her.

Geist remembered yesterday’s guest star Sharon Stone asking Bush Hager if she was okay after the fall and being “genuinely concerned” about her physical well-being.

“I’m like, ‘No, no, luckily, I’m not. I’m just humiliated," she told the actress.